Trains on the Champs-Elysées
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first time I saw that famous museum in Paris the Orsay, home of so many
great impressionist artists, but even more amazing to me was that this
beautiful building was once a train station. I stood on the ground
floor looking up and found myself speechless at the size and glory of
this museum, with its giant gold clock high above one end of the iron
and glass structure. In fact, most people say that seeing the interior
of this building can be the best part of the whole experience. It once
handled 200 trains daily until the trains got too long for the existing
building and it eventually closed. Then, luckily for us, the building
was renovated into the delightful museum it is today.
Imagine
the surprise of seeing a train, not in a train station, but actually
making its way up the Champs-Elysées. Just that happened in Paris this
last Sunday, June 1st, when the Champs was transformed into a rail
exhibit honoring 150 years of train travel in France. Set up by the
French National Railway Company, the SNCF (Societé Nationale de Chemins
de Fer de France), it is the largest exhibit of its kind ever
attempted. I saw on the television news that mounting the exhibit
turned out to be an undertaking that was more difficult than the
planners could have imagined, as a number of the train engines could
not make the journey on some of the planned routes.
I decided I
had to see this historical event and I especially wanted to see a train
actually moving up the Champs-Elysées, which had been closed to traffic
for the event. It was astonishing to see a track laid down, starting on
one side of the street and curving to the other, starting at Concorde,
all the way up to George V. It, of course, moved very slowly and
marching along side it was a band from Epernay playing some happy
melodies.
interesting were the old train engines lined up along the side of the
avenue, some looking like trains painted by various impressionist
artists whose works I had actually seen in the Orsay: their long black
smokestacks sticking up and the brightly painted bodies there in front
of me. There was a section that showed cars used to transport either
animals or soldiers, and, later, those poor souls taken to
concentration camps, a black mark on France’s history. Railroad cars
bearing enormous wooden barrels that were once used to move wine from
the South were shown. There were even a few cows on the exhibit tracks,
not real, but depicting part of the story of life on a train line. And,
of course, the high speed TGV was there, and even one not due to start
running until 2005 shone in the sun.
Walking down the middle of
the Champs-Elysées was an enjoyable experiences starting at Concorde
and heading toward the Arch de triomphe
the other end, strolling along where traffic usually pours by, seeing
this once-in-a-lifetime exhibit. I don’t know who comes up with all of
these ideas. Maybe the same person who put a “beach” along side the
Seine last summer, an event that I read will be repeated this year.
Just part of what makes Paris a fascinating city.