08.16.2007

Surprisingly USAirways got me to Paris in one piece, without losing any baggage, and pretty much on time. Not surprisingly getting to that was a headache of delays, malfunctioning websites, and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)—as my neighbor on the plane from MSP shared, the airport with the worst recorded delays in the Union.

Arriving in France, throughout unassuming fields (or champs, for those Francophiles among us), it seems like we’re landing somewhere in Nebraska, as it’s all green and pretty and oh wait, there’s a large conurbation on the horizon. Needless to say Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport, and all of France on the first day, reminds me of a mix of Israel and Russia. I presume this only natural, on second thought, I frame that which I do not know/have not yet encountered with that which is known/already experienced by my mind or psyche.

Still, France is a mix of greenery with palm trees, loitering employees, and lots of fresh fruit and vegetable stands…Israel. And Russia brought the graying Soviet-looking apartment buildings, the ever-present smell of urine, yes even in the beloved Métro, 2le-decker mixed-use store fronts, public transportation, and very very narrow streets in general.

Advice to those who go abroad:
Pack less, actually a lot less. Now, I’m not known for being partic. materialistic or anything and in general the amount of clothes I own is, in comparison to any self-respecting female, puny. Still, pack 2ce as little as you think you need, if even for that first day of trudging through unknown avenues.

I, again like most men, have among others, these 2 flaws: stubbornness and a belief that in knowing everything (there I said it).
How this hurt me in finding my way: I am obviously too stubborn (and cheap/have immigrant mindset) to take a taxi, I mean who would do that?
To those who know me well, I’m pretty good with directions, maps, transit, and geography. Well, unfortunately, my expertise goes only until I get off said transit/map. Obviously I go the wrong first and then the right way second, which is fine unless you’re carrying 120lbs of clothes, computer, dictionary, God knows what.

I subsequently slept for about half the day, as I was dog-tired.

Then I explored the city…taking the train to the Champs-Elysées I subsequently took a wrong turn (see the pattern), and instead tumbled upon gardens and palaces: Place de la Concorde ensuing into the Tuileries gardens, fraught with families and couples (not homeless people as some people assumed). Looking backwards I saw the Arc de Triomphe, looking forward I saw the Arc d’Austerlitz and the Louvre with the pavilions, palaces, glass pyramids, souvenir-vendors.