School Christmas Market Trips to Lille

The gothic architecture of the Place Rihour is the backdrop to over 80 festive wooden chalets offering local arts, crafts and regional produce together with gift ideas from around the world. Get a bird’s eye view of the city and the Christmas Market from the Ferris wheel in the Grande Place.  An 18 metre high Christmas tree adds to the atmosphere.

Image by Alain Benard

The Old Exchange (Vielle Bourse) dating from the 17th century with its inner courtyard is considered the city’s most beautiful monument. Also of interest is City Hall and the 104 m high belfry, a UNESCO world heritage site. The 17th century Vauban Citadel built on the order of Louis XIV was built in the shape of a star.

This significant collection includes works by Goya, Rubens, Monet, Picasso, Léger, Rodin and Claudel. There is also a collection of ceramics and a collection of maps showing cities which were fortified by the military architect Vauban.

Image by Palais des Beaux-Arts CC by 2.0

Take a journey through time and across the diversity of the planet. The museum has over 250,000 exhibits and explores the fragility of the natural world. There are also ethnographic and industrial collections which link to the coal industry of Northern France.

Just outside the city in the modern suburb of Villeneuve d’Ascq   is one of northern Europe’s most important collections of 20th century art including works by Braque, Kandinski, Léger, Miro, Modigliani and Picasso, as well major contemporary art. The museum houses France’s largest collection of Art Brut.

The Arras Christmas Market is one of the largest in Northern France and takes place in the beautiful Grand Place with its Flemish style architecture. In addition to over 100 wooden stalls the Christmas Market also has an ice-rink, a carrousel and Ferris wheel.  The central feature is a German-style bar with a rotating illuminated tower. Stall holders bring produce from all over France and other European countries.

The area surrounding the river Somme saw some of the harshest fighting during WWI and has numerous memorials dedicated to those who lost their lives including the trenches at Beaumont Hamel, the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval, the Lochnagar Crater and museums at Albert and Peronne.

From November 1916, the British prepared the spring offensive of 1917. Their ingenious idea: New Zealand tunnelers would connect the city’s medieval chalk quarries to create a network of underground barracks that could house up to 24,000 soldiers. 20 meters below the cobblestones of Arras, visitors are immersed in the intimacy of the soldiers who were stationed underground just a few meters from the front line before rushing onto the battlefield on April 9, 1917, launching a surprise attack on the German positions. (Renovated in 2021). Photo © Chris O.