Trains on the Champs-Elysées

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  I was amazed the 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. What I found most 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 at 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.
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