TGV to Metz

Gare de L'est

The morning of Friday, August 14th, I indulged in, to my surprise, a free hostel breakfast before pummeling my bags and my body through the metro turnstiles and onto the subway to Gare de l'Est. At the Paris train hub, I waited patiently, glad to be early rather than in a rush, then boarded the 10:39 AM TGV to Metz. I picked a random car, not noticing the seat or car numbers, realized my mistake, collected my bags and forced my way out of the car. I tracked down a SNCF attendant who checked my ticket led me back into the same car I came from and past the seat I was sitting in, as I again bounced my gear off the passengers and muttered "pardon" and "excusez moi" to whomever took offense. TGV stands for train à grande vitesse or high speed train. The scenery was moving fast enough to make my stomach churn after about 10 seconds of window gazing. I could manage only brief glances. In spite of the speed, it still moves with less clip-clop than a NY Metro-North train.
According to wikipedia, the track turns have longer radii than traditional trains for smoother turning at pace among other interesting design points - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tgv
Here is some video:

TGV: Notice the cars, on a highway no less, left in the dust.