Both Eurostar and TGV in France have more first class seats than passengers prepared to pay for them. This creates an opportunity to travel more comfortably at only a little extra cost.
British Airways calls it Premuim Economy and I never think it’s worth upgrading but on trains it is perhaps worth it because you get a first class seat and usually a quieter carriage as families tend not to upgrade. When Robert went on Eurostar he had a roomy seat, a quiet carriage and free drinks. I came Standard class and had a cramped seat in a noisy carriage.
From Paris to Lyon we were in Comfort class and it was excellent. My ony quibble is that last time I was on a train in France it was during a football tournament and no alcohol was on offer. After lunch at a brasserie near Gare de Lyon I was looking forward to a digestif but no cigar, so to speak. I had to make do with a couple of airline style bottles of rosé.
Today (Saturday) it drizzled so a good moment to visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts which is chock-full of stupendous stuff. Before you have even parted with your money, a modest Euros 8, there is a 17th century refectory transported from the Benedictine monastery Saint-Pierre.
Then you are spoilt for choice. There is everything from the doorway to an Egyptian temple to a Francis Bacon with Greek and Roman statuary and an enviable picture collection in between.
What gave me a thrill was seeing work by Albert Gleizes. He is a contemporary of Georges Braques and Pablo Picasso but undeservedly a rung below them. He has been shown at the Guggenheim in New York and I saw one in Lisbon but he doesn’t often make the cut. I’m interested in him because he taught Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone in Paris in the 1920s and I have a something by him – a pochoir or stencil, not an original painting. If you’d like to know more about him and Mainie and Evie read My Four Green Fields.
Here is a selection of his pictures on display in Lyon that Robert snapped.
And then there is the shop. I’m a sucker for repro stuff in museum shops and here’s what I bought today; Lapin Courant by François Pompon.
