(Not a transport post. Skip this if you’re not interested in my other ramblings.) Have been busy, but here is a follow-up on a post from when I last bought a phone – an iPhone 13 in late 2021, which is now coming up to 4 years old. What’s that in dog years? My aim ... [More]
Good morning Barcelona! After breakfast we headed to the Picasso museum, which included a walk through an extraordinarily long tunnel in Passeig de GrĂ cia station. The Picasso museum is undergoing renovation, but most of it was open, and we wandered around looking at some amazing pieces, then had a beverage in the cafe. After that ... [More]
It was our first full day in Barcelona, and there was heaps to explore. First we walked to a nearby market to find some fresh fruit, bread and cheese. These had been plentiful everywhere we went in France, especially the bread and cheese. The market was good, had plenty of stalls and a wide range. ... [More]
A morning of train delays, but we got there in the end
A visit to the historic city, the Palace of the Popes, the bridge, and a murmuration of starlings!
Another day exploring Arles in Provence, France
Good morning Arles! We headed out to the nearby MusĂŠe dĂŠpartemental Arles antique – a museum about the history of the area, but some especially interesting exhibits about Roman times. The centrepiece is a Gallo-Roman barge found in the river nearby in 2003. Fascinating. Short stay home rentals in Europe have been problematic. The locals ... [More]
In our last exciting instalment, SNCF had cancelled one of our trains for today. I’d scoured the web, and worked out an alternative plan to get us from Lyon to Arles. Originally it had been: This latter train was the one that was cancelled, and although it’s fairly a short journey, there didn’t seem to ... [More]
One more full day in Lyon before we move on. We walked down to a bus stop just outside the Lyon Perrache station. I couldn’t help but notice the interesting wiring on the outside of the adjacent building while we waited for our bus. We caught the bus to the Gadagne building, which dates back ... [More]
Another day in Lyon, and we’d heard about a riverside market not too far away, so made that our first port of call. The old centre of Lyon sits between two rivers – the RhĂ´ne (which runs through Switzerland and France) and the SaĂ´ne, which flows into it just south at La Confluence. We were ... [More]
Good morning Lyon! Some Googling overnight, and I felt like we could navigate the local public transport. Step one: the Lyon Metro. It’s got four lines and 42 stations, and carries a similar number of passenger trips as Melbourne’s suburban rail system – pretty good going for a metropolitan area with about half Melbourne’s population. ... [More]
A couple of newish things in the world of public transport info that have flown under the radar. Metro now has realtime info for rail replacement buses. Perhaps it’s a soft launch because I can’t see a link to the info on the excellent Planned Works page on their web site. Instead, if you browse ... [More]
As the Louvre gets raided, we head out of town at high speed
Good morning Paris! We took a morning walk to find some baked goods for the excursion later. At 9am on a Saturday, the streets were pretty quiet, even at the famous Moulin Rouge. Moulin is French for mill, by the way, eg red (wind) mill. It was our last full day in Paris, but we’d ... [More]
More sights in Paris
Another fine Paris morning. We hopped on the Metro… I was beginning to think everything in Paris is about 30 minutes away: a 10 minute walk to the Metro, a 10 minute Metro ride, and a 10 minute walk at the other end… but of course it was a product of where we were staying ... [More]