TGV launching pad

The TGV (train à grande vitesse) requires reservations and you have an assigned seat in a specific car. They can get you from the top to the bottom of France in under 5 hours! Oncoming trains cause a shock wave as they pass that can really wake you up. The train system is pretty amazing. They leave exactly on time and there are so many coming from so many different parts of the country, their coordination is pretty impressive. And they're all electric! They were pulling out of Gare de Lyon about every 15 minutes.