Euro Star to Lille

Overview

St Pancras Eurostar Photo - London, England

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Our small overnight case was packed (we were travelling light for our two night stop-over in Lille) and we caught the commuter bus into Nottingham. I’m real familiar with this route as I regularly catch this bus when I travel up to Manchester, and we disembark just outside Nottingham Train Station to meet up with our friends. We’re in good time (better to be early than late!) and we enjoy a cup of coffee at the station before making our way to the platform to catch the train to St Pancras. So far everything is running like clockwork and we happily pile onto the London train to enjoy the journey, which will in fact take longer than our later channel crossing.It was a strange sensation passing...Read More

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Hotel Chagnot

Hotel | "Le Chagnot - Breakfast Time"

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On our second morning at Le Chagnot we had decided to eat in their restaurant. The hotel doesn’t do an evening meal (well there’s so many brasseries in town) and in all honesty we, like most people, actually prefer to go out at night. We weren’t sure what to expect and as we piled into the petite lift (4 people in it is a squeeze) we slowly ascended to the seventh floor. What a welcoming sight! The breakfast was certainly going to exceed our expectations as it was buffet style and the choice looked fairly full. Having given our room number to the assistant we chose a table near to the window and settled down to enjoy the view and the food. A decked outside balcony would offer a superb facili...Read More

On our second morning at Le Chagnot we had decided to eat in their restaurant. The hotel doesn’t do an evening meal (well there’s so many brasseries in town) and in all honesty we, like most people, actually prefer to go out at night. We weren’t sure what to expect and as we piled into the petite lift (4 people in it is a squeeze) we slowly ascended to the seventh floor.

What a welcoming sight! The breakfast was certainly going to exceed our expectations as it was buffet style and the choice looked fairly full. Having given our room number to the assistant we chose a table near to the window and settled down to enjoy the view and the food. A decked outside balcony would offer a superb facility in the warmer months but with a drizzle of rain and temperature of 10 degrees it really wasn’t the weather to be eating al fresco.

I grabbed a cup of strong coffee to kick start my body quickly followed by a glass of orange. Then it was time to consider the remaining options. As we were intending to take a snack at lunch-time I needed to ‘stock up’ so I started with a bowl of cereal and muesli with yoghurt (a combination I’d been introduced to several years ago whilst on holiday in France). Pausing momentarily before returning to the buffet bar I noticed that there was a juicing machine with a bowl of fresh oranges. As I’d already supped my orange I decided to have a go – two oranges later and I was enjoying (you really can’t beat it) my fresh juice.

Now for my next course – a chunk of freshly cut bread off a baguette with cheese, ham and hard-boiled egg as an accompaniment. We can buy baguettes in England but they really don’t taste the same as this bread with it “crunchy” crust and beautifully soft textured core. I was tempted to grab another piece, but already had my eye on a pain de chocolat and a mini pain de raisin. A wise choice as both these were extremely tasty and brought back a whole host of memories associated with family holidays in France.

However, I’ve found that the art of compromise can soon be resolved by a pause in the proceedings. I had a another coffee and surprise, surprise I was soon able to enjoy the treat that I’d deprived myself of earlier. I took another piece of baguette alongside a carton of confiture de friase (strawberry jam) and munched on that. Of course I was only playing for time (as well as bombarding my taste buds with a variety of flavours) until the black clouds cleared the town and gave way to the bright blue wintery skies. Now it was time to leave the breakfast restaurant (well I was by this time full to bursting) and check out the town of Lille for the last time.

What a great breakfast. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 13, 2007

Hotel Chagnot
24 Place De La Gare
Lille, France
+33 (3) 2074-1187

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Hotel Chagnot

Hotel | "Le Chagnot"

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Close to the Euro station on the Place de la Gare Flandres is the conveniently placed 2 star hotel. There’s an inconspicuous entrance which could be easily missed as it’s sandwiched between a couple of Brasseries. But this entrance offered a cunning disguise for this perfectly adequate 70-bedded budget hotel (part of a 160 hotel chain in the Balladins group).The Balladins group (www.balladins.com ) boast that it offeres the best quality / price ratio and its’s fair to say that we really couldn’t find too many complaints. O.K the bath towels were small, there was no shower curtain, the bath was fairly small, and there was a limited tea and coffee supply. But overall it was extremely comfortab...Read More

Close to the Euro station on the Place de la Gare Flandres is the conveniently placed 2 star hotel. There’s an inconspicuous entrance which could be easily missed as it’s sandwiched between a couple of Brasseries. But this entrance offered a cunning disguise for this perfectly adequate 70-bedded budget hotel (part of a 160 hotel chain in the Balladins group).

The Balladins group (www.balladins.com ) boast that it offeres the best quality / price ratio and its’s fair to say that we really couldn’t find too many complaints. O.K the bath towels were small, there was no shower curtain, the bath was fairly small, and there was a limited tea and coffee supply. But overall it was extremely comfortable and we were only using the room to sleep in.

The 2nd floor bedroom was small and compact but had a good sized double bed which was nice and firm. The pillows were a little “flat” but I popped down to reception and arranged to collect another two pillows later in the evening. Storage space was a little light, but if you’re only staying a couple of nights then it’s perfectly adequate.

In the bathroom was a supply of shower cream and shampoo and although the shower head was hard to operate I finally managed to get it to work. Mind you after a hard days sightseeing there was nothing better than soaking in the plentiful supply of hot water in a full bath. Perhaps its’s not ecologically friendly but there’s nothing better than a hot tub to help relax those aching muscles.

Our bedroom overlooked a fairly dingy courtyard (so not a splendid view!) but we were dead opposite our friends so it was real helpful in confirming rendez-vous details as we could just wave as we were about to leave our room. The other real plus was that as we did not overlook the main square the room was surprisingly quiet. In fact once the heavily lined curtains were drawn we could neither see nor hear anything. Perfect for a good night’s sleep! And sleep I did the only problem being waking up the following morning!

The members of staff at the hotel were really helpful and despite their limited English and our more limited French there was no communication problem. They were able to advise on things to see (although there was a fairly good selection f tourist guides in the lobby including an excellent map of the town) and recommend restaurants. As there was no supply of milk in the bedroom (typically the French drink their coffee black) we had to ask reception to provide some. Initially the receptionist looked confused but when the penny (or should I say cent?) dropped he brought us an ample supply.

Check out was the usual 12 noon, but at the side of reception is a convenient baggage store where you can leave your luggage (for free) until you require it.

A decent well-priced (27 Euros a night) hotel. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 13, 2007

Hotel Chagnot
24 Place De La Gare
Lille, France
+33 (3) 2074-1187

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Euro Star

Restaurant

A fast tracked train Photo - Lille, France

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Having chosen to travel first class from St Pancras to Lille we'd been welcomed at our coach door by a beaming assistant who pointed us in the right direction for our table. There was plenty of legroom around our table for four with a section that folded up if you weren't eating and we settled into our luxurious seats with the morning newspaper (there are several papers supplied free for first class travellers). I guess we'd only been on the train for 5 minutes or so when the doors were shut and the train pulled away from the station. It was dead on time! Now we weren’t absolutely sure what the arrangements were in respect of a meal and or friends, who’d booked the trip, believed that the me...Read More

Having chosen to travel first class from St Pancras to Lille we'd been welcomed at our coach door by a beaming assistant who pointed us in the right direction for our table. There was plenty of legroom around our table for four with a section that folded up if you weren't eating and we settled into our luxurious seats with the morning newspaper (there are several papers supplied free for first class travellers).

I guess we'd only been on the train for 5 minutes or so when the doors were shut and the train pulled away from the station. It was dead on time! Now we weren’t absolutely sure what the arrangements were in respect of a meal and or friends, who’d booked the trip, believed that the meal was included in first class ticket. Time marched on and the train sped on its underground route across the capital, but still no sign of food or indeed the much- heralded free glass of wine.

Just as we were giving up hope I heard, from the far end of the coach the rattle of a trolley. It was quite discernable as the Euro star itself hardly makes a noise as it thunders along the track and the rattle of bottles was a welcome break to the silence. Now I don’t want to give anyone the impression that drink was essential to the enjoyment of the weekend, but I was soon happily pouring a small bottle of red wine into my glass. This was a proper stem-less glass (not the usual plastic that you associate with rail travel) and it was also a very decent drop of French wine.

In fact by the time the meal arrived we’d managed to sup the wine and were happy to be offered a second bottle to accompany our meal. Once again we were "treated" to proper crockery and cutlery and the second bottle was served alongside the starter (spicy, crunchy vegetables). Quick to follow (remember this is a fairly short journey to serve and devour a three-course meal) came the main course and desert.

There was a choice of main course basically a hot meat dish or a cold vegetarian. We all opted for chicken was nicely cooked, not that "stewed" taste that often accompanies airline food, which came with a tasty selection of vegetables. Pudding was chocolate bread and butter pudding, which looked misshapen and uninspiring, but when we tasted it we forgave its appearance. It was rich, flavoursome and beautifully light.

The meal was rounded off with coffee and mints (well a single mint chocolate) and just as the final item was being removed from the table the announcement was made that we would soon be approaching Lille. The meal had been served to perfection. No panic, no rush, but a nice leisurely meal on this fast moving train. Brilliant!!
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 13, 2007

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St Pancras, Euro star

Attraction

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St Pancreas was re-opened by the Queen in late November 2007 following a massive 800 million pound restoration and extension programme. The station was originally designed by William Barlow in 1863 and the creation of the “Barlow shed” was a great feat of Victorian engineering. The roof is a staggering 689 ft long and with its 100 foot height and 243 foot span it was, when created, the largest enclosed space in the world - a record it held for many years later.In 1865 work began on the most recognisable feature around the Kings Cross area. The red brick Gothic front facade was created as part of a competition in 1865 and between 1868 to 1876 work continued and the famous Midland Great Hotel ...Read More

St Pancreas was re-opened by the Queen in late November 2007 following a massive 800 million pound restoration and extension programme. The station was originally designed by William Barlow in 1863 and the creation of the “Barlow shed” was a great feat of Victorian engineering. The roof is a staggering 689 ft long and with its 100 foot height and 243 foot span it was, when created, the largest enclosed space in the world - a record it held for many years later.

In 1865 work began on the most recognisable feature around the Kings Cross area. The red brick Gothic front facade was created as part of a competition in 1865 and between 1868 to 1876 work continued and the famous Midland Great Hotel emerged as the design “baby” of Sir Gilbert Scott. It’s strange to think that the hotel has ceased to operate since 1935 and we’re all thankful that the plans to demolish it, in 1966, were rthwarted thanks to the co-ordinated efforts of Sir John Betjeman. It was decreed to be a Grade 1 listed building in 1967 and the intention is now restore it to its former glory as an equisite hotel in the Kings Cross / Pancras area. I can’t wait to see inside that building when it’s finished.

As part of the refurbishment of the station they have erected a beautiful sculpture of Sir John as a permanent reminder of the contribution he made to save this national treasure.

Mind you a friend of mine who worked for British Rail has different memories of the Midland Hotel. He worked in it when BR had it as their headquarters for almost 30 years (they vacated it in 1995).

The restoration programme completely reglazed the “Barlow Shed” with over 14,080 glass panel and the paint work returned to its intended pale sky blue. Wherever it was possible the building has been restored by recycling the original bricks or sourcing clay from the original clay works. It really looks fantastic.

The sensational 9-metre high sculpture by Paul Day is a majot attraction. At the end of the platform this bronze masterpiece of a couple embracing symbolises the old romanticism of travel and the re-uniting of people separated by distance and meeting again thanks to the railway. Traditionally people would meet under the clock and “The meeting place” recreates this venue. I thought it was great and we, like many others were transfixed by its detail.

Of course whilst you're waiting for your connection there's no shortage of shops to peruse and in the lead up to Christmas there were a variety of temporary stalls set up to create a farmers market.

No stay at St pancras would be complete without a visit to Europe's longest Champagne Bar. It's 90 metres long and although the drinks are a tad expensive(we paid £13.50 for a glass of Moet et Chandon)it's an experience in itself.

The station will continue to develop over the months ahead, so there's changes afoot. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 13, 2007

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Lille Journals

Euro Star to Lille