Flying the Uncongested Skies - Monday, 4 October

As we were approaching Aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle, my taxi driver told me that five of the seven terminals are closed due to significantly reduced tourist and business travel.  I know that 2B had been closed for significant remodeling, but yikes.  Apparently most of the traffic goes through 2E now, but even so it wasn’t as hectic as I’ve seen in the past.

I was excited to learn that my flight was departing from one of the K gates, which meant that I could avoid the long walk and tram ride to one of the more distant gates.  But when I went to board, the agent asked me if I would be OK with a long ramp and then some stairs and a bus ride out to a remote location where the plane was actually parked and then some stairs up onto the plane.  Um, well, I guess I’d have to be!  Maybe this K Hall wasn’t so great after all!  Happily, there was an elevator at the end of the ramp that took me down to the tarmac.  Then an agent who put my carry-on on the bus and helped me up.  At the other end another agent helped me with my bag, and lo and behold, there was an elevator that took me up to the jetway!  Whew!

Delta has eliminated its CDG-MSP direct flight for now, due to low traffic I’m sure.  So my CDG-DTW flight was about half full and the DTW-MSP was packed.  

At the end of September the U.S. Government announced that everyone flying into the U.S. had to show proof of a negative COVID test, whether they were vaccinated or not.  So I dutifully got another antigen test on Saturday and had the printout ready to present.  Sadly, all they collected was a pre-printed attestation form that I had to sign and date - it would be easy to cheat the system, making a less safe environment for everyone.  After two weeks of having my vaccination card and/or test result inspected or scanned at every establishment that I wanted to enter (or even on whose terrace I wanted to sit), the U.S. procedure seemed woefully inadequate.

I am happy to report that there were no mask protesters on any of my flights!

In any case, back home safe and exhausted!  

À la prochaine, Paris!

A Good Day for Cocooning - Sunday, 3 October

With a deluge this morning followed by steady rain, it was a good day to stay inside and cocoon!  Leftovers needed to be consumed, clothes needed to be washed, floors needed to be swept, garbage needed to be gathered, suitcases needed to be packed.  Oh, ya, and some work needed to be done for the nonprofits I’m involved with.  And videos needed to be watched.  And a little reading/writing had to happen.  My apartment was just the comfy haven for all of this!  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29841953

It started clearing up around 7:00, bien sûr.  There is a little brewpub/café just outside my door where I’ve stopped for a beer or coffee about every-other day, so I popped down there for a late hot chocolate before hitting the sack in preparation for an early morning departure.  The waiter, who had served me several times over the course of the last two weeks, kept calling me “darling.”  Weirdly, it seemed appropriate.  

A Dark and Stormy “White Night” - Saturday, 2 October

Well, it was a dark and stormy night for the 20th annual “La Nuit Blanche à Paris,” which also happened to coincide with the launch of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad.  

La Nuit Blanche, held the first Saturday of October each year all over Paris, incorporates concerts, art installations, dance, exhibitions, staged scenes, video shows, neon light shows, disco-rollerblading (I kid you not!), etc. - mostly performing events but some participatory ones - from both French and international artists.  It was canceled last year due to the pandemic and apparently was a bit underfunded this year, yielding more video productions of performances than actual live performances.  Still, about 200 artists registered for the event.  It’s an all-night festival - the buses and Métro run through the night and some streets are closed.  

Sad to say, after a week of glorious sunny and warm weather, it drizzled all day today, started raining more heavily tonight, the wind picked up, and the temperature was in the low 50s F.  I had thought about venturing out to see something - there were some dance/orchestral events scheduled for Place de l'Hotel de Ville just a few blocks from my apartment, but I wimped out.  A sad response for a Duluth native - what happened to that old Nordic toughness?!?  In any case, I read that some events were canceled at the last minute.  Hey, I wouldn’t have wanted to be out performing in those conditions either!

https://quefaire.paris.fr/nuitblanche