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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 16:27:53 GMT
Gare de l'Est in Paris is a much more modest station that Gare du Nord, yet it currently boasts the fastest train in the world (the TGV Est), and serves not only eastern France (Reims, Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg, etc.) but also Luxembourg, Zürich, Basel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Münich and plenty of other places. For the inauguration of the TGV Est, it was completely renovated, and anybody who only knew the "old" Gare de l'Est needs to give it another look. For people who want to stay in the area, there are just as many hotels as around Gare du Nord, but the two main establishments are the Holiday Inn directly across from the station and the Best Western Paris Est which is actually inside the station building. This is the Holiday Inn This is the Best Western The taxi stand is directly in front of the station. Here is the scene directly across from Gare de l'Est, for those who say it is scary and unsafe. Before you enter, there is an interactive screen for disabled persons who wish to be assisted. The main line entrance is on the left and looks like this when you walk in. There is a new 'Flo Brasserie' inside the station as you enter. Screens show all of the upcoming trains, blue for departures and green for arrivals. This picture of a convenient ATM would be of no interest, if taking the photo had not caused me to be surrounded by security guards who tried to stop me. "What are you doing?" "I'm taking a picture of this ATM for a website." "Do you have authorization for this?" "The SNCF allows photography of trains and train stations. They have regular photo contests about this. There have been articles about security guards bothering people for no reason when they are taking pictures. Haven't you read them? "But this is an ATM!" "So what? There must be at least 10,000 ATM's in Paris without security guards keeping people from taking pictures of them. Are you particularly worried about this one?" Anyway, I out talked them, because they had not been hired for their debating skills. I was almost hoping that they would take me to see their superior, because it would have been kind of fun, but they seemed to realize that things would not turn to their advantage. They walked away and I continued my photos. There are plenty of the traditional yellow ticket machines, but people who need to go to the ticket office will also find it in this hall. (to be continued)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 17:11:05 GMT
People are always wondering about bringing photos with them for necessities like the Navigo Découverte pass and other things. Please keep in mind that there are "photomaton" machines in all of the train station, most metro stations and just about every Monoprix. There are also automatic machines for printing digital photos for those people still requiring or just wanting paper copies of their photos immediately. I have never used one but I think they would be great for sending vacation photos immediately to friends and family who do not use the internet. (The photo machine is on the far right of the photomaton. Between them is a photocopy machine, which can also be useful -- but every post office also has photocopy machines.) When I was little, the whole central section of Gare de l'Est was some sort of giant baggage storage area, and there was no access to it. It has now been turned into a very elegant shopping mall and metro entrance area. Yes, the ubiquitous "Paul" is here as usual, but also Virgin, Swarovski crystal and some chic clothing stores. The main train platforms are very straightforward with nothing tricky like at Gare de Lyon! Please note the yellow ticket validation machine on the left of the first picture. This is for the cardboard tickets. You do not validate the tickets that you print at home from the internet. It was cold this morning so the heaters were glowing. All of the usual services are available: sandwich stands, information kiosks, souvenir shops... If you are arriving and need to take the metro, once you go down to the metro level in that central area, it is all quite clear. Please remember that if you have baggage, you shouldn't try to squeeze through the turnstiles. These gigantic entrances with swinging doors are waiting for you and anything that you can carry. Soon, I will try to deal with that other sore point -- connecting between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est, which frightens people even though the two stations are only three blocks apart.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 18, 2009 17:12:46 GMT
The only thing I found scary about the Gare de l'Est was having to change between Gares du Nord et de l'Est while very jetlagged early in the morning. You know they are extremely close but one has to go through a narrow street and flight of stairs, and in my jetlagged mind I imagined all the guys (only guys) hanging around as people intent on robbing me. But I knew I was being paranoid.
Glad they've kept the old mural, or rather large painting, of Alsatian life if I recall?
And is TGV Est a high-speed train as far as major western German cities such as Frankfurt and Stuttgart yet?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 17:21:45 GMT
Actually, the high speed line ends slightly after the midpoint between Metz and Nancy, but work has begun on the extension to Strasbourg. The map below shows the travel times from Paris for various cities. The first figures show how long the trip used to take and the second figures show how long the trip takes with the TGV.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 18, 2009 17:45:47 GMT
Yes, it is already a big time saving most everywhere.
Once the Paris-Strasbourg line is completed, I imagine this could eliminate a lot of the Euroflights between Brussels and Strasbourg, as a 3-hour railway trip between city centres is usually shorter than a short flight, with all thesecurity, check-in delays at airports and the fact that the latter are a bit out of town.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 17:54:34 GMT
Flights have plummeted absolutely everywhere the TGV goes. Certain lines like Paris-Lille no longer exist. Paris-Brussels had been abandoned also, but Brussels Airlines (the successor of the defunct Sabena) has found a tiny niche market for air connections.
Paris-London and Paris-Lyon flights have been reduced by more than 50%.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 18, 2009 18:06:38 GMT
I imagine Paris-Lyon exists only for connections.
Moreover air travel has become far more uncomfortable than ever thought at the time of the Paris-Lyon TGV.
One of the silliest flights I've ever taken was Amsterdam-Brussels, as it was cheaper to get a plane that landed in the city opposite to my destination (if I recall, my destination was Brussels that time).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 20:06:20 GMT
I absolutely hate the new Gare de l'Est.
You could have a good meal for a very decent price in the old Buffet de la Gare. I often ate there. It's been replaced by an overpriced Brasserie Flo and a "Foodissimo" cafeteria (Can you expect to eat well in a place called like that?).
There are far too few benches for a station of that size but obviously the goal is to force people to wander in the shopping mall while waiting for their train.
All I need to find in a train station are newsstands and bookstores, restaurants, sandwich stands, lockers, ATM's.. but I don't see what a jewellery or a clothing store has to do there.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 18, 2009 21:33:14 GMT
That is sad, Askar. I'd never eaten at the old Buffet de la Gare there. I was sad in Florence where there also was a lovely buffet with courteous old servers (it was a tavola calda - a cafeteria, but with homecooked food). Returning thee was a McDo, and a sad corner of the old buffet with reheated crap.
I never buy anything but periodicals at railway stations or airports, but there is one case I can think of where mallifying a station made it much safer and more congenial: Termini in Rome. It was very dodgy indeed, and full of drug addicts (I have nothing against drug addicts and am not being judgemental about people's problems - but it was often a scary scene). However, public authorities should mandate an adequate number of benches, just as they should mandate clean toilets, in any such public facility (whether it is run by a public corporation or not).
At Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, which is intermodal as also a railway station and a bus hub, there are benefits to the shops at the airport as they include a little supermarket and famous Dutch general goods shop HEMA. I find it very convenient to be able to pick up odds and ends there upon arrival, and the prices are the same as at any other HEMA. The Albert Heijn supermarket is small and has a limited selection, but is fine for picking up something quick for breakfast before crashing - crashing in a soft bed at my destination, I mean!
Has anyone complained about this?
kerouac, I sent the little plan with the reduced times to a friend. He is Québécois and his wife is Alsatian; he is a retired journalist (but still writing) and his wife is a literature professor. He replied forthwith:
- Nous prendrons justement le TGV en novembre pour aller de Paris à Strasbourg, en 2 heures 20 minutes.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 22:24:22 GMT
I think that all of the wonderful old station restaurants have disappeared in the last 20 or 30 years. (Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon absolutely does not count.)
They often used to be the best restaurant in town -- I know that's what my grandfather used to think about the buffet in Metz. After he died, it was replaced by a Hippopotamus, and now it has become an overpriced wine bar where I actually ate once, but it is truly a collapse of part of the cultural heritage.
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Post by bjd on Oct 20, 2009 8:14:09 GMT
Good photos of the stations, Kerouac. Looking at them and how many signs, etc there are, you really have to wonder why N Americans in particular find it confusing to get around. I believe it's because they are just not used to trains, train stations -- although now that there are mall, perhaps they will feel more at home.
I went to Gare du Nord this summer for the first time in years. My usual station is Gare Montparnasse, and very occasionally Austerlitz, which is still waiting for a clean-up.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2010 20:02:54 GMT
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