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Eurostar – which provides the train service under the Channel Tunnel between the UK and the rest of Europe – has been strongly criticised for the chaos caused by severe winter weather before Christmas.

Five trains broke down in the tunnel and 2,500 people were left for hours without food and water in carriages that were dark and unventilated.

An independent report says Eurostar had not properly prepared its trains for the heavy snow on the French side. The snow got under the trains’ winter cladding and then melted as they passed into the warmth of the tunnel. The resulting condensation caused electrical problems.

The report said Eurostar had no working plan to evacuate multiple broken-down trains. The result was that passengers were left in the dark – literally and figuratively, because they were given little or no information. One of the trains was carrying families back from Disneyland, Paris. Parents had to strip children to their underwear as the heat rose in the darkened carriages.

Eurostar’s Chief Executive, Richard Brown, said the company would be investing more than £30million ($47million) in order to implement all the review’s 21 recommendations.

“I recognise that we let down a considerable number of our passengers very badly with the disruption and breakdowns before Christmas, and, once again, I’d like to say, on behalf of Eurostar, I am very, very sorry,” he said.

by Andy Moreton

The Spanish capital, Madrid, is one of a number of destinations to which the train is expected become a viable alternative to the plane within Western Europe during the next decade.

It’s thought a high-speed Paris–Madrid train link will be in place within the next two years, bringing the journey time between the two cities to 5½ hours.

Although a flight would take less than half that time, you have to add several hours for checking-in, airport security and travel to and from the city centres. The rail industry is hoping to attract passengers who are becoming disenchanted with this ‘airport hassle factor’.

The German train operator, Deutsche Bahn, is in talks with Eurotunnel about a direct train route to and from London through the tunnel, while Eurostar – which currently runs services from London St. Pancras direct to Paris and Brussels – has also made no secret of its interest in taking trains farther afield.

There would certainly be no lack of support from the respective governments as trains are seen to be more environmentally friendly than planes in short-haul travel.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a wide choice of luxury hotels in Madrid, from the traditional Westin Palace to the quirky and fun Room Mate Mario.

Parisians have been marking the 100th anniversary of the day the Seine burst its banks and filled the city with torrents of muddy water.

Thousands of residents were forced from their homes and power was cut off for months.

To commemorate the 1910 flood, Paris’s Galerie des Bibliotheques is exhibiting a collection of photos, postcards and witness accounts. Among them are sepia shots of bowler-hatted men travelling piggyback, trousers hoisted up and knee-deep in water; people pulling up to Notre Dame cathedral in boats, and food being delivered by ladder to second-floor apartment windows.

But while present-day Parisians view the old scenes with a smile, there are warnings that it could happen again – and be ten times worse, despite various flood defence measures put in place over the years.

“The flood is unavoidable,” said Louis Hubert, director for the Paris region at France’s Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development. “What we can simply say is that we are almost certain to see new considerable floods, but we don’t know when.”

Paris museums such as the Louvre have a flood plan by which priceless objects are removed to a safe house in a town north-west of Paris – if they get enough warning.

by Andy Moreton

The exhibition at Galerie des Bibliotheques is on until March 28th. And if you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic and historic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

There was something quite alarming about the revelation last week that five passengers had had their pockets picked while sleeping on an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris.

I think it was the violation of that unwritten code that, although some fellow travellers may snore, some may chat when you’re trying to read, and some may get up rather too often to visit the loo, everyone is basically honest.

The Air France-KLM Group said the incident was ‘very rare’ and wouldn’t prompt the airline to change proceedings by cabin crew, whose primary concern remained the flight’s safety.

The passengers on the Boeing 777, who were in business class, lost about £3,600 ($5,750) and the police in Paris are investigating.

An Air France spokeswoman said the airline didn’t provide a secure safe for valuables on board, and cabin crew ‘were not mandated’ to query passengers on which bags they were opening or if they were the rightful owners.

While Air France was responsible for the loss of any baggage in the hold, she said, it was up to the passengers themselves to protect money and other valuables they took on to the plane.

by Andy Moreton

The ancient wall painting fragments that caused a feud between Egypt and the Louvre Museum in Paris (see my article Luxor Relics Repatriated ) have been returned to Cairo.

The five frescoed pieces – believed to be from a 3,200-year-old tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor – arrived by air last week.

French officials had maintained that the Louvre had acquired the fragments, known as steles, in good faith. But Egypt’s antiquities department said the Louvre bought the fragments in 2000 and 2003 despite knowing they’d been stolen in the 1980s. It broke off ties with the museum in October, saying they would be restored only when the fragments had been returned.

Egypt is stepping up demands for the restitution of many relics, including the Rosetta Stone, on display in the British Museum, and the bust of Queen Nefertiti in the Neues Museum in Berlin.

“Everything which was stolen from us should be given back,” said Zawi Hawass, the head of the antiquities department.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re travelling to Luxor to see the wonders of the Valley of the Kings, take a look at Luxique’s two selected luxury hotels: the Old Winter Palace and the Hotel La Moudira.

Some evocative pieces of old Paris have been sold at auction.

The pièce de résistance of the sale, ‘Paris Mon Amour’, at the Drouot auction house, was a set of 40 original iron spiral steps from the Eiffel Tower.

“I have been thinking for many years about organising an auction concerning Paris,” said Christophe Lucien, who put the sale together.

The moment arrived when officials of Nogent-sur-Marne, east of the city, asked Lucien to sell the section of the Eiffel Tower staircase bought by the town in 1983.

“I thought that was the perfect opportunity because there is nothing more symbolic of Paris than a staircase from the Eiffel Tower,” said Lucien.

Things moved quickly. “I just spread the word and everybody started to pull out objects related to Paris from their drawers and cupboards. In almost every French family there are some souvenirs of Paris.”

Apart from the Eiffel Tower steps, the 301 lots included a taxi counter dating from around 1920, a lamp-post from the Champs-Élysées, a pair of wooden Metro (underground/subway) seats and an old rusting iron public urinal known as a vespasienne.

Perhaps the oddest lot of all was a piece of dried bread. During the siege of the famished French capital at the end of the Franco–Prussian war, someone stuck the piece of bread – then a great rarity – on a piece of cardboard. It carries the inscription: ‘Historic souvenir of 1870-1871.’

by Andy Moreton, with Associated Press

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic and historic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

More evidence of Tokyo’s place at the summit of fine dining has come with the latest issue of that culinary bible, the Michelin guide.

The guide has awarded its coveted 3-star honour to eleven restaurants in the Japanese capital – one more than Paris. It is now Michelin’s most decorated city with 261 stars spanning 197 establishments. It should be said, however, that Tokyo has some 160,000 restaurants, compared to Paris’s 50,000.

“Tokyo has become the world culinary capital, ahead of Paris,” said Jean-Luc Naret, the guide’s Director-General. He told Parisians:

“Forget everything you know about Japanese food. Just go to the other side of the world, and you will understand what Japanese food is all about.”

About two-thirds of the selected restaurants in Tokyo offer Japanese cuisine, such as soba (noodles), sukiyaki (hot pot), fugu (blowfish), sushi and tempura, while the remainder are mainly French and Italian.

by Andy Moreton

The Japanese capital is also blessed with fine places to stay. Luxique can help you secure the best rates at one of five luxury hotels in Tokyo, including the exceptional Grand Hyatt Tokyo and the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo.

I didn’t know whether to rejoice or hold my head in my hands at the news that the plane maker Airbus has sold the first two 840-seater airliners.

My first thought was: I hope there are enough toilets.

The two planes are all-economy versions of the giant A380. They’ve been sold to Air Austral, the flag carrier of Reunion in the southern Indian Ocean. The island is officially part of France, and the airline has nine flights a week to Paris.

The configuration of passengers, euphemistically known as ‘high-density’, has been certified for use by civil aviation authorities after a fire test in which 873 passengers and crew were safely evacuated in under 80 seconds.

Airbus’s Chief Operating Officer, John Leahy, said that far from people being crammed in, it would be more comfortable for them. He said the plane’s size meant there would still be wider seats, wider aisles and more space for each passenger than on its competitors.

The standard A380 recently made its maiden transatlantic flight. Air France took one of the airliners from Paris to New York with 538 passengers, 380 of whom were fans of the super-jumbo and had bid for the seats on eBay.

by Andy Moreton

Some of the most important museums in Paris have been hit by strike action. Parts of the Louvre, as well as the Pompidou Centre and the Musée d’Orsay, were closed on Wednesday.

The strikers are upset about a government policy to replace only one in two of retiring public servants. After first being applied to government ministries, it’s now being extended to organisations owned by the state, including museums. There’s a fear that this will cripple French museums.

The work stoppage began at the Pompidou modern art museum on November 23rd and unions had warned that the strike could spread.

The Louvre welcomes 8.5 million visitors a year, the Pompidou Centre 5.5 million.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique has a super selection of luxury Paris hotels – both classic and modern.

One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, La Tour d’Argent, is putting 18,000 bottles of vintage wine up for auction.

They include such sought-after tipples as Chateau Lafite Rothschild (1970, 1982 and 1997), and Chateau Cheval Blanc (1928, 1949 and 1966).

La Tour d’Argent, which enjoys an enviable position overlooking Notre Dame cathedral, is a fixture on the Paris dining circuit. It dates back to 1582 and is most famous for its pressed duck.

The bottles for sale were selected from the 450,000 or so that are kept in what is one of the world’s largest and finest cellars. The restaurant says it wants to cut down, vary and modernise its selection.

The auction, set for December 7th and 8th, has captured the imagination of France’s connoisseurs of the grape. A spokesman for the auctioneers said:

“To wine lovers, these cellars are like Mecca, like a cathedral. It’s the holy of holies.”

Some very old spirits will also be sold. When four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar, they were found to be covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur.

But they are not the oldest lots in the auction. There are three bottles of a Clos du Griffier cognac from 1788 – the year before the French Revolution. The starting price is 2,500 euros (£2,250/$3,685) a bottle.

It’s thought the whole sale will fetch up to a million euros (£900,000/ $1.47 million).

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.