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In the heart of Lille is the beautiful Grand Place (officially named Place Charles de Gaulle), once the medieval market place and still a popular gathering spot. Its decorative brick houses, ornate Vieille Bourse and pavement brasseries around the fountain of the Déesse – the goddess said to have saved the town when it was besieged by Austria in 1792 – give it an elegant and patrician air. At one end the Grand Garde, now the Théâtre du Nord, once housed the royal guardsmen and bears the sun motif of Louis XIV. Behind the Vieille Bourse, on place du Théâtre, you’ll find Lille’s belle époque opera house, the neo-vernacular Chambre de Commerce and the Rang de Beauregard, an elegant terrace of tall decorative houses. Architecturally, it feels like you could be in Amsterdam, Cologne or even Berlin. Snake around all the connecting streets to get a proper feel of the place.