Briançon Old Town – A Guided Visit (Part 2)

Continue your trip through the old town of Briançon with Darren and myself.

In Part 2, while it is time for a quintessential French lunch, you will discover; what is in Darren’s bag, learn more about Vauban, just how did Charles de Batz de Castelmore, better known as d’Artagnan die and, whatever you do, always avoid living in the shade.

The ingredients to this film were inspired by me as much younger guide once giving tours of Vauban’s château in Burgundy, then years later ending up living in Briançon itself (In The Shadow of Genius – Living Underneath Vauban) and now finding myself back in the area. Add to a dose of 2020/21 and both Darren and I having some time on our hands, we thought; ‘why not make a short film?’ So we did…

A few years ago I had the idea to create a sort of TV series for the 150th year anniversary of the publication of the fabulous; The Innocents Abroad, by Mark Twain. Following in the footsteps of that famous cruise. I got so far as pitching it to a producer, who – in a kinder manner than it sounds – told me; ‘the trouble is – you are nobody‘. What he meant is, I am not famous, not a celebrity. It has always frustrated me that so often on TV people travelling and showing us the world are celebrities from all sorts of other fields – football, acting, music – anything but actual tour guiding it seems. Granted some are good, but many are not. My grudge has always been that just because I am – shall we say, a decent? tour guide – I am not granted a cameo on the left wing for Manchester Utd. So why should some footballer be chosen over me (or my colleagues) to be your TV travel guides? How about having someone that actually knows their field instead? See my point?

Anyway, rant over so take another 8 minute break out of your day, sit back and press PLAY.

I hope to see you all back for the concluding Part 3, tomorrow (same place, roughly same time).

Tips for optimum viewing:

  1. Press the little cog (down on the right) and pick the highest number your internet speed allows.
  2. Then press the perforated square (further right) and watch on full screen.

Happy Viewing – hope you enjoy…

~ by 2ndcupoftea on May 22, 2021.

6 Responses to “Briançon Old Town – A Guided Visit (Part 2)”

  1. Hi Thomas, Sean here again… Re your comments about not being famous enough for a TV tour guide channel. I watch a lot, especially in lock down, of travel videos on YouTube. Some done by actual tour guides, some not. All have there own style etc, some very much better than others, some have no knowledge of the area or city they are in. But many get thousands even 10s of thousands of views. I think that you are very good in front of the camera, added to you knowledge I think it’s worthwhile you keep posting trips on YouTube. It could take a while to build up a ‘fanbase’ but long term you could see it build and hell you may even get paid by YouTube for them!

    • Thanks heaps Sean. You certainly seem knowledgable about this. I intend to keep making these when I can. This one, in terms of quality, is a bit of a one off as Darren is obviously very good at this stuff and has all the gear. Mine will be a little (a lot more) basic… but they are fun to do 😉

  2. It’s all about the content and the presenter and I think you have both. A lot of these people just use smart phones and the quality is fine. Quite a few do it live too but I don’t think you need to do that.

    • I have bought some very basic kit to be able to film myself doing it. Let’s see. Thanks for the encouragement…

  3. Thanks for another enjoyable episode including the backpack reveal. It looked like a yummy lunch. I appreciated the additional city history lesson, from explanations about protective fortifications to sundials and learning the fate of poor d’Artagnan.

    • Thank you as always Peggy – it is very kind of you to watch and especially to take the time to make a comment. Keeps me going. Many hugs

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