Post #4006802

I definitely don't know what on earth the French are worried about, but getting welcomed on the platform by three soldiers with semi-automatic rifles is, I feel, a bit much. They were only here for the German train; they left the platform as soon as it pulled out. No actual passport checks or anything, which is, I suppose, the letter of the Schenghen Agreement, but menacing, nonetheless. This platform change had plenty of time. They hadn't even announced which was my platform when I got to the stairs to the underpass, and I had to wait to find out which way I was going. I made it to the platform to find a TGV Réseau there, and my car indicated at a section of the platform that was empty. And so I witnessed that most french of traditions: coupling. I'm still somewhat amused by the fact that a bear-like TGV Euroduplex can couple with a twinky TGV Réseau and have everything go smoothly with no drama. La vie est belle