High speed trains and security alarms

France Launches New High-Speed Trains

High-Speed Train Starts Commercial Service From Paris to Strasbourg and Germany

The TGV high-speed train began service between Paris and Strasbourg on Sunday, nearly halving travel time between the two cities to 2 hours 20 minutes and linking the TGV network with Germany.

The train made its maiden voyage with 360 passengers on board early Sunday, arriving on time and continuing on to the German city of Stuttgart, said Anne Premel, spokeswoman for the Strasbourg municipality. The TGV broke its own world speed record for conventional rail trains on the line in April, reaching 357 miles per hour.

The previous fastest connection between the two cities took 4 hours.

Trains on the new 252-mile line reaching Strasbourg via Reims, Metz and Nancy will travel at speeds of up to 199 mph, compared to a maximum of 186 mph for current TGV trains.

Different branches of the line will also cut travel time from Paris to several other European cities, including to Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany and to the Swiss city of Zurich.

Planners foresee a network of high-speed lines stretching from Barcelona, Spain, to Budapest, Hungary. The plans are to create two axes that meet in Strasbourg: one running between Paris, Munich, Vienna and Budapest; the other linking Hamburg, Frankfurt, Lyon and Barcelona.

The EU has earmarked $27.5 billion to finance trans-European networks, much of it to five priority transcontinental rail links, which are due to be completed by 2015.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070610/tgv-train-strasbourg-paris.htm

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So yesterday marked the arrival of the TGV to eastern France. Residents of cities like Nancy and Metz have been waiting impatiently for years and are excited about the new convenience. It's true that for anyone travelling often to Paris from, say, Nancy, this will be hugely accomodating. I'll be making the 90 minute trek to Paris next week, although I won't be able to take advantage of the 15€ one-way tickets that SNCF (the French railway authority) was offering - those things sold like hotcakes.

Yesterday was also the first communion of Sibylle (8 years old), which meant a big family gathering out in the countryside. It was a long day with lots of other people's kids, but it actually went pretty smoothly, although I did a bêtise (like the word bête, which means beast or stupid, to do a bêtise is to make a mistake but is also used about kids who get into mischief). I went to the house to meet the family, since we would be leaving for the countryside shortly thereafter. A babysitter who was also going to be helping out that day was already there, waiting outside. Since I have keys and since it was hot, I thought I'd wait inside. I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should just stay outside but ignored it and went in. And set off their security alarm. It was actually pretty quiet, so I wasn't sure right away if it was the alarm. And instead of stopping to logically think about what I should do next, I panicked, running outside. I asked the other guy what he thought I should do. "Maybe it'll stop all by itself?" he offered. And a few seconds later, it did. I hoped I was just getting lucky and that everything would be fine. But I tried calling Jérôme anyway. Too bad my cell phone had no more credit. I vaguely remembered that Jérôme had told me to enter the security code inside if that would ever happen, but since they were supposed to be arriving any minute, I just decided to wait outside and not risk setting the thing off again. I was really embarassed. When they got there, Jérôme said, "You went inside, didn't you?" He had gotten an alert somehow that the alarm had gone off. He had to call the security company and tell them not to come, because they were on their way! And of course all the kids made a big deal about it. No one was really mad, though. They just gave me a hard time. I felt stupid for like an hour, and then, thankfully, it was forgotten in the chaos. I always seem to do things like that - things that make me feel really stupid. When I worked at Dairy Queen, I once broke the key off in the door, forcing the manager to drive in from his house 45 minutes away (at 10 o'clock at night). Maybe I just worry too much about what other people think. I once told my brother Dan that I didn't like calling places (like a restaurant or a store) to ask them what time they closed, because then if I went there immediately afterward, they would know that it was me who called. His response: "Um, what?"

In seven weeks, I'll be getting ready to come home. Yay, yay, yay! Things are still going well here; I'm enjoying my time and getting along well with the family. But I'm so ready for a change - at least in my mind I am. I'm looking forward to the new things that God is going to do and show me in my last several weeks here.

Ciao ciao!