October kicks off the anticipated 'Lille 3000' festival. A new biannual cultural festival starting this year, sort of like a fringe festival, but with a cultural theme. This years theme is Bollywood, and for the last couple of weeks, 12 of these 8 m high elephants have been greeting me every morning on my way to work. It's been surreal. It's been beautiful. Mostly I've just been wondering why all cities can't have these kinds of features everywhere, all the time.

Once a municipal pool done in extravagant art-deco style, the 'piscine de Roubaix' has since been transformed into a museum although has kept many of the interior features of its former incarnation. I've been meaning to visit this spot for ages - a stunning must-do of Lille tourism tucked away unexpectedly in one of the city's less interesting suburbs. In much the same way as we all don't get around to visiting cool local stuff until we have a guest (why is that?) I took my mother here on her most recent trip over.

But wait, there's more...
Some scenes from the pond;

At the heart of Lille's old citadelle (now a fantastic and much needed green space near the city centre) there's a free public zoo with a modest collection of animals. I head down there quite often as it's a great place to get out to breathe and unwind or catch up with friends for a stroll. Since getting my DSLR camera I've been keen to get down there and get some decent shots. So this weekend I headed over to see who was out on view...

I live a short hop, skip and jump from the dead centre of Lille, and its gorgeous 'grand place'. Every summer it's closed off to cars and becomes a pedestrian only zone. One of my favourite things about this city is the architectural mashup; baroque, art nouveau, art deco, medieval and modern. Most buildings are something worth looking looking at (including the one I live in, even if it is likely to be in breach of building health codes).