Lille, France (05/09/15)

My exchange at sciences po just came to an end a week ago so.. I have officially run out of excuses to delay travel logging. I will be doing myself a huge disfavour if I don't start registering the precious moments I have had here anyway. So here I am, beginning with the first city I went to after settling down in Paris - Lille. 

Lille was never part of my itinerary. I didn't even know the city exist till my housemate Charlton learnt of its annual flea market festival from his french class and invited me to go along with him. Apparently it is the largest flea of the entire Europe and it would take more than a weekend to cover the entire area!! I was psyched when I heard there's gonna be fresh mussels and fries :D 

We took a train from Gare du Nord (North Station), one of the main train stations in Paris. Train tickets can be easily bought online via SNCF website. SNCF is France's national state-owned railway company and the ticket prices can sometimes go under 10 euros!

I was excited to see these giant kebabs! Much larger than the ones at pasar malam back home~

City Square

I like the architecture in Lille. It's slightly more colorful than the ones in Paris!

Now, now. This is the giant mountain of empty mussel shells dumped in front of the famous mussel restaurant: Aux Moules.

I bought this leather jacket at the flea and wore it straight away. It's 40 euros! It didn't occur to me that it means $60.. but I guess leather can't get any cheaper anywhere, so this price is rather reasonable.

Really really fresh and well prepared!

And here comes the street music band performance!

I like how the performers were all wearing fanciful costumes! With men donning on thin ladies clothes even though it was already starting to get cold.

A 2.50 euros giant macaron! I love how even established retailers take part in the event by setting up smaller pop-ups in front of their store so that people on the street can just look, stop and buy.

French balconies

Even the books are on display and discount!

We had moules-frites (mussels-fries) for dinner again! But this time it wasn't as fresh and delicious as the one we queued for in the afternoon..

So this sums up our one day out of Paris to Lille! We didn't get to explore the city because of the flea, so I wouldn't really say I have really experienced Lille. Nonetheless, it's an eye-opener to cruise through more than 10,000 stores that sell a wide range of items from clothes to antique. If you guys are ever interested in this event, it's called La Grande Braderie de Lille. It takes place on every first weekend of September! :)