Right in front of my hotel in Luzern (aka Lucerne) was a bus stop where every five minutes (during peak hours) a 24-meter double-articulated electric trolleybus glided in silently and stopped to discharge and pick up passengers. Since I was there during a heat wave which made cycling unattractive, and Read More …
When I got back to my hotel in Paris it was nearly two in the morning and I was wide awake from an invigorating bicycle ride, so instead of going straight to bed I fired up my netbook to see what had transpired on VirtualTourist during my absence. It happened Read More …
The train trip to Bois-Colombes takes all of nine minutes from Saint Lazare station in Paris on the J-line of the Transilien. There is only one stop along the way, at Asnières-sur-Seine, since the J-trains go through the station Pont Cardinet without stopping. The cost for a one-way ticket is Read More …
Around the edges of Paris there are at least fifty-six intersections whose names begin with Porte, meaning Gate. Seventeen of these, including the Porte de Versailles, were the main gates in a defensive wall that was built around Paris from 1841 to 1844. This wall was the largest and last Read More …
The Petite Ceinture de Paris (Small Belt of Paris) is a 32 kilometer double-tracked railway that was built from 1852 to 1869, encircling Paris just inside the current boundaries of the city. Its original purpose was to transfer freight between the various railroad lines coming into Paris from different directions, Read More …
Somehow I thought Hampstead would be a great distance from the center of London, but it turns out to be only an eleven-minute ride on the Northern Line from the underground station King’s Cross St. Pancras, with stops at Euston, Camden Town, Chalk Farm and Belsize Park. By this time Read More …
It’s only a short walk from the town of Belfort to the top of the citadel, and the climb is not very challenging even for someone of my advanced age. But for those with mobility issues, or those travelling with small children, or those who arrive in the middle of Read More …
This is a handy little booklet that I still carry around in my jacket pocket or the outer pocket of my camera bag, along with my mobile phone. Although the same information is accessible both ways, I often find it quicker and easier to use the booklet, rather than the Read More …
The Festungsbahn going up to the fortress overlooking Salzburg is Austria’s oldest funicular railway that is still in operation. It was built in 1892, and now takes people up from the city to the fortress in just 54 seconds. The lower station, on the Festungsgasse, is where you can buy tickets, Read More …
Like most French cities, Nancy had a well-functioning system of tramways, on metal tracks, for over three-quarters of a century, in this case from 1874 to 1958. In the 1950s the trams were phased out in favor of cars, which were very much in fashion at the time, supplemented only Read More …