This exhibition, pleasingly presented in two bijou rooms in the rather murky basement of Asia House, reminds us of the impact that this gorgeous, sad and soon-to-be-extinct (there are fewer than 3,500 left) animal has had upon the arts of Asia.
The rough track climbs steeply up a ridgeline south of the Hope Valley, but its wild views of Stanage to the northeast and Kinder Scout to the northwest are overwhelmed by the looming presence of Hope's vast cement works, a structure that is undeniably and colossally industrial – the steroidal elephant in the national park's bijou living room.
Where to stay The Crescent Victoria (bespokehotels.com) recently opened on the seafront with 14 smart rooms and a swish bar, but if you're prepared to forego a sea view, the bijou Reading Rooms B&B, with just three decadent bedrooms, is the best address in town (from £160, thereadingroomsmargate.co.uk).co.uk
Hotel Novecento (i-escape.com, doubles €85) is a bijou seven-room pad, and the first hotel in the ancient town of Scicli CP Maremma beaches There are a number of charming beaches along the Maremma coastline: one, a long sandy stretch from Castiglione della Pescaia to Marina di Grossetto, can be virtually deserted in the middle of August.
The store itself is a bijou: a small room in the colors of the jewels and crowned by a pair of enormous crystal chandeliers from Czechoslovakia.
And with the recent shuttering of many of America's historic porn theaters Chicago's Bijou, San Francisco's Tea Room, Philly's Forum and Sansom Cinema, Portland's Paris Theatre puts the Little Theater among a dying breed.
At the 65-room Hotel Bijou, 111 Mason Street, (800) 771-1022, fax (415) 346-3196, near Union Square, the lobby has the look of a 1920's movie palace, and the cinematic motif extends to a pocket-size theater where San Francisco-related films are shown free to guests each night.
As Captain Beefheart pumps out over the sound system, a small white fluffy hearth rug in the form of a Great Pyrenees puppy called Bijou wanders around the tasting room.
Doubles from €90, junior suites from €130, Calle Marqués de Larios 2 and Calle Casas de Campos 17, +34 912 17 92 87, room-matehotels.com Dulces Dreams Right next to the hammam, this bijou hotel, which opened last year, has just eight rooms (one with two double beds), five with their own bathroom.
My son was never going to be a tough nut to crack, institutionalised as he is to bijou living after 15 years in a box room, sleeping on a stilted bed with his nose a foot from the ceiling.
Apart from the undeniable benefits of isolation and pristine weather, at the dawn of the 1960s, Vegas wasn't the elephantine fantasy land it is today but rather a small skein of bijou hotels - none much larger than 200 rooms - teetering on the verge of financial ruin.
