The 2024 Summer Olympics
The venue for the 2024 Summer Olympics, will be decided on the 13th of September this year.
The candidate cities are Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris.
Could President Trump be the man who actually decides, which city gets the Games?
His Welcome to America policies could be all Los Angeles needs to have a failed bid. Would any Muslim country vote for Los Angeles.
I have worries too about the Budapest bid, as the current Government there isn’t that popular in parts of the EU.
So does that mean Paris is a shoe-in? But what would be Marine Le Pen’s view?
I suppose Riyadh could make a last-minute bid!
Building Railways In The UK Is Easy
I have just read this article on Global Rail News, which is entitled French Senate approves Lyon-Turin rail link.
That sounds easy until you read this from the Wikipedia entry.
Test drilling found some internally stressed coal-bearing schists that are poorly suited for a tunnel boring machine, and old-fashion Drilling and blasting will be used for the short corresponding sections.
It is not going to be a simple tunnelling job. It is more akin to some of the eighteenth and nineteenth century tunnels through the Pennines. Except that the tunnel will be 57 kilometres long and modern explosives are better.
It will carry a lot of freight, in addition to passengers from Paris and Lyon to Northern Italy.
But I doubt, I’ll ever be able to take a High Speed Train from London to Milan, as I’ll be long gone before everything is completed.
By TGV Est From Strasbourg To Paris
This was a two hour twenty minute trip on the top deck of a TGV on the LGV Est, which is one of the fastest lines in Europe. It cost me around £57 for the nearly 400 km. And that was a walk-up fare. London to Newcastle would probably cost me about £121 booked off-peak at a walk-up.
The train was regularly cruising at just over 300 kph.
Still Remembering Charlie!
I passed through Republic and took these photos in the square, that I visited soon after the atrocities a few weeks ago.
I haven’t changed my stance, that there was nothing that could excuse the murder of the staff of Charlie Hebdo.
A Quick Crepe And Then The Eurostar Home!
I’d booked myself on the last Eurostar back to London and I just had time for a crepe and some cider at Cafe Breizh, near the Metro station of Saint-Sébastien – Froissart, which is just two stops south of Republique on Line 8.
A Quick Crepe At Cafe Breizh
I made the mistake though of trying a new route to the Gare du Nord using Line 4. It didn’t take any longer but I spent twenty minutes finding my way to the Eurostar terminal, as the signage from that line was poor to say the least.
Of the three direct Eurostar destinations that I have used in Europe; Brussels, Lille and Paris, the French capital’s terminal seems to have been designed with the sole purpose of persuading passengers, that they are better off staying in the city. I can’t wait until direct services to Marseilles start!
A Diversion In Paris
As I had some time in Paris, I went to look at their first tram-train line, T4.
I didn’t ride the tram-train, as it was very crowded and I couldn’t find out how you bought a ticket.
But as it appeared the tram-trains were the same as those in Mulhouse, it was an experience I could pass.
The trams run from Bondy on RER Line E to Aulnay sous Bois on RER Line B.
My Second Paris Transport Day Ticket
This is the second ticket that I used to get a day’s travel in Paris.
My Second Paris Transport Day Ticket
The first one fell apart when it rained, so I had to exchange it for another.
Paris has a system called Navigo, which is very much the same as London’s Oyster. But Paris doesn’t seem to offer contactless payment with a bank debit or credit card and I can’t find any plans for them to do so.
Surely, every public transport system in the world should be moving towards contactless bank card ticketing.
Paper ticketing for transport is so nineteenth century.
I know I like the UK’s orange credit-sized rail tickets, but then they fit everybody’s wallet and are understandable by everyone and the newest ones are computer readable, by your standard scanner.
I suspect that Londoners planning a weekend away, will look at the ticketing in their possible destinations and might choose one where contactless bank cards can be use as tickets.
If I was a world dictator, one of the things I’d do is make all buses, trams and trains accept contactless bank cards as tickets. It must surely create lots of jobs in tourism, as people would travel more, if they knew that when they ended up in say Tokyo, Helsinki or Belgrade, all they needed was work out the map of the trains and not bother with the ticketing.
Searching For Food In Paris
I know quite a few good places to eat in Paris, but partly because it was Tuesday and my favourite creperie was closed for January, I ended up not finding anywhere to eat.
Searching the Internet I found this bakery and restaurant called NoGlu. But you’ve guessed it! It was closed, but I was able to take pictures.
Next time I go, I’ll give it a try. It’s certainly got good rcviews on Trip Advisor.
In the end I had a very nice steak and chips at a cafe near the Gare du Nord, called Paris Nord Cafe. They weren’t specifically gluten-free, but they knew how to make sure my meal was safe.
A Gallery I Wish I’d Missed
I regretted going to the Musee D’Orsay, as I was tired after my walk and it wasn’t a gallery that was easy to visit, if you were in your sixties and showing the odd sign of wear and tear.
Compared to the Louvre, it was very second rate, with no working lifts and no escalators, and steps everywhere, which would make it probably a no-go for many.
In some ways if your compare it to the Louvre, the four Tates, the Royal Academy and the Louvre, the layout is very 1980s and the Musee D’Orsay desperately needs an update to bring it up to modern standards.
It also annoyed me that photography is not allowed, so I was unable to take pictures of the building, which was one of my reasons for going.
I also felt that the Sade exhibition was rather pretentious, long winded, cramped into a too small exhibition space and badly presented.
It certainly wasn’t good value at I think eleven euros with no senior discount.
Walking Along The Seine
After Republique, I took the Metro to the Bir Hakeim, with the aim of having a river cruise. I didn’t see a boat running or anybody to ask, but a notice said there had been floods, so I just walked along the Seine to the Musee D’Orsay.
It was a pleasant walk for much of the route, but it was rather devoid of any information on nearby Metro stations, so I probably walked further than I intended.
The Anonymous Widower 