Going and Coming - Thursday, 20 July

Some traditions one just doesn't mess with, including a final burger and fries and beer at Stone Arch before departure!  (This was Indeed's “Creme Brulee Queen” 2001 barrel-aged Imperial Stout - very malty - who needs dessert?) 

When I booked my flight, and even a couple days before my departure, there were plenty of open seats.  Today, just a handful on the whole plane.  The guy sitting next to me had booked a few seats for family members at the last minute, so they weren’t together.  Luckily there was an empty seat next to his son, so he moved, and I had an empty seat next to me.  Yippee!  Hopefully this is a good omen!

Another first!  No gates were available at CDG, so our plane parked out on the tarmac and they announced that passengers had to take steps down to the ground and then a bus to terminal 2E.  Furthermore, they announced that the first step off the plane was a big one.  Horrors!  

Happily, though, they had made provision for the three of us who requested wheelchair assistance.  They drove a container vehicle up to the cargo door on the right side of the aircraft, raised it up to door level, and walked us right across into our own little waiting room. Bonus: great views for us!  Then they lowered it partially (still quite a distance above the ground) and brought an elevator platform to the back of our container, then lowered that to the ground and escorted us to a little shuttle that took us to a ground level entrance of terminal 2E, from which an airport employee wheelchaired us to the passport control and then to the luggage claim.  Whew!  Such royal cargo treatment!  Eat your hearts out, all of you able-bodied people!

It's always such a joy to return to Paris, and I know how unbelievably privileged I am.  I nearly break into song when the taxi leaves the freeway and périphérique, and I see the first buildings of central Paris.  After all of the glamorlessness of the transportation itself, when I stepped into my apartment I just had to call out "I'm home!" with the appropriate sing-song inflection.  Yes, out loud, I admit it!  Then I just had to take a few snapshots before I got it all messy!