The exhibition Grand Train
Dear Readers,
When I was a child, I had a passion, as a lots of others children, for the train. Pretty young, I started a collection and, for my birthdays, I asked for a new train to my mother, to agreement this one. Blue, red, green, small, big… Proudly, I placed them in my room to decorate it. Consequently, my first travel in train has been, for me, epic. My mother took me to the south of France for summer break, and has chosen a night train? I imagined this travel as an adventure, surrounded by unknown people, but closed to my mother, rocked like a child by the mechanic sound of the locomotive.
A journey through time
Not long ago, I heard about the exhibition Grand Train in the old SNCF warehouse of La Chapelle. I decided to go there, ready to travel toward my childhood. Arrived there, I discovered the restaurants, bars, and, what brought me there: the locomotives. From 1845 to nowadays, the exhibition explains the story of this warehouse, its trains, and its men. 25 trains are currently there to make us travel in time. Machines in which we can eat, drink, visit or observe landscapes which have been recreated with the help of screens situated outside the train, as, for example, the view that travellers who made Paris-Venice have seen. I came in the trains, touched by this view, trying to imagine what the users of this time have could think. I observed, I touched, I imagined, I was very happy by this return in childhood, even if it has been short.
Leaving the warehouse, I directed myself to the hotel La Bourdonnais. This exhibition made me travel in time, as precious it is. Because, don’t forget, my dear readers that, as Nathaniel Hawthorne told it: « Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind ».
See you soon!
