Leaving Paris

Wednesday morning I got up early and walked around the neighborhood. That's one of my things. Whenever we travel I use at least some of the time that I'm awake before anyone else (a minimum of an hour, usually more- I need much less sleep than anyone else in my family) to walk around whatever area we may be staying in. I like to know where I am and what's around me. I always say it makes me feel like I really am where I am. The level of interesting that this provides varies. The low point was probably when we were laid over in Chicago once and had to sleep at a motel in some anonymous suburb near the airport while waiting for the next day's plane. This consisted of walking up and down a long straight 4 lane road that seemed to go on unchanging for miles. I walked for over an hour and saw nothing more interesting than a supermarket, which was a perfectly fine thing to find. 

Paris, of course, is much more interesting than that, but the area where we were staying is not among its most fascinating. It's too commercial and governmental to have the charm of the smaller neighborhoods. But not so bad to walk up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and back on one of the other grand boulevards. I need to learn more about the history of Paris and what it was exactly that Haussman did to renovate the city. Our friend was talking yesterday about one of the reasons the Marais was so interesting was that Haussman hadn't gotten over there, so the buildings were smaller and older.

Back at the hotel we finished packing and then went down to breakfast. About halfway through we saw a couple of kids and then later I noticed a older fellow pouring orange juice for everyone at a the table where the kids were sitting. He turned back toward the buffet and sure enough it was Woody Allen with his wife and kids. Guess the concierge wasn't kidding. On the way out we finally tasted the chocolate dome. Delicious.

The airport experience in Paris was no better than in Newark. Check-in was done by a human being at least, and we got up to the floor with the gates and then proceeded to stand in line for almost an hour at Passport Control. We experienced this on the way in last time we came. There were several booths but only two agents. Halfway around the circular terminal and then back and forth 4 times until we finally got through. At least there was nobody left to be in line at security. We zipped right through there. The plane boarded on time but left late, probably because checked in passengers were still in that line- we'd gotten to the airport 2 1/2 hours early and didn't make it with that much time to spare.

This airplane is totally newly renovated. It has 15 inch video touch screens with on-demand entertainment. It has seats with controls so complicated even the seat doesn't understand them and so responds erratically or not at all when you push the buttons. The good thing is, once you figure it out, you can get the seat to lie completely flat. This is very pleasant for trying to sleep, though sleeping in a 31-inch wide flat seat doesn't allow you to stretch out in any kind of idiosyncratic way. The most comfortable thing to do is lie flat on your back with your arms folded on your chest. The effect is kind of coffin-like, but in a nice way.

Everything went smoothly from there and we were home by dinner (!) time.