I'm not too sure what to make of Jean Cocteau. Wikipedia has him as "poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist, acrobat and filmmaker*" - but that's not quite what I mean. privileged dilletante who knew a lot of important folk, or genius? The new museum in his honour in Menton is rather splendid though.

(* "acrobat" is an invention of my own - apologies to Wikipedia, although I could have edited the article and maybe no-one would have noticed)

Just a photo

I can state with some confidence that I won't be the harbinger of breaking news if I tell you that it is cold in Zurich.

The Lake however, unlike every other bit of exposed water, has not frozen. I read somewhere that it needs temperatures consistently below -10C for 40 days to achieve this. While it is hovering around this figure at the moment, and has been for a few days, if it persists for over a month it will take more than the wholesale freezing of the Zurichsee to cheer me up.

How people in Canada or Russia or wherever survive when the mercury dips to -30C or -40C for prolonged periods is beyond me.

A source of controversy when it was built (in 1989) the Louvre pyramid has probably become the international icon of Paris's mega-museum-gallery. I doubt if many people would recognise the Louvre from any of the other (many) architectural views.

I like it, and as well as an icon, it did solve a unique architectural problem - that of access to the Louvre.

I hadn't been to the Louvre for almost 20 years, and I have to say - words fail me.

Hmmm, another bicycle shot. Maybe I'm getting obsessive...

There are several cafes and restaurants in Zurich main station, however I've always notionally called this one "the buffet". It has been the starting point of many journeys for me, and so I'm a bit sentimental about it and its old fashioned ambience. It recently re-invented itself with an Italian flavour as Pizzeria Atrio. It looks and feels pretty much the same, the decor hasn't changed, the food is Italian, which is fine by me, but they used to have old Parisian-style posters on the wall - like this one - which have been replaced by big photos advertising Moretti beer. Personally I don't think B+W photos of this type work in large formats, and being an old conservative I preferred the old ones

One of the many votive churches in Venice - maybe the last one I think, but I could be wrong

I'll let you investigate that yourselves - what's plain is that it's a big shift from the stout traditional "Stadt Zürich" and "Stadt Rapperswil"

NB Scotland did actually beat Liechtenstein - not by much though

This photo is from the far side of the island, looking out over the lagoon

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