ideas for cheap weekend by trai in France or Brussels

[racingsnake]

Hi. We want to get away the weekend before christmas. It must be by train (I'm scared of flying) and it must be somewhere French speaking because I want to browse French books. Also not too far due to extremely active 2 year old. And cheap. Not too much to ask?

Jersey/guernsey? Beaches and french, by ferry Or maybe ....France? by eurostar/ferry.

Hadn't thought of the Channel Islands!

Bruges - officially Flemish but you may see French books around. Lovely and Christmassy. Took my girls there when they were little, loved the chocolate and horse driven carriage ride. Brussels - fantastic Christmas market complete with ice rink, beautiful snowflake type ferris wheel (think you can see it on Youtube). Lots of stuff for kids to do and very welcome in restaurants. If you want, you can take me too

We're off to Paris on Eurostar (in three hours!), that was sixty quid return.

otherwise Lille? Calais?! (clutching at staws)

Antwerp.

We went there for a weekend two months ago and it was absolutely lovely.

Lille is great and there is FNAC and another big book store called the Furet du Nord not far from the station. There is a Christmas market in December.

Calais is rubbish for shops and not a very nice town. (I live 30 mins away!)The surrounding countryside and beaches are lovely but that's not much good if you are on public transport.