A Tale of Two Cities

[lstone19]

I was looking at the US Sttae Department travel website yesterday, and it said the Norway and Switzerland were part of the Schengen area.

That's what I said. They're Schengen (so no immigration (passport) check when entering from another Schengen country) but not EU so officially, Customs inspection of your goods (but in reality, very, very rarely unless you go in the "something to declare" lane).

For further clarity, when you fly to a Schengen country via another Schengen, you clear Immigration at the connecting airport. But Customs is always at the final airport. At EU airports, there will generally be three lanes - red "something to declare, "green" nothing to declare, and blue "intra-EU travel exempt." Checked baggage tags from within the EU have a green stripe along the edge that helps make it obvious. From our experience at Stockholm, the red "something to declare" lane was actually the door into the Customs office while the green and blue lanes were combined as the "walk on by the office" corridor. Note also that "something to declare" means you believe you owe Customs duty. You do not need to make a declaration if what you have is covered by your exemptions.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Traveling in 1972 has more in common with 1954 than it does with 2024.


I've had tedious and annoying entries into the US, but that's nothing compared to entering Canada as a Texan. Every other country was a cakewalk by comparison.

I hear you Chris!

Some of the Canadian Border people( my Canadian friends and family always said that the female ones were the toughest) can be rather abrupt and condescending, but having lived in, and visited Canada, many,many times, I never experienced a single time where they were as obnoxious and unfriendly as the East German border guards ( in the Cold War times)and some of the American ones @ various points of entry! YMMV

 

[MARC Rider]

That's what I said.

You are right. I need to learn to read.

 

[Willbridge]

South of Paris and around Paris is relatively old DC electrification. North of Paris in France is mostly 25kV 50Hz so probably post mid-50s. And of course all the LGV are 25kV too, and of course those are relatively very new.

Here is a good Wikipedia article on the history of the electrification of SNCF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_electrification_in_France

Far south of Paris in March 1970 heading toward the Pyrenees from Narbonne.

 

[Traveller]

Far south of Paris in March 1970 heading toward the Pyrenees from Narbonne.

View attachment 37040

Do you know exactly where that is?

 

[cirdan]

Do you know exactly where that is?

It looks like the Etangs de Mer on the coastal line between Montpellier and Perpignan.

Look for the station called "Leucate la Franqui" on Google maps (it might be more precise if you type "Leucate la Franqui gare"). Switch to satellite mode and Identify the rail line. Then scroll up and down the coast (especially to the north) and you will find several locations a bit like this.

Edit: The gentle curve in the photo might point towards a location called "Etang du chariot" some way North of Leucate towards Narbonne.

 

[Willbridge]

Here's where we changed engines from electric to steam -- Narbonne -- for the journey to the Spanish border.


The stretch with steam power with water on both sides is south of Narbonne and north of Perpignan.

 

[Traveller]

It looks like the Etangs de Mer on the coastal line between Montpellier and Perpignan.

Look for the station called "Leucate la Franqui" on Google maps (it might be more precise if you type "Leucate la Franqui gare"). Switch to satellite mode and Identify the rail line. Then scroll up and down the coast (especially to the north) and you will find several locations a bit like this.

Edit: The gentle curve in the photo might point towards a location called "Etang du chariot" some way North of Leucate towards Narbonne.

Can't find this location but wonder if one side was a recently flooded salt pan which creates the effect of lake/sea (etang/mer) both sides of the track in the photo?

Whatever, it's a really interesting photo.