Spending the Day In Lille, France | Eurotunnel Road Trip With Kids - Day 2

Day two of our family road trip with Eurotunnel saw us travel from Boulonge-ser-Mer in France to Lille, also in France. The journey in the car took us just an hour and a half and we very easily managed to find parking in the town centre.


Lille has so many different places that are perfect for toddlers and young children, including a zoo, a Natural History Museum, a bus tour and even an amusement park (Parc les Poussins within the Citadel Park). Right next to the amusement park there is also quite a large children's play park, that our boys spent ages playing together in, on the several slides, a see-saw, the several climbing frames and a fun train.

After lots of fun was had in the playground, we decided that we were going to do a bit of exploring and just see where the paths took us. And whilst walking past Lille's zoo, we were able to get an amazing view of the monkeys playing on their ropes. Ethan is really into monkeys at the moment, so he really loved watching them swing about and play!

Because we had taken the Eurotunnel and so had our car with us, we had planned ahead and had decided that we were going to take Ethan's scooter with us from home, for just in case he got tired. We took our Stokke pushchair with us which has a super large basket underneath and so when he wasn't using his scooter, we simply folded it down and put it in underneath the pushchair. It came in really handy, especially in Lille where we did a bit more exploring on foot. For us, this was another benefit of being able to travel with our car. 

Whilst in Lille we decided to visit the Cathedral - Adam and I are huge fans of old buildings like cathedrals and castles and Lille's cathedral didn't disappoint. The cathedral was actually only completed in 1999, so it's actually quite modern, but with it's white marble facade, it really is beautiful and the inside was just as stunning.  

It was so sweet because whilst we were inside I was explaining to my 4 year old son, Ethan, why we needed to be quiet and I was explaining about how some people came to the cathedral to pray. And he'd obviously been learning about prayer at school, because he put his two hands together and closed his eyes just as if he was praying. It was his way of trying to be respectful and it was adorable. 

Ethan really enjoyed looking around the Cathedral, he took it all in and was very interested in everything we saw. A very helpful member of staff helped us to get the pushchair up and down the steps at the front because at the time the disabled/pushchair lift was out of order. We really did find that during our road trip, we came across so many helpful, friendly people who were so often very kind towards us and very willing to offer help with anything if they could, which was really nice and felt very welcoming. 

After we had been around the inside of the cathedral, Logan our youngest little boy, fell asleep in his pushchair so we decided to just go for a bit more of a stroll. We walked around the back of the cathedral looking at all of the architecture and then we went and explored Lille's high streets. Lille felt very quaint and it was just nice to soak in the atmosphere and take things at our own pace.

That evening, we stayed the night in the most beautiful Airbnb I have ever stayed in called Chambre d'hôtes Les Tourterelles. The rooms were stunning, so stunning that it was hard to leave the next morning.. we even had our own little jacuzzi style bath in the bathroom. The owners were incredibly friendly and so helpful with any questions we had and they even showed us their pet budgies in the garden and their cat. It was such a lovely place to stay and I'd totally recommend staying there to anyone else visiting Lille.

After what was a really lovely stay at the Airbnb we said our goodbyes, packed our car back up and headed over to Le Pain Quotidien in the town centre for our breakfast. When we arrived we instantly loved the decor inside and noticed that there was a really lovely cosy, chilled out sort of atmosphere within the restaurant. The lady that served us was really helpful in suggesting different breakfast ideas for us and the boys and she took to time to help us understand what was suitable for vegetarians. We also noticed that there were were a really good amount of vegan options on the menu, which was great to see.

For breakfast, we had so much to choose from, from pastries and tarts, to soups, cheeses and cakes, as well as croissants, soft boiled eggs, porridge's and much more. In the end we chose soft boiled eggs for the boys (or dippy eggs as we call them) and Adam and I both went for a very tasty avocado toasted bread with peppers and sun dried tomatoes amongst other things on top, it was incredible - we both really loved it! 

After we'd finished what was a really lovely breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, it was time for us to start making our way over to Ghent, Belgium for day three of our family road trip, which I will be sharing here on my blog very soon! 

Alex xo

You can read part one of our road trip (Boulogne-sur-Mer) here: Family Road Trip With Eurotunnel - Day 1 | Travelling To Boulogne-sur-Mer, France & Nausicaa Aquarium. 

You can also now watch the first part of our video from our trip over on my YouTube channel now (video also embedded below).

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*Thank you to Eurotunnel for partnering with our family for this trip.