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Fréjus Tunnel that connects France and Italy to close this weekend
The tunnel will close for 12 hours and not the 56 hours originally announced
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TotalEnergies opens service station for electric vehicles in Paris
It is the first of its kind in the capital and has ultra-fast charging
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Conductors on French public transport will soon be able to check your address
Move is part of anti-fraud plans to prevent people from giving false information during fines including on SNCF trains
Land-locked liner becomes museum
Lying on the Grand Plage at Port-Barcarès for the past 50 years, the former cruise liner Lydia, one of the oldest in the world, is being steered away from its former life as a tourist attraction plus disco, casino and restaurant to be made into a museum.
Called the ‘Eiffel Tower’ of the Pyrénées-Orientales coastline, the liner has been restored and new decks opened to give visitors a taste of the high-life when it was a favourite of honeymooners in Australia.
Built in 1931 and called the Moonta, she sailed the southern seas and was sold after the war for Mediterranean cruises and renamed Lydia before being bought for the seaside resort as a new attraction.
Tugs took her from Marseille and beached her on bare sand where she had several lives being a ‘must’ for the jet-set and showbiz stars with a casino, disco and restaurant but also as a filming location.
Now called the Paquebot des Sables (Liner of the Sands) the restoration features her monumental staircase, the oak-lined salons and even her original teak deck, 8cm thick, with visitors able to see the officers’ cabins in the museum of a bygone age.