It’s fall break! I went north to Normandy to see the sights, which I’ll share later. This post is about train travel, a virtual unknown to Americans. But before I got to the train, I had to ride the metro.
The crowd in the metro was thicker than i had yet seen, and it only got thicker as we hit stop after stop closer to the train station. The downside of a crowded metro is that you can smell everyone — French deodorant doesn’t have aluminum it, because it’s a toxin, but that’s also what makes the smell go away. The upside to a crowded metro is that you don’t have to hold on to a rail. You’re so smooshed between people that you couldn’t fall down if you tried.
The train station was also super crowded. First day of fall vacation, and a day with several Paris-bound trains — it was going to be dense. Train stations are very different from airports, which are my closest point of reference. There is minimal security: no TSA-style checkpoint, and the doors are all wide open to the streets around the station. You really can just wander in and out. In fact, the main hall of this station functions as a thoroughfare for foot traffic, from the end where buses stop and the end with the metro entrance.
Another huge difference is that there really is no point showing up early since there’s no check-in other than the scan of your ticket right at the train. And trains never leave ahead of schedule. They often leave late, but never early. I got to the station an hour early and just wandered around the shops.
You might think, well, you could go early and simply wait by your platform. Ah, but alas. You don’t know at which platform your train will be arriving until usually 20 minutes out. And everywhere you go in the station, there is no seating. Airports, for all their faults, always have surplus seats somewhere. If you can’t stretch out at your gate, you can go one over or one across. The train station has expectations of quick and immediate transience; why have surplus seats when you expect your passengers to arrive at boarding?
That’s not to say train stations are lawless. They’re hectic and busy, but safe as any public place. There’s coffee stands, newspaper shops, and a sit-down Starbucks. It’s about like the mall on a crowded day in December.
There’s also the matter that trains are not desperate to fill seats like planes are. The trains are a semi-public utility, so they don’t oversell. There’s always a small chance of an empty seat next to you. Like today’s trip: I had the window seat, and an empty isle seat. And we get underway very, very quickly. Five minutes after the doors open, the train is moving, doors closed, butts in seats, luggage stowed.
They’re often double-decker, too. One-level trains are reserved for shorter trips between less-populated regions. To Paris, you gotta get as many people in one trip as possible. I always reserve the upper level, one because the views are better, two because it doesn’t cost extra.
Once we’re well out of the city and zipping through the countryside (about 250 mph), I go check out the bar. “Bar” here does not mean alcohol, although they sell that, too. This train’s bar car has seats and little tables, and one side is just a space to lean and look out the window. You can purchase a variety of snacks, hot and cold meals, and drinks (coffee, hot chocolate, Coke). I’m tempted by a neat little glass jar of applesauce, but remember that for the next five days, I’m carrying everything I have on my back. If that applesauce is available on my return train, then maybe.
The machine of the train is very quiet. The only disturbance you might face are little kids giggling and running down the aisle.
Something I like to do on trains is pull up Google Maps and calculate how long it would take me to walk from wherever the train is to my destination. This relaxes me; it’s like, here’s the worst case scenario if you have to get out and walk, and look, its growing increasingly less worrisome. The walk from my apartment in Lyon to Paris is roughly four days, but now halfway through this train ride, it’s two. Plus, this doesn’t eat up my phone’s roaming charges, because the onboard wifi is free!
All in all, intracontinental passenger railways should be standard and ubiquitous across the United States. There’s no good reason not to have it – I mean, we used to have it everywhere! The fact that we don’t is part of why Europe sees us as not nearly civilized, and on this subject I can’t much blame them.
Cordialement,
Allison
Flan in France 