Tour de France souveniers

If you fancy Le Tour and stationary you can get this yellow pencil case from the official Tour de France webshop. Being the 100th Tour it is even more tempting.

You can keep in it pencils and fountain pens, or if it is not your cup of tea you can store your energy bars, rice cookies, and suncream.

Tour de France souveniers

The 100th tour just spent some time in the mountains and valleys of the region Savoie in France. A lot of things happened, even shortened stages due to meteo conditions, snow in July.

The entrance in the Savoie region happened with the climb on Col du Galibier, 2642 m. From the end of the 18th stage until the 20th stage Le Tour visits very beautiful places and hard climbs: Col de l'Iseran, Val Thorens.

Col du Galibier: Lenght 18 km/ height 2642 m/ gradient 7%/ total elevation gained 1245 m

Col de l'Iseran: Length 16 km/ height 2764 m/ gradient 5.9%/ total elevation gained 950 m

Val Thorens: Length 36,5 km/ height  2233 m/ gradient 4.9%/ total elevation gained 1906 m

So why not get a souvenir from Savoie, from the well-known knifemaker Opinel.

An engraved Opinel for 24$

or a distinctive shirt color Opinel (yellow, polka dot or green)

Bic Galet eraser test

Another post, another eraser, another test
This time the BIC Galet eraser is put to the test against polymer HB and 2B, lead from HB to 6B, charcoal, and color pencils. A standard copy machine paper was used, nothing fancy.

The Galet is a soft eraser comparable with the Factis S20, but not as grippy. It has a large oval size and does not come with a protective paper wrapping.
It did a fantastic job on the paper, erasing with no problem the polymer leads (rOtring), and the leads HB to 6B (Koh I Noor except the 3B which is Faber Castell). It has the tendency to smudge the lead a bit, so if you have to make precise passes it might not be the best in the bunch.
It did a very nice job on the charcoal, even though it did not erase it completely most of it is gone. Even the colored pencils were no match for this Bic beast. A very faint trace of color is left on the paper. It outperformed the Factis S20 in the erasing test.
But it has negative points in my opinion. The first is the price. It is way higher than the Factis S20, at almost 1 euro per piece. For this amount of money, you can get about 3 Factis S20 or 2 Faber Castell Dust Free.
Like the Factis it produces a large amount of erasing dust.

You can also check out Factis S20 review and an eraser competition

Accessorize - fountain pen and watch combo

I think this is a bit of an extravaganza when it comes to watches and fountain pens. Both the watch and the fountain pen are hard to get as they are not in production anymore (Seiko actually announced that they will reissue the watch)
I am talking about the Seiko Alien watch worn by Ripley in the Aliens movie, designed by Giugiaro.

In my mind, I immediately thought maybe there is an equally interesting fountain pen designed by Giugiaro.
After a little research on the internet, I found out that Giugiaro actually worked with 3 stationary companies. The companies are Aurora (Italian company based in Torino), Parker and Sylvapen. Not much information is about what products made by these companies were his design. I wasn't happy with this answer so I looked for the fountain pen some were else.
The watch has a bold design, is a chronograph what makes a lot of sense based on the fact Giugiaro is known especially for his car designs. The dial and subdials have a feeling that they were taken out of a car. And the bold colors combined with the sterile silver case make it unique. Not to mention the buttons on the side...

I think the best bet for a fountain pen to go with the Alien watch is Rotring 600.
It matches the simple and unique style of the watch. Sharp corners on the barrel and cap with knurled elements on the grip, cap and barrel end. A nice hint of yellow on the cap and nice golden nib and the traditional Rotring ring and the writing in red.
It looks very much like a tool but at the same time is a thing of beauty and I could say a cult has been formed around these beautiful instruments.
If you have other suggestions please let me know in the comments. You can add pictures as well.