Paris Final Day
February 23rd, 2006
3:01pm EST
Well, my adventure has basically come to an end. I am sitting in the Delta terminal in Cincinnati waiting for my connecting flight to the Tri-cities. I have cleared customs, been stamped, searched, de-shoe'ed, and cleared for take-off. After all the fun was over once I got here, I headed for the food court and induldged in one of those truly American experiences, Panda Express Chinese food. I know that must sound a little strange, but take my word for it. There is nothing as uniquely American as Food Court fast-food style Chinese. I guessed that stopping in at Panda Express was as good as any stop for shocking my system back into American food mode. I doubt the sushi and Frau Gra will be finding its way to my plate anytime in the near future.
Well it seems that my arrival back in the states has been very much the opposite of my departure. We I left on Saturday, it was cold and snowing, our turn-over in Cincinnati wa very quick, and the flight to Paris was long and quite painful. Paris was rainy and warm when we hit the ground. Today has been much different. Paris was cold and snowy when we arrived at Charles De Gaulle. Check in was shift and the flight was very comfortable and pleasant. The plane was only about half full, so I was able to spread out over a couple of seats and actually relax. The movies were good, the food decent, and people very quiet. I arrived in Cincinnati and the weather is beautiful. It appears relatively warm without a cloud in the sky. My turn-over this time is a bit long with a 2 1/2 hour layover. All in all though, I have no complaints. This is the type of travel day that everyone dreams of. If my luggage makes it to TRI, I will be good to go.
I suppose that I should devote some time to last night's meal at the Eiffel Tower. In all honesty, though it was a very nice night, it was a bit anti-climatic. The view was nice, but we were relatively low on the tower, so it pailed compared to our visit on Monday. The mingling and champaigne was pleasant and the dinner was decent. It fell victim to comparison to the night before, which has set the standard for all meals past and present. It is my new baseline. The set up for dinner was assigned seating with everyone from North America mixed around the room to encourage the meeting of new people and general networking. My table was fun and I survived the evening without offending the potentially boring or annoying. I did manage to take a few great night shots of the tower as we entered and exited and I did meet a few new people and made a few contacts.
It appears that my night is going to continue this evening a bit longer than I expected. Michael has a school program tonight at 7:00pm EST, or as I prefer to see it 1:00am Paris time. I know that Michael is looking forward to it, so I will just have to suck it up and sleep tomorrow. It will be nice to land in my own bed tonight and wake up knowing that I will understand completely all the channels on the TV. No more Al Jazerra, no more BBC, and no more Olympics in French and German. I might even watch a few hours of SportsCenter just to see what actually happened in case the French have been lying to me all week.
Well enough of all this. I am home; I am repatriated; I am very tired. I am going to try and leave you with a pic from last night's dinner, assuming I can overcome the T-Mobile Hotspot wireless access here at the airport. Until next time...
3:01pm EST
Well, my adventure has basically come to an end. I am sitting in the Delta terminal in Cincinnati waiting for my connecting flight to the Tri-cities. I have cleared customs, been stamped, searched, de-shoe'ed, and cleared for take-off. After all the fun was over once I got here, I headed for the food court and induldged in one of those truly American experiences, Panda Express Chinese food. I know that must sound a little strange, but take my word for it. There is nothing as uniquely American as Food Court fast-food style Chinese. I guessed that stopping in at Panda Express was as good as any stop for shocking my system back into American food mode. I doubt the sushi and Frau Gra will be finding its way to my plate anytime in the near future.
Well it seems that my arrival back in the states has been very much the opposite of my departure. We I left on Saturday, it was cold and snowing, our turn-over in Cincinnati wa very quick, and the flight to Paris was long and quite painful. Paris was rainy and warm when we hit the ground. Today has been much different. Paris was cold and snowy when we arrived at Charles De Gaulle. Check in was shift and the flight was very comfortable and pleasant. The plane was only about half full, so I was able to spread out over a couple of seats and actually relax. The movies were good, the food decent, and people very quiet. I arrived in Cincinnati and the weather is beautiful. It appears relatively warm without a cloud in the sky. My turn-over this time is a bit long with a 2 1/2 hour layover. All in all though, I have no complaints. This is the type of travel day that everyone dreams of. If my luggage makes it to TRI, I will be good to go.
I suppose that I should devote some time to last night's meal at the Eiffel Tower. In all honesty, though it was a very nice night, it was a bit anti-climatic. The view was nice, but we were relatively low on the tower, so it pailed compared to our visit on Monday. The mingling and champaigne was pleasant and the dinner was decent. It fell victim to comparison to the night before, which has set the standard for all meals past and present. It is my new baseline. The set up for dinner was assigned seating with everyone from North America mixed around the room to encourage the meeting of new people and general networking. My table was fun and I survived the evening without offending the potentially boring or annoying. I did manage to take a few great night shots of the tower as we entered and exited and I did meet a few new people and made a few contacts.
It appears that my night is going to continue this evening a bit longer than I expected. Michael has a school program tonight at 7:00pm EST, or as I prefer to see it 1:00am Paris time. I know that Michael is looking forward to it, so I will just have to suck it up and sleep tomorrow. It will be nice to land in my own bed tonight and wake up knowing that I will understand completely all the channels on the TV. No more Al Jazerra, no more BBC, and no more Olympics in French and German. I might even watch a few hours of SportsCenter just to see what actually happened in case the French have been lying to me all week.
Well enough of all this. I am home; I am repatriated; I am very tired. I am going to try and leave you with a pic from last night's dinner, assuming I can overcome the T-Mobile Hotspot wireless access here at the airport. Until next time...
posted by Ben from TN @ 2/23/2006 03:37:00 PM
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