Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder, coming to you for the first time from the centre of the universe.

Yes, I have tracked it down. Well, not everybody agrees that this is exactly the centre of the universe but Salvador Dali did and if you enjoy his

surrealist work then I'm sure you would agree to the location is pretty much the southernmost

city in mainland France beautiful Pepignon actually a very Catalan city, the kind of third in the

Trinity from Barcelona to Gerona to Pepinion. Anyway, in 1965, approximately, Salvador Dali had a

cosmogonic experience. That's all to do with how and where and why the universe started.

Anyway, it informed him that experience that the location was Cleopinion Station. I'm just walking into it now.

It's an interesting station because just above the main atrium there is a very interesting painting.

It doesn't look quite darling like, but it's very attractive, all kinds of strange goings-on,

mystical figures.

So maybe it is, does owe something to the great master.

There's a work station, very nice.

You plug in your laptop, you plug in your mobile phone and recharge it,

all very nice while you're waiting for your train.

Three ticket machines, two of them not working. One of them is working,

but you need to have a, not just a degree in French, but a degree in the strange machinations

of the people who designed it. It's, if you,

I'm going to bring back something from the 1980s,

the ZDX Spection.

It's as though they've imported the same operational

expertise as that.

Oh, here comes my train.

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