I love Paris Vogue












Since I'm now working on my Apache Trail AJ, I thought I'd share some pages. More tomorrow!

Delta fed us and gave us free wine and beer, left food out for us, the plane from Paris was great fun, especially because even though I left rue Rousselet at 6am for a 10:55am flight, I had to sprint for the plane. I also dropped my beloved Mac (the strap broke on the briefcase thing). It has a dent but obviously still works.

After being transatlantically (?) wined and dined (good Merlot), I spent five mind numbing hours in Salt Lake City airport. I' not forgetting the magnificent approach to the airport, gliding over the Wasatch Mountain Range, daunting, dramatic black mountains, capped with white snow.




The scariest plane ride of my life was the connector to Tucson. I was in seat 12B, the second to last row. But the best seat mate: a women from Montana who used to work as a prison guard, first 10 years at a mens prison and 2 at a womens. She preferred the men.

Got to Crosslands about 11pm. Home and happy.

What I like about Paris

Red
Pistache
Pistache icecream cones
eclairs de pistache
Walking
Signage - A LOT of signage
Bright colors
Free High Speed internet
Drain pipes
Cracked & crumbly facades



What I don't like about Paris

Cold
cold rain
stuffed nose because of rain and damp
Upstairs éléphant
English spoken rarely outside of touristy places
My inability to learn French
Homesickness
Bad shampoo & conditioner
Black - everyone wears black - lemmings
puke and dog shit

AND

It's not America. Love it or not, there's no place like HOME!

I want to go out, but the only places to go are within walking distance. It's so slippery now. Cobble stones are slippery. Pretty, but slippery.

Thank goodness for my pneumonia shot! The flu too, I guess, but I had pneumonia 3 years in a row before I got it five years ago. Never since.

Please stop raining, snowing. Le froid est très bien. Pas trop froid.

DELTA Tucson - Atlanta = 2 hours late

Missed PARIS Flight by 20 minutes, but via benevolent ticket goddess, I learn what comes with being in a wheelchair: FIRST IN LINE EVERYWHERE!

Delta sucked big time. Hundreds (not kidding) of passengers were lined up at the CS station, lines looped all through the taped lines and down the hall.

Cripples go first. Talk about cutters! I was wheeled straight to the front of the line! After this old chick in a WC.

So I had the brilliant idea (actually, one of my "pushers" told me this great idea) to go to LONDON and over to PARIS. Brilliant! I'd be here at 6:00!

The London flight was delayed 2 hours, WHICH WAY OK BECAUSE I HAD 2 hours to take off for PARIS!!!!!

It's amazing how idiotic anal and asinine planes are. LONDON flight was delayed because of a toilet problem.

But the LONDON-PARIS flight took the prize: we were waiting for a piece of luggage (remember that), there was a "small" maintenance problem, a light bulb blew on the runway.

We took off about 7pm. Called Olivier my landlord that I'd be there as soon as I got my luggage and contacted Paris Blue shuttle.

You've already guessed, right? Yeah, they lost my luggage.

Or rather it took the flight I turned down, a night at a hotel and the same flight I missed. I was already in London by the time my luggage took the later flight.

I wanted to run screaming to the ticket counter to go "home" which is a storage locker in Tucson. Damn! I was off my meds too!

Here's why:

The luggage was found, Air France would deliver it, I got 100. euros to spend on new clothes (I don't even had underwear) AND

AND

AND

The Paris Blue shuttle came at 10pm (or sometime after) and I was treated to the MOST AMAZING and DARING drive down the cobbled streets of PARIS, harepin turns, nimble pedestrians... it was fabulous! ALL IN THE DARK!

It's a flicking beautiful city. Colors are more themselves and then some. Blue lights reverberate. Every store has huge windows, walls of windows instead of brick and mortar.

What a fab place!!!! I LOVE PARIS!

& I'll begin my 22 hours flight to Paris. Then I can take 3 months to work up the nerve to do it again and go home. I'm excited.