Exploring is Beautiful
Today is le pont, the day after a holiday where many French continue their long weekend, and seemed a good excuse for a vicarious getaway for the rest of us. Yesterday Caitlin sent over information about Eurostar‘s special summer service that takes passengers from London directly to the historic city of Avignon in the south of France. That’s the thing I love most about trains, they take you to the heart of where you want to be, dropping you into the city without hidden costs of getting the station. While she wrote to tell me about the Avignon service [below], I found myself drawn to all the videos which are part of the “Exploring is Beautiful” campaign. The Paris one [top] especially charmed me with a visit to Belleville, and along Canal St. Martin suggesting a more “local Paris” than one would typically associate taking the train to see tourist sites. The videos not only showcase the ease of train travel, but they share a new destination.
I’m finding more and more I’m drawn to projects like this which give meaning to what they are selling. And it seems like – in Europe at least – transportation companies are doing interesting things. (Europe by Eurostar seems to be another site attempting to engage travels). What do you think? Seen anything else of interest lately?
Brigid *FrenchLogic
June 3, 2011 at 1:06 pm //
Honestly, Anne, you post some of the best videos! I could (and will) watch these over and over. I so wish the States had train service like this, imagine all the places you could go!
Prêt à Voyager
June 3, 2011 at 5:21 pm //
Thanks, Brigid! Glad you thought they were engaging too!
Anne
risamay
June 3, 2011 at 6:50 pm //
Campaigns like this are lovely, indeed.
I’m no videographer, but I’m a huge fan of train travel. This is a little video I posted from my recent trip to Liguria, in Italy. Shot on the train with my iPod. And not terribly exciting, but here it is anyway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5d2mfiHQxU
This Time Now
June 5, 2011 at 3:40 pm //
I always learn something new here on your blog. This was just lovely.
Tom - Europe by Eurostar
June 20, 2011 at 2:35 pm //
Thanks for the post, looks good!
As you’ve enjoyed these, check out some longer versions of each one on the Europe by Eurostar blog too: http://europe.eurostar.com/?s=michael+smith&x=0&y=0
Let us know what you think!