AndyRob posted a video:
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/5815514576/
June 9 2011, 10:35am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/5814940305/
AndyRob posted a video:
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
June 9 2011, 10:32am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/5815494320/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
June 9 2011, 10:27am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/5815491772/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks to Paris
June 9 2011, 10:26am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
French high-speed rail on track but progress too slow on commuter lines
France’s TGV connecting with Eurostar is the envy of Europe, but the country’s commuter train services are creaking after years of under-investment
This article titled “French high-speed rail on track but progress too slow on commuter lines” was written by Dan Milmo, for The Guardian on Monday 21st March 2011 18.22 UTC If you want evidence that the French rail network isn’t all high-speed brilliance and world-class service, then pay a visit to the platforms in the bowels of Gare du Nord on a weekday morning. At only 7am commuters are vacuum-packed into carriages – it’s just like home. The most powerful person on the French railways, Guillaume Pepy, admits the system has unwanted similarities with Britain’s. Describing some of the worst pinch points around Paris, he says: “It is like Clapham Junction.” For decades France’s national rail operator, SNCF, has invested billions of euros into making its high-speed network the envy of Europe. France has 2,000km of ultra-fast track, compared with our tokenistic-looking 109km. But until recently, the country’s regional services have been neglected at the expense of their speedier cousins. Pepy, SNCF’s 52-year-old chief executive, who describes himself as an “old railway worker”, says commuters have been overlooked as a huge effort was launched to lure the long-distance traveller out of planes and cars and on to trains. “There are passenger protests every day and they are right. I would like to have mass-transit services with the same quality of service as the TGV [high-speed rail]. Let’s put all the mass transit services to the same level. If we can run 850 TGV services per day, why can we not serve millions of people at 120km per hour every day? We need more innovation, money, the best engineers. It will take five, 10 years – I don’t know. But there is no reason why we should have poor mass-transit services and brilliant TGV services.” Jean-Paul Jacquot, a vice-president at France’s rail passenger watchdog, FNAUT, tells a tale of historic under-investment that will be familiar to UK commuters. “The rail network has been neglected during the past 10 to 20 years and therefore it breaks down quite often.” Pepy talks of at least 15 “traffic jam” points around Paris – both the French and British rail networks carry more than one billion passenger journeys a year. While Pepy is turning round SNCF’s commuter arm, construction is drawing to a close on the seventh TGV line, between the eastern town of Belfort and Dijon in the centre. Despite the successful opening of the modern channel tunnel link, most of the UK’s network dates from the Victorian era. But Pepy, an alumnus of the elite École Nationale d’Administration, is too diplomatic to compare Britain’s rail network unfavourably with its continental rival. “Personally I think that sometimes you are over-criticising your own railways. You have done a lot of things. Look at what you have done in terms of rolling stock; High Speed One. It is the best [high-speed line] in terms of reliability in Europe. I have to say that it works better than in France.” Given that France and the UK are learning the same painful lesson on commuter routes – under-invest at your peril – its extensive high-speed network still makes France the example to follow in rail. Pepy takes out a “crazy but fun” map that shrinks the distance between French cities according to the speed of their TGV links. Under this form of cartography, the sprawling country resembles a clenched fist as major cities like Marseille and Strasbourg are brought within hours of the capital. “You can see that France has shrunk dramatically,” he says. “It means that the communities, business, culture, intellect, health, everything is closer than it was.” In the UK, the high-speed London-to-Birmingham route is earmarked to open in 2026 but the £17bn project has been criticised by environmentalists and business leaders as a waste of money. Pepy is sympathetic – he says France has been through the same debate “seven times” – but he is adamant that the UK will benefit from high-speed. “Everything about high-speed is related to the long-term. We build the line for 50, 70 years and the system is a long-term answer to the community’s needs. If you just consider it on a short-term basis you would not be able to find a good business case.” Looking further afield, he adds: “I am very impressed that China has the same problem. It said ten years ago are we going to develop air transportation or have a high-speed rail system? And China made the choice in favour of high-speed rail.” As agreeable as he is, surely Pepy will be drawn into a testier state by a question on fares, the great bugbear of the British rail passenger. Instead, he is sanguine. TGV fares compare favourably with airlines and up to 65% of the price of commuter fares is subsidised by local authorities. Jacquot agrees: for all the problems with non-TGV services, exorbitant cost is not one of them. Pepy adds: “It is a decision to subsidise fares instead of building new roads, which is an historical choice in France.” Recent investment in transport indicates that the UK has made the same choice, but we’re a long way from catching up with le TGV.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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March 22 2011, 8:04am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Divine decadence
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/21/divine-decadence
Glass of absinthe in hand, Jonathan Glancey takes the Eurostar to Paris to explore the art nouveau movement’s sinuous roots.
This article titled “Divine decadence” was written by Jonathan Glancey, for The Guardian on Saturday 11th March 2000 17.51 UTC In 1900, curators from the Victoria & Albert Museum took themselves to Paris to shop at the great Exposition Universelle held that year in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and along the banks of the Seine. The V&A team was not alone. More than 48m came to see the show that year. It was a marvel, featuring dual-speed travelators to take the millions around the expansive site and the African villages that with their exotic peoples and artworks inspired the young Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques. Cubism was on the way. But, what the V&A team came to see and collect for their grand pantechnicon of the decorative arts back in South Kensington, that most Frenchified part of London, were examples of art nouveau design. As a result of their trip, the V&A boasts one of the finest collections of art nouveau. This, and much more drawn from other collections, is about to go on show in what promises to be a superb blockbuster, Art Nouveau 1890-1914, curated by the V&A’s Paul Greenhalgh on its own highly decorative turf from April 6. The V&A’s role was important in the development of this florid, serpentine, self-consciously “aesthetic” style. We know that, among art nouveau designers, Emile Galle, Victor Horta and Odon Lechner visited the museum in search of inspiration. Art nouveau is loosely associated in British minds with Paris Metro entrances, the Biba fashion stores of 1970s London, and perhaps something to do with Oscar Wilde, absinthe, Aubrey Beardsley, lilies, sexy ladies writhing around lampstands and poor Ernest Dowson, the “decadent” poet whom everyone loved but of whom W B Yeats said he could imagine no world at any time in history in which Dowson would have been a success. In fact, art nouveau was an international phenomenon that raised its serpentine head in many of the great and, if not great, then industrious towns and cities of Europe, from Paris and Brussels, via Lille and Nancy, to Barcelona and then across to Turin, Venice and Vienna, back up through the Low Countries to Scandinavia and Finland. In Italy, the style was known as Stilo Liberty, in Austria and Germany as Jugendstijl, in Barcelona as Modernista. We can also include the styles known variously as National Romanticism in Scandinavia and, to a limited extent, Arts & Crafts in Britain. There is, though, very little full-blooded indigenous art nouveau in Britain. Did I hear you sigh with relief? But, if you are inspired by the V&A exhibition, where might you travel to see more? How can you pick from such a wide range of places? Let’s make it easy(ish). Sit down for a glass of absinthe or ask for a weak hock and seltzer at the Black Friar, the delightfully unspoilt art & crafts pub (H Fuller Clark, 1905) at 174 Queen Victoria Street near Blackfriars Station in the City of London. Suitably fortified, a bracing walk across the Thames will have you on board a Eurostar train bound for Paris and Brussels (and Nancy too) and on a long weekend’s tour of art nouveau architecture. You will have seen the objets d’art at the V&A. Now for the buildings. Don’t worry. This tour doesn’t have to be a marathon. It can be gently decadent. There is not a building coming up in the next few paragraphs that isn’t within a louche slouch from a café or bar. In fact you couldn’t do better than taking coffee at the Café Falstaff (E Houbion, 1903), 17-19 rue Henri Maus. Now you are within reasonably easy reach (no problems with public transport in Brussels) of some of the finest art nouveau houses of all. There’s the Solvay House, 224 Avenue Louise, built between 1895 and 1900 to the design of Victor Horta. This is the art nouveau master’s best house. Carriages once drove through the sinuous doors into the grand lobby where a top-lit stair ushered family and guests up into a suite of highly-decorated rooms, each last square millimetre worked over by the architect. A strange and impressive interior with its vegetable-like ironwork, pale orange and green paintwork, its swirling organic forms framed with a disciplined plan, the Solvay House is at the heart of art nouveau consciousness. Nearby, you’ll find the more restrained, though equally impressive, Horta House, 23-25 rue Americaine (1898-1911), designed by the architect as his own home and studio. The dining room with its shiny white-glazed tiles (the sort we associate with Victorian public lavatories) and snaking ironwork is a very strange place to sit, more like a station waiting room than a place to eat en famille. Other Horta buildings are the Waucquez department store (1906) and the Van Eetvelde House (1895-97). Back to the station. But before boarding the Paris train, pass by the nutty Saint-Cyr House, 11 square Ambiorix (Gustave Strauven, 1900). Children like this one. It is four storeys high but just one bay wide, in other words very thin, and quite bonkers. Each floor is a visual riot of swirly-whirly ironwork and gloriously over the top detailing. Richer than a Belgian chocolate. Paris. Take the Metro to Porte Dauphine (1898-1901). This station has the best of the surviving art nouveau Metro entrances that were for many years taken for granted and have now all but disappeared. They were commissioned in 1896 from Hector Guimard, a disciple of Victor Horta. Each boasts snaky graphics, The Day the Earth Stood Still ironwork and glazed canopies that resemble butterfly wings. They are painted an if-you-go-down-to-the-woods-today green. Odd but utterly, ‘ow you say, charming. Into town now for le shopping at, well, how about La Samaritaine, rue de la Monnaie, the great department store designed originally by Frantz Jourdain in art nouveau style in 1891-1907? This delightful courtyard building remains a pleasure to shop in, and you can climb to the roof for a view of tout Paris. Lots of twiddly ironwork. Yet, if it’s importantly-earnest ironwork you seek after lunch, let me recommend you the superb offices of Le Parisien Libéré, 124 rue Reamur, (Georges Chedanne, 1903-4), a handsome pile of iron and glass with flourishes of art nouveau decadence in the upper floors. Pevsner would have said that this is a precursor of the Modern Movement. As for you, you shrug your shoulders, take a pastis and carry on unconcerned. Aux Parisiennes. If you had a spare couple of days, a serpentine TGV would speed you due east to Nancy and back. Here, there are many art nouveau villas, but these have the look of Gaudi more than Horta about them, and so are well worth the trip. Antoni Gaudi, secular patron saint of Barcelona, was one of the most original architects of all time. He was certainly no decadent and is rather a different decorative kettle of fish from the “aesthetic” art nouveau designers of France and Belgium. His influence in Nancy can be seen in the wonderful, Hansel-and-Gretel Villa Marjorelle, 1 rue Louis Marjorelle (Henri Sauvage, 1901-2). The Addams family would have loved it. The weird balconies waving from the body of the house, the witch’s hat roofs, the tall, vegetable-like chimneys. The craftsmanship is superb. If you like houses with fairytale looks, don’t fail to pass along rue des Brices. This is the Villa des Glycines (Emile Andre, 1902). Underneath the beetling brow of its deep eaves, it has eyes, a nose and a big nord-et-sud. The “glycines” or wisteria, by the way, grows up around either side of the big mouthed window like a pair of sweet-smelling moustaches. There are plenty more art nouveau houses in Nancy, and anyway it’s good to have the excuse to stroll around a city that few tourists bother with. Just before we return to Paris, remember to pass by the Hermant House, 25 rue de Malzeville (Jacques-René Hermant, 1904) and the Villa Marguerite, 3 rue du Colonel-Renard (Gutton and Hornecker, 1905). Back in Britain, there just isn’t much art nouveau to see. Architecture, I mean. There are a few oddities such as the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1899-1901), east London and the Horniman Museum (1896-1900), south-east London, both by Charles Harrison Townsend, but the interiors are muted even though what you’ll see on show at both is never a disappointment. Back to the grand corridors and galleries of the V&A. And dreams of future trips planned to perhaps Vienna (the works of Klimt, Olbrich, Hoffmann), Barcelona (Gaudi), Prague, Budapest, Moscow… The tentacles of art nouveau spread far and wide. Enough to keep those with a taste for Lalique, Daum Frères and Tiffany glass, Mucha posters, Hoffmann cutlery and chairs by the decidedly decadent Rupert Carabin deep in timetables and maps for the next few years. And should you, like so many Brits, find art nouveau a little hard on the eyes, a small tincture of the right stuff might help you to see its fronds and curls more kindly. Absinthe, after all, makes the heart grow fonder. The practicals Magic Cities (020 8728 7575) offers city breaks travelling on Eurostar. One night in Paris at the 3 star Hotel Veronese from £99 (extra night £20). One night in Brussels at the 3 star Van Belle from £115 (extra night £25).
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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March 21 2011, 4:40pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
London to Frankfurt high-speed rail link back on track for Eurostar Deals to Germany
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/20/londontofrankfurt-highspeedrail-germaneurostardeals
Deutsche Bahn plans to run 200mph trains from London to Frankfurt, Cologne, Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 2013 for German Eurostar Deals. Safety concern about having an electric motor engine underneath every carriage as the trains travels through the Channel tunnel are to be swept aside in a rush for truly pan-european high speed rail travel, more than just Paris breaks.
This article titled “London to Frankfurt high-speed rail link back on track” was written by Dan Milmo, for The Guardian on Sunday 20th March 2011 17.45 UTC Plans to transport 1 million rail passengers a year between Frankfurt and London are back on track as an independent report prepares to back German rail operator Deutsche Bahn in a row over Channel tunnel safety. DB’s ambition to launch a Teutonic Eurostar has been threatened by French objections to the state-of-the-art rolling stock it plans to use in the tunnel. David Cameron and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, are believed to have raised their concerns about the row with the French government, amid fears that it will hinder the growth of pan-European high speed rail services. However, this week the European Railways Agency is expected to endorse new trains manufactured by Siemens, the German industrial group, which beat France’s Alstom to a coveted Eurostar rolling stock order. The order for inter-city express (ICE) trains, which will also be used by DB in its Frankfurt-to-London service, met with opposition on the other side of the tunnel. The French government supported Alstom’s argument that the Siemens trains are unsafe because their motors are distributed under each carriage. The row split the Anglo-French intergovernmental commission (IGC) on channel tunnel safety, which resulted in the ERA being asked for a second opinion. Sources close to the process said the ERA is likely to recommend that so-called “distributed power” trains can be used in the tunnel, clearing the way for the ICE carriages. It is also understood that the report will not raise objections to DB’s proposal to couple two separate trains – a proposal that raised safety concerns in some quarters. As a consequence, the IGC is expected to come under further pressure to allow the ICE trains to operate through the tunnel. DB plans to run 200mph trains from London to Frankfurt, Cologne, Amsterdam and Rotterdam from December 2013, expanding the rail market between Britain and the continent by 10% by carrying 1 million passengers a year.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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Related posts:Leeds to Paris in four hours – but high-speed rail plan faces protests Eurostar Paris trains from London getting busier Eurostar sponsors crowdsourcing
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March 20 2011, 1:41pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
What does this sign mean?
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/09/11/what-does-this-sign-mean
Eurostar Breaks to Lille
Originally uploaded by AndyRob
You can treat this as a caption competition if you like, as I was genuinely baffled as to what exactly was being forbidden here.
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September 11 2010, 9:19am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948193287/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 11:00am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948191737/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 10:59am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948778676/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 10:58am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948186479/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 10:57am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948773990/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 10:56am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948181825/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks Lille
September 1 2010, 10:55am | Comments »
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I posted to flickr.com
Eurostar Breaks to Lille
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroberts/4948121937/
AndyRob
Eurostar Breaks to Lille
September 1 2010, 10:32am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Ash Grounds Planes, Rest Of World Cut Off
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/04/17/ash-grounds-planes-rest-of-world-cut-off
The rest of the world remains isolated today as the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull eruption continues to ground nearly all flights in or out of UK airports for a third day. People are only just starting to understand the implications of this drastic shit down for the airline industries and for the wider economy, and to think twice about how reliant so many human activities have become on air freight and passenger services. If you want to get back to the UK today there are only two ways to do it – by taking to the now crowded international (eg Dover – Calais) ferry routes or through the channel tunnel by Eurostar or shuttle. @HeathrowAirport No flights arriving or departing from Heathrow until 6am tomorrow, at the earliest. Next update due at 8pm this evening #ashtag The obvious advice during this unprecedented period is not to set off without a booking, and if due to fly next week, keep checking the flight news before leaving for the airport. Nobody knows how long it will take to get everything back to normal, or how long the ash cloud will persist. The volcano is still emitting plumes of ash and the weather conditions remain stable with the dangerous (to jet engines) cloud spreading all over the UK and Europe.
For people who aren’t planning on going anywhere the skies are uniquely empty of aircraft noise and jet trails bringing a surprising tranquility to areas which don’t normally think of themselves as bothered by flight paths, and for photographers the light conditions are perceptively different, with unbroken hazy blue sky scapes. @MarinaPepper Deeply textured bird song – no deep rumbling roar or whining. Hadn’t realised how horrid Gatwick noise was even here in #Lewes #ashtag
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April 17 2010, 2:18am | Comments »
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I posted to hubpages.com
Paris Breaks
http://hubpages.com/hub/Paris-Breaks
Notre Dame viewed from the Batobus I think possibly the most useful thing you can learn about Paris breaks is that you don't necessarily need to book the whole package in advance. Paris is a city which has...
December 9 2009, 8:35am | Comments »
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