取得
Wedged between its two big neighbours, Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay is a small South American country with a great railway history. But it now has just one passenger train, which runs from Rivera to Tacuarembó. It's a colourful train, much loved by the inhabitants of the pampas. This journey takes Philippe to the gauchos, the South American cowboys who practice rodeo and work in the fields. After a good 'asado', the local barbecue, the railway globetrotter heads for Paysandú, where an old 1929 Ford car has been adapted into a train, a sort of draisine for the employees. Then it's on to the Atlantic coast and its capital, Montevideo, where, for a few days each year, a train runs purely for the pleasure of a group of railway enthusiasts.
Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia, and the ninth largest in the world, and it's by train that Philippe Gougler sets out to discover this little-known giant and its inhabitants. Philippe will travel from canyons, where he will get close to eagles, to endless steppes where a horse breeder continues the tradition of the nomads who once inhabited the country. During this journey, he is constantly amazed by the contrasts of this country, especially when discovering Almaty, the most populated city, which still retains traces of the Soviet era in an ocean of greenery. It's near the capital Astana, a veritable showcase for the country's modernity, that Philippe meets a former train depot foreman who continues his passion in an astonishing way.
Philippe Gougler is off to Slovenia, a small European country wedged between sea and mountains. And what better way to discover this little-known country than by train? To begin with, he climbs aboard a small mine train that takes him deep into the mountains to discover sunken tunnels. Then there are the everyday trains, and the more unusual ones that climb the mountains, with cars and auto-trains on board, running on tracks dating back to the Austro-Hungarian era.
Philippe Gougler begins his stay on a station platform where most travelers are dressed in traditional Bavarian garb. They're all going to Munich for the famous Oktoberfest beer festival. Philippe meets some amazing waitresses who can carry up to twelve mugs at a time. Then it's off to the south of the region, where a cogwheel train takes travelers and hikers to Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze. This is an opportunity for Philippe to discover typical Bavarian landscapes, such as Neuschwanstein Castle. Back in Munich, he learns that Bavaria is also an industrial region. Trains even enter factories. Finally, the railway globetrotter takes the ICE, Germany's high-speed train, north.
