To Paris we go: getting there via high speed train

This weekend, some friends and I decided to take a trip to Paris. We booked tickets with Deutsche Bahn. From Kaiserslautern, driving would have taken about four hours. The high speed train that we booked takes about two hours. It's called the ICE (Inter City Express) or the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, in French). I can see why it's so fast; at one point, the speed was 300 kilometers per hit (280 mph).

Taking the train definitely is not cheap; it was about €140 for roundtrip tickets. Air fare actually might have been cheaper with a discount carrier such as RyanAir. However, from Kaiserslautern, taking the train is the most convenient and easy way to travel to Paris. It's a mile walk to the train station and then a restful ride on the train for me. Also, the sooner you book, the cheaper the ticket is. I paid quite a bit because I booked less than a week previous to my trip. I would not suggest driving into Paris itself; traffic and parking are both crazy. Therefore, the train is a much better choice.

Seats are comfortable on the train and some even include a table set in the middle of four seats, which is great for friends traveling together. The train also includes a dining car and we were surprised at how reasonably priced the food was, especially for train food. The train can be quite packed, especially on weekend.

It's definitely a very pleasant and fast way to get from Germany to Paris.

Such sites await in Paris. Too bad their weather was just as cloudy as Germany's was when we went!