24 July 2013

A view from a train


At mid-day today, I'll be looking out the window of a train. Here are some things you see as you ride the train from Blois to Paris and back.

Many little train stations like this one at Villeneuve-le-Roi in the far Paris suburbs

Grain elevators/silos as you ride along the edge of the wheat-growing Beauce region

Gigantic wind turbines towering over villages and hamlets

Farmers' cooperatives all along the line

Big early-morning crowds at the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris...

...but not very many people on the train

This is the train line on which there was a derailment about 10 days ago. I believe the SNCF (the French national railways) has carefully inspected all the track between Paris and Blois by now. I sure hope so.

15 comments:

  1. Have a pleasant trip. There are some clouds, but it doesn't look bad. Keeping my fingers crossed. See you later.

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  2. Same scenario as last time, CHM. I'll eat lunch on the train and arrive chez toi vers 14 h30. A tout à l'heure -- or toodle-oo as we say.

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  3. the grain silos remind me of the midwest; the small train station reminds me of some of same architecture of the stations in the east.

    plus ca change, la plus se meme chose.

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  4. toodle-oo... derived from "A tout à l'heure" perhaps?

    Never thought about it before now... until seeing your reply to CHM.

    All those grain silos and agrico-ops along the line...
    once served by the railways...
    now served by HUGE 44 tonne lorries that damage roads and villages never designed for such!
    Safe trip..

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  5. That is a HUGE turbine, I don't think I've ever seen one so big before.
    Enjoy your short trip to Paris.

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  6. wow great shots! i know that its totally a goofy thing to you... but gosh... i'd pay a pretty penny for a chocolate croissant from the Gare d'Austerlitz right now. we have terrificcinnamon rolls made my amish ladies out here, but you cant get a good pain au chocolat for many many miles. i'm thinking of driving into the nearest city to scout out a new bakery that promises "real" croissants. it will cost me $60 in gas but i'm hoping it will be worth it. enjoy your trip!

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  7. Bonjour, Ken. Est-ce que tu auras le temps de faire un tour au marché Saxe-Breteuil jeudi matin?
    Il faudra que tu te lèves de bonne heure.
    A l'heure où sur le boulevard Montparnasse,
    la gare n'est plus qu'une carcasse.

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  8. Hey, Tim, that sounds like a good possibility (the toodle-oo/tout à l'heure thing).

    Ken, great job bringing your train trip to us. The photos really made me remember past trips. (I, too, certainly hope those tracks are all inspected!)

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  9. Wish I was in one of those empty seats! Love seeing what you're seeing along the way. I'm having an attack of wanderlust just reading this post.

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  10. Oui Dean, à l'heure où les boulangers font leurs bâtards...

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  11. Hi Judy and Evelyn, you should have seen the number of workers and all the heavy equipment doing repairs at Brétigny-sur-Orge, the site of the recent derailment. The rails and parts of the platforms were all torn up in the accident. My train went thru there really slow this afternoon.

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  12. Passing the site of a disaster soon afterwards is always a chilling experience.
    Train crashes are especially worrying, all about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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  13. I neglected to mention that my noontime train out of Blois today was cancelled because of the repair work on the tracks at Brétigny, south of Paris. I finally arrived in Paris at 5:30 pm instead of 2:30 -- but I made it. News now is reporting a bad derailment in Spain, with many fatalities.

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  14. I think there was a big train wreck in Spain today. Still you're safer than if you were on the road. Enjoy yourself !

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  15. Whoops, I should have scrolled down to your post Ken. I hope your mission goes well at the Embassy.

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