Letter from France, part 2

Frederic continues his monthly round-up of the art, cuture and heritage scene in France

In the footsteps of Jean Cocteau

One of the appeals of Menton on the French Riviera is the largest museum dedicated to the works of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), a famous French artist who died fifty years ago. Frederic exolores the museum and the three towns forever linked with his work.

Trading Standards

From the website:

“The Trading Standards Institute is a not-for-profit professional body formed in 1881. We have members in the public and private sectors in the UK and abroad.

TSI encourages honest enterprise and business and helps safeguard the economic, environmental, health and social well-being of consumers.”

The delights of Durban

Lark Ellen Gould reveals why Durban – aka South Africa’s seaside playground – repays a visit

Britain’s Attractions in 2009

The figures for what we visited last year have been released by ALVA, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. Between their 42 members, they are responsible for nearly 1,600 different attractions. But not every attraction is a member and not every member provides figures so there could be more popular places around.
Last year more of us visited their attractions than ever before. The figures were up by nearly 11% over 2009 which may not be that surprising given that 2009 was a year when more of us holidayed at home.
Rather obviously, those that didn’t make an entry charge filled the top 5 positions with the British Museum being the leading attraction in the country with over 5.5 million visits.

Tourism and Armed Services Day

Today at over 350 events across our countries, Armed forces day will be celebrated. In some cases it happens tomorrow as well. There will be march pasts by different regiments and crowds are expected, despite the heat, to turn out to acknowledge the efforts that the armed services provide.
Forget for a moment, the obvious role of the armed forces and consider their humanitarian role. When disaster strikes the services go in to rescue people, shore up local services and provide some comfort. Tourists and visitors have often had cause to thank the services for their roles in getting them out of tight spots

Honduras: a central American country of Mayan Ruins, lush forests and Caribbean beaches

Honduras is very much off the beaten tourist track ,yet it boasts fantastic Mayan sculptures at Copan and the lush tropical island of Roatan, writes Rupert Parker