l’ Eurostar
Hi everyone, it’s Tor.
As I write this I am underneath the waves of the English Channel. On a train. Yes, that’s right, on a train. And not an amphibious train, either. I am on the Eurostar. You see, this past week we were in London, which is on an island, and we took the train there via the 31-mile-long Channel Tunnel, an underwater tunnel connecting England and France, often known as the Chunnel. No, you can’t see all the fish. The Channel (the strait the Chunnel goes under) is not very deep, so the tunnel starts a few miles inland and goes under the seabed. It makes my ears pop. I hope Mom bought some gum. On the French side (of the Channel) things are going well. We are living in Bordeaux (the X is silent) , a city famous for wine. That makes me whine. The Eurostar (the Channel Tunnel train) comes out of Paris, the capital of France and largest city, so we took the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris. The TGV (for Train a Grande Vitesse, French for Very Fast Train) is another awesome train, the fastest in the world. It goes 200 miles per hour. That means that it could zip across Oregon in an hour and a half or less, or from Eugene to Portland in half an hour. Yeah. That’s fast. The Eurostar is fast, but not nearly as fast as the TGV. It goes 186 miles per hour, or 300 kilometers per hour. Kilometers are like miles, except shorter. They use them to measure distances in France and other places. All in all, I am having a great time in France, the croissants are delicious, and I think the train is arriving in Paris so I gotta go!
morF roT
Tor, thanks for being our first* foreign correspondent. I loved the Eurostar, too, when we were there. Can you imagine what it’d be like to have a train like that on the US west coast? (I wonder how quickly we could get to San Francisco or Seattle?)
How is school in France?
*It’s true, you’ve inspired us – look for a second foreign correspondent in the month of November, writing from Uganda…
French school is great. It is quite different from American school. My next foreign correspondent posting will be about that. By the way, someday we might have train like the TGV in the U.S.!
I want a croissant and a ride on the Eurostar! Great story! Anders
GIVE ME A CROISSANT!!! GIVE ME CROISSANT!!! GIVE ME CROISSANT OR I’LL EAT YOUR BRAINS!!! BRAINS… BBBBRRRRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!!!!
…that was my halloween rehearsal and impression. How did you like it? But seriously, I want a croissant and sometimes I get a bit freaky.
I felt a bit freaky just reading your comment… Thanks for visiting and checking out our stories! Come back soon!
I would give you a croissant, but unfortunately I’m 7000 miles away.
Har Har, Tor. But thanks.
Great article Tor! Reading it made me feel like I was there and it made me hungry for a croisssant too.
Bourdeaux must be hiding something by having a silent “X” at the end. Now what could it be…
Hi Tor,
This is your mom. Great article! Glad you are enjoying (and blogging about) your French adventure!
Love,
Mom
Lots of cities in France have a silent X at the end, that’s the funny thing. I wonder if it is some sort of secret alliance?
Hmmm, sounds like the start of a really good story, like maybe a few secret agent squirrels wandering around France, hopping from the Eurostar to the TGV to the Teoz and back, trying to get to the bottom of all the Xtra X’s… (not to mention all those voweauls – wheaure did theiy come from and what aire they deuxing in the middle of an English sentence???)
Lol – hilarious! By the way, how did you know about the Teoz???
Peut-être tu n’es pas la seule personne qui aime les trains!
I have wondered that myself…..
Tor,
The last time I heard from you, you were relating a similarly exciting train story. It was in Chicago and you had just arrived in town via Amtrak’s “Empire Builder”–hardly a Train a Grande Vitesse. As is the custom with Amtrak trains, it was prodigiously late. But boy was I shocked to discover that it was late not because it was a Train a Petite Vitesse, but that a person had died by it on the tracks! Eeks! You are amassing quite a repertoire of excellent train adventures. May they continue! And please keep sharing them with us.
Hi Tor,
Great article! Excellent job! You are a very good writer and your story is fun to read!
Cheers,
Uncle Russ
This is a fantastic article! I remember your interest in trains when we lived in Oregon. You are a really good writer! I feel like I’m there.
The Giezentanner’s love your article! We miss all of you, but are so glad you are enjoying your adventure in France. See you soon!
Cool Tor,
You are such an AWESOME writer!! I want you to post more if you can….. NO PRESSURE:})
Thank you, that is really nice of you to say! As it happens, I have just asked my dad to post my newest article called “En Vacances” which means “On Vacation” in French. It will probably be posted before you know it.
,morF
roT