On the Way Home
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2006
1
10
11
Trip End
Sep 09, 2006
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Sunday, September 10, 2006
I am free of France! Got up at 7:00 this morning. Wendy's assistant or friend or associate Vladimir drove me to the airport in Marseilles and Molly to the train station in Aix en Provence. It was good-bye to my many friends and fellow writers.
By the way, Molly spent the night with our neighbors (Jane, Marie, and Trudy) downstairs. As she was packing back in her own dorm, her heart started racing. Then something grabbed her ankle as she sat on the bed. She screamed and ran away! Ooooo!
I slept on the flight to Paris, though flying into CDG airport I did, finally, get to see the Eiffel Tower
The Class of Lacost, 2006
. It was a heck of a lot larger than I thought it would be - much larger than the Eiffel Towers in Las Vegas or Epcot. It was still too hazy to take a good picture. I sat next to the most homely woman on the plane. She was American and, well, DAMN!The connection was tight. I knew it would be. I had 54 minutes and a full 30 minutes of that was occupied by security. That wasn't annoying. What was annoying was the endless chorus of spoiled Americans whining about missing their plane as if complaining about it would help. "Sacre bleu! Your plane is boarding? Why didn't you say so! I shall escort you to the front of the line toot-sweet!"
No, I didn't miss the flight. A 9-hour flight, a 9-hour flight... But I did luck out in that the seat next to me was vacant! There is a God! That really helped and I actually got some sleep on the flight. I also got to see some movies, eat more French food, drink more French wine, and fill out my Customs declaration. My suitcase will be quite aromatic when I open it at home: I bought a half wheel of cheese and various salamis. Hmmm!
Connections in Chicago were tight as well, again with about half the time spent getting through security and immigration/customs. I must admit, however, that the customs folks were friendlier than I remember them in times past.
Slept most of the way to Salt Lake City. So now I'm sitting in the commuter terminal, just 2 hours before my last plane flight and about four hours before I'm finally home. Odd thing: I don't smell as bad as I know I did when I went to France. Now I do smell. I'm certain of that; in 2 more hours I will have been wearing these same clothes for a full day. But it's cooler here than it was in France. Thank you people of Utah! While you may not be the socialist paradise that France is, you do believe in blessed air conditioning. Hallelujah!
