Les trains

When I started this blog about my year living in France and travels throughout Europe, a question I asked myself was whether to write in English or French. I decided on the former as most of my readership reads English. While I am bilingual, the aspect I most want to improve on is my written French. I've therefore decided to do a series of posts in French.

I originally wrote this entry in my travel journal on the train to Lyon en route to Belgium on October 27, 2010.

En attendant mon train sur le bord du quai comme le soleil se levait, j'ai pensé à comment impressionant sont les réseaux de chemins de fer de la France et de l'Europe. C'est un avantage de l'Europe qui rend le voyage plus facile qu'en Amérique du Nord. En Amérique du Nord je ne pense pas qu'on peut voyager comme ça aussi facilement, ou du moins pas aussi abordablement. Comment les européens font-ils s'ils viennent en Amérique du Nord en voyage? Est-ce qu'ils font une grande tournée comme le font les gens de l'Amérique du Nord quand ils vont en Europe?

Read my English translation after the jump:

While waiting on the platform for my train as the sun was rising, I thought about how impressive the French and European rail networks are. It's one of Europe's advantages that make travel more easy than in North America. In North America I don't think one can travel as easily, or at least not as affordably. How do Europeans do it when they travel to North America? Do they do a grand tour like North Americans do when they go to Europe?