Well, actually I am already in Paris. It was all the way back in 2006 when I was last here and it is nice to be back in this bustling hub of French commerce. The flight over, a quick one on Lufty Friday night, was fine–and I got to experience Charles de Gaulle Airport for the first time. I have heard some bad stories about CDG but I got a kick out of the airport–the downward sloping (rather steep) moving walkway, fluorescent lighting, and popcorn coated walls and ceiling looked straight out of a Airport 1975.
The ride into central Paris actually took longer than the flight itself, but I am proud to say I did not get lost or even sidetracked (unlike someone I know). In fact, the bus ride from Terminal B to the remote stand where the aircraft was parked at Frankfurt International (almost) took as long as the flight itself. I don’t understand why, with many open gates and a beautiful brand new terminal that recently opened, Lufthansa continues to heavilly rely on remote stands and ten-minute bus trips past the Lufthansa Technik hangars. I will say that I spied a cool Air Algerie Convair 640 parked near my 737-500 (itself an antique). That alone was worth the bus trip over.
I am staying with a dear family friend this weekend and not planning on doing much tourism. Rather, we will just enjoy some great food, good conversation, and maybe a walk around Luxembourg Garden this afternoon. Ben from One Mile at Time also happened to be in Paris this weekend so this morning I met up with him and we had a nice lunch and a walk around the city.
Enjoy your weekend and au revoir for now!
Enjoy the weekend! Would I age myself too much if I told you I haven’t been to Paris (or CDG) since 1990?
It’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. Don’t mistreat our general 🙂
@Arthur: Thanks for the correction. The UPGRD.com spell checker was down yesterday so I just winged it. I have corrected the error!