Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, could have predicted she would enjoy some of the best food, wine and art the world has to offer. She was going to Paris, after all.

But what she might most remember from her recent trip was a train ride. A really fast train ride.

Ma is believed to be the only American on board a French train last week that set a speed record for a conventional rail system: 357 mph.

She was visiting France as part of a delegation of California lawmakers examining the high-speed rail system, in anticipation of a ballot measure next year that would provide $10 billion to build high-speed rail in California. She compared the experience to being on an airplane.

"It felt like when you're sitting on the runway and you're ready to take off, and you're accelerating and going faster and faster," Ma said. "Except in this case, we never took off. It gets that fast and furious."