I love the French high-speed trains. They are on time (to the minute), efficient (they actually tell you exactly where to stand on the platform to step directly onto your allocated carriage), clean, comfortable and very fast – today we travelled from Montpellier to Lyon, whipping along at just a tick under 300 km per hour. They also have very nice dining cars. Pretty much everything that NSW state rail – or, for that matter, any rail service I know of in Australia – is not. My only, very minor, grievance is that when you book online and choose your seats, the seat maps never tell you which way the train will go. Half the seats face one way, and half the other. Shelley cannot travel backwards because of motion sickness and so we always book two window seats facing each other. Consequently, I have seen a great deal of France in reverse.
