JimEFC
Player Valuation: £10m
Thanks for your welcome !
The old and new stadiums are day and night, nothing to compare !
Solférino (and Massena which is next to) are the 2 major streets where students (but also others people !) go to drink. Lots of bars in the street, good place to go. People go there to enjoy, not to have problems, even if lots of bars means drunk people, especially late in the night, so it can't be sure you will not have any problem. But if you don't look for problems, you should not find them in this place. And if you share a beer with your neighbour, you will easily have new friends
If you go near Grand Place (by the way, you will never see "Grand Place" on a map, it's called "Place du Général De Gaulle", but everybody call it Grand Place, moreover lot of people do not even know the real name, so if you have to ask for, use "Grand Place") you will find only "café", so they will be closed after the game, or not soon after.
If you go to Vieux Lille, there are also nice bars, but they are quite "hidden", because Vieux Lille means Old Lille, so there are lots of little streets which go to lots of directions. It is a bit complicated, and even lillois (people from Lille) may get lost ! To sum up, Vieux Lille has above all shops (especially luxuary shops), and some bars but they are close to the others, you have to look for it and it is sometine hard to find...but they may have more character than the bars in Solférino.
My advice is the day you go to visit Grand Place (underground station : Rihour) with the Vieille Bourse, Opera,..., Place de la République (station : République Beaux Arts) with an administrative palace and an other palace which is now an art museum, between them there is Rue de Béthune (the street for "casual" shopping, with shops like H&M, Zara,...but also Galeries Lafayette), Vieux Lille (Rue Esquermoise, rue de la Clé, rue Royale, rue Basse, rue de la Monnaie...) which is the old city and where you will find nice buildings, luxuary shops, artistic shops, and character bars, maybe you will find the cathedral but it is quite hidden ! You can also go to the citadel with woods to relax and a free zoo (not very big zoo but nice). And after the game you can go to Solférino if you want to drink, party,...
Most of the people are friendly in Lille (the north is known in France to be supposed to have the friendliest people), so they should help you in the streets if you ask for help, and you should not have too many problems, but don't look for them
Thank you for all this info - great stuff!
One more question - do you know what the Catégoires 1, 2, 3 means for tickets? there is pink, red, blue?
