European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Streaking through France on the Tiv by Hugh a. Mulligan associated pressm Monsieur you must stand right Here with your Luggage ready. The train Only slops Lor two the station roster at Avignon. France beaming with gallic Pride beneath his rakish by Askew red Cap was pointing with his Little red disc like a pingpong paddle to a red no. 2 painted on the platform that corresponded with the car reservation number an my computer printout ticket. I an Orange souled engine with Low mischievous 1-Aadligh eyes streaked into the station seemingly direct from the drawing Board of the new French Disneyland a Hough the schedule insisted it originated in Marseille and would be in Paris in less than four ecu s. There was an identical Orange engine pushing at tha Back of the eight car ensemble. Travelling on the world s fastest train is not at All like venturing aboard the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island or swallowing your heart on the Lake Placid bobsled run. There is Lille sensation of Speed unless you go Leel ering Down the aisle irom the bar car balancing a tray with two bottles of Beer a carafe of splendid Provence Rose a couple of Small pizzas and a croquet Monsieur the French apology for a toasted Ham and cheese Sandwich. Even on the straight roadbed beyond Lyon when the Engineer opens the throttle wide to 165 Mph or More the curtains Sway inward at almost a right Angle and on an occasional climbing curve with Steep grades the car heels a bit. Like a racing Sloop with its rail in the water there Are no butterflies in the stomach. Fifty million passengers have Ridden trains a grands Viesse trains with great Speed since they were introduced by the French National Railroad in september 1981 local commuter airlines have lost customers and have had to curtail heir schedules because of the popularity of the High Speed trains. Every Day an average 43,000 reserved seats on tha Tiv pronounced Tay Jay Are occupied mostly by businessmen roller than adventurers thrill seekers or Railroad buffs Rushing to appointments in 28 civics in France and two in Switzerland. Invariably these upwardly Mobile overachievers wearing the regulation compleat conservative business suit with Matching leather attache Case and clashing jogging sneakers sprint to the automatic ticket machine in the station to Rosero a non smoking window seat preferably on the Rhone River Side of the car. Then they proceed to ignore the Luminous Cezanne landscape unfolding in the Frame of the tinted windows in a splendor of endless Fields of sunflowers and Lavender shimmering in the White heat Haze unbaked yellow tiled rooms ancient castles terraced vineyards allame with poppies climbing tha sleep slopes old men in Black berets mowing Hay with Long handled scythes children on their bicycles laughingly trying to drag race streaking Orange dragon and a Tail Christ figure on a Roun Tahop waving a Blessing. Instead they pore or Iha Stock tables in ii Figaro or the financial times Tel feb Frankfurter att Gemeiner on the Geneva run or Pluck it Way Al pocket calculators on the Pul Down Iray tables
