Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Cigarettes and the good life
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Gauloises – the iconic french brand – is copying Pall Mall and, to a lesser extent, Marlboro. Again, only one of the people in the picture is smoking, but equating smoking with some kind of idyll seems to the the theme of the moment. Equally, though without a hint of irony, cigarettes without additives, are something to be celebrated.
I have also taken a photograph of a cigarette machine, typical of those one encounters on street corners in Munich. They do seem a shade incongruous.
Moto service areas
Motorway service areas are lifesavers. Long journeys need to be broken and the opportunity to use the facilities taken advantage of. Once done, a cup of coffee, or later at night, a cup of hot chocolate, wouldn’t go amiss. Beware Moto service areas, though. Last night we arrived at Toddington Services (M1 south) at 2250 looking for a hot chocolate. They were changing shift and there was nothing to be had for 10 minutes.
We decided to leave. And then realised Toddington is one of those service areas with a connecting bridge. So we decided to go to the northbound service area where, not surprisingly, it was also shift change. Never mind, at least on the northbound service area, WHSmith is still open and it has a Costa machine that dispenses hot chocolate. Dispense the drink and go to the cash desk to pay. “Could you wait ten minutes as we are cashing up?” said one of the young men at the checkout. I have in my hands two reasonably hot takeaway hot chocolate drinks that I have to wait ten minutes to pay for!
I don’t think so.
Where are we going?
Whilst on the subject of Easyjet, a couple of weeks ago I got on the plane to the usual cabin announcement. Except this time it was a shade uncertain. “Welcome aboard this easyJet flight shortly departing for….Germany.”
Can you be more specfic?
Their convenience?
Look, I am a big big user of Easyjet services. It is a complex business, running an airline. I know. I fly most weeks out of London Gatwick on a Friday evening and return late on a Sunday evening. The return journey is always an issue. I now park my repaired Vivaro at the airport at great expense because Sunday rail services are unreliable and inadequate.
Easyjet have taken to dropping me off at the wrong terminal. The flight is scheduled to arrive at South Terminal (where the van or trains are), but the pilot parks up at North Terminal. That despite the fact that I have received an email from Easyjet telling me that I will be arriving at South Terminal and if I have any friends or family intending to meet me, that I should tell them that I will be arriving at South Terminal. Fortunately, I have no friends or family to meet me. Had I, I am sure they would think the plane was lost.
I actually spoke to the pilot on Sunday (6 May). He told me that it was not Easyjet’s fault, rather that of Gatwick Airport who allocate the gates.
Gare du Nord, Paris
The Eurostar terminal in Gare du Nord does not befit the train service provided. Once one gets through the security and immigration (French and British), the cramped space undermines the simplicity of train travel vis-a-vis air travel. Too many shops, not enough tranquil space to sit and wait. And if the service is disrupted, as it was last weekend, the crampness really begins to generate disquiet. The terminal in London is dreamlike by comparison. Nicely designed, comfortable and easy to negotiate.
Hotel room design
All hotels have their peculiarities. the Concorde Hotel in Montparnasse, Paris, particularly so. I have no overall complaints, but the 
bathroom washbasin was unnecessarily unfit for purpose. First of all it was small even though the bathroom itself was large (so, no need to make it small). The smallness was made all the worse by the mixer tap that hung over it denying access to the water to only the smallest of receptacles. Moreover, there was no plug. This made shaving difficult necessitating an excessive use of water.
My question is simple. What informed the design of this most basic of bathroom features? Why is it so wrong?
Paris, 14 April 2012
Foyer of Pompidou Centre
The Pompidou Centre contrasts very nicely with the Louvre. It is brash, loud, bright with a somewhat different clientele. It is open later – on Saturday’s the gallery at the top (where until next month the Matisse paintings can be found) is open until 2300). We managed only to get to the 3rd floor which houses the permanent painting collection up to the mid-1970s. There one finds a wealth of Picasso, Ernst, Miro, Kandinsky and even Pollock.It is vast, with each theme explored in small versatile cubicles. There are lots of little alleys each displaying surprises and examples of the moving image from the period, too. Statues adorn the many terraces (unfortunately so do the smokers).
Terrace, Pompidou Centre
The staff are also extremely knowledgeable and friendly. For example, when viewing the delightful piece by Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Le Chat, we learned about his brother and their involvement in WWI.
Duchamp_Villon
Paris, 13 April 2012
Louvre entrance area
One objective for this trip was to go to the Louvre. My two previous trips have either been too busy or the weather has seemed to be too nice to go inside. This time in we went on a Friday, mid-afternoon. The Louvre is open until 2130 on Fridays, so by mid afternoon it is a little quieter, but only a little. The main entrance area under the Pyramid is heaving.
The Denon Wing houses the Italian and Spanish paintings from the 15th and 16th Centuries. This includes the Mona Lisa and many other masterpieces. It is a tough wing to explore. The paintings are sometimes 3 high and the lighting hardly ideal especially if one’s eyesight is as poor as mine becomes.
The Mona Lisa is appropriately displayed in the middle of a large room. There are 
a lot of people trying to get to see her, made all the more difficult by the fact that the painting is so small. In Leonardo terms, we should be grateful that he finished the painting and it survives. The other Leonardo painting in the Louvre – The Lady from the Court in Milan, La Belle Ferronnaire – had no visitors when we passed by. Though it may be that it was actually done by an apprentice. Equally beguiling, from my own untrained eye.
Constable's Weymouth Bay
The gallery containing the Italian and Spanish art is long, very long. Right at the bottom, unexpectedly, one finds a small English enclave. There are two Constables nestling there. I took a picture of Weymouth Bay whilst no one was looking.
Paris,12 April 2012
Paris in the Spring has a lot to recommend it. I’m staying in Montparnasse, a district to the south of the Seine. It is full of boutiques, cafes and theatres. The cemetery is packed full of the dead famous and not so famous but rich. The grave of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir is suitably spartan. Visitors here leave behind their metro ticket held down with a small pebble.
The grave of Serge Gainsbourg is an altogether more riotous affair. There are lots of trinkets left on the stone or hanging from 
some suitably disreputable bushes growing at the rear. The inevitable portraits of the man are there also.
This is not an overtly religious place, though the majority of the gravestones, sarcophagi and sculptures 
have some religious symbol. These hands, for example, are beautifully sculptured, though they clasp a cross. The occupant is Robert Thibier.
Lacoste
The other notable that we witnessed, was Bernard Lacoste whose stone is relatively simple, with a little bit of greenery. A photo of the man adorns the headstone, as well as the company logo, the instantly recognisable crocodile. Nice bit of marketing.
A full list of the famous housed is available at the entrance to the cemetery.
Marlboro get in on the act
Young people are directly targeted by the cigarette firms. The latest Pall Mall ad – which I don’t have a snap of yet – features a group of young people on a rooftop enjoying the spring with alcohol and cigarettes. There are some curiousities here. In most of the Pall Mall ads featuring young people, it only seems to be one of them actually smoking.
Marlboro’s latest advertisement features young people in a night club. There are no explicit images of individuals smoking, but being thrown in the air is certainly fun. The slogan MAYBE NEVER WILL defeats me. Any help on this would be appreciated. However, the text at the bottom indicates that the tar that one receives in smoking the cigarette may vary depending on how one smokes it; i.e. 
inhaling or not. That’s reassuring.
Anyone interested more widely on global trends in the cigarette industry might care to visit: http://www.cigarettezoom.blogspot.com
For more pictures visit: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3099817648662.2141196.1060779322&type=1
Be informed 