Au revoir

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Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097

A mocha Frappuccino. Such bliss!

Said goodbye to Rolinka and Yvonne this morning. Big hugs all around, and I very nearly cried. I managed to keep it together, though, and then went out to wait for my Parishuttle. It was five minutes late, which isn't bad actually. There were two people already in the van, and we picked up one more. The girl in front of me had doused herself in some godawful perfume, so I was glad the window was open even though it was chilly this morning. Those shuttle drivers go like demons on the motorway, but it meant we got to Charles de Gaulle in record time.

CDG was a hive of chaos, with tons of signs everywhere ... very few of them of any actual use. I did manage to get into the right line for passport/security, which I was rather chuffed about. I forgot to remove my laptop from my bag, and the screener asked me (in French) if I had a computer in my bag. I apologized and started to unzip my bag, and he was just all, “Nah,
that's okay. Never mind.” In French, obviously. Happily, the French don't make you take your shoes off.

Discovered wi-fi for a fee (cheap; well, cheapish: 2.90 euro for 30 minutes) at CDG, so I posted all the recent blogs I wasn't able to post the past few nights. Also checked my e-mail. Got one from Citty at work asking for Mark's login for KCSC, and I'm wondering what that's all about because I don't remember anything on his calendar that would involve a filing. Guess I'll find out on Monday. Sigh ...

My flight boarded fairly quickly. My seat, 9D, was right behind the flight attendant's jump seat, so I had a lot of leg room. Fortunately, there was no one in the seat between me and the window, so I was able to put my purse under that seat. My suitcase had to go into an overhead bin several rows behind me because the bins in my row were already packed. A flight attendant
noticed this and let me move my bag to an empty bin in Club World. So when the flight landed, I was able to scoot forward right away and grab my bag on the way out. I thanked the attendant at least three times.

And now I am at Heathrow, thus the Frappuccino of Bliss. Will go up to the bookstore in minute to buy some reading material. I must be careful, however; I'm traveling carry-on only, so I've already reached my cabin baggage limit. I can't buy too many books or I'll end up with another bag. Oo, and I need cocoa-dusted almonds from Harrods. I'd better crack on!

LATER: Found my cocoa-dusted almonds and bought three books at W. H. Smith, including the last in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson.

Last night when I chose my seats for the LHR-SEA flight, I chose an aisle seat for a row that also still had a free window and middle seat. I was one of the first people to board and sat in my aisle seat. Then a British lady came along who had the window seat. We both agreed that it would be nice if no one sat in the middle. Things were looking promising, but then a large man with a shaggy beard (who bore a striking resemblance to the Muppet Sweetums) came along to sit in the middle. He turned out to be quite a nice man, somewhere in his 60s I'd say. His wife is Welsh, and they currently live in Abergavenny, Wales. He, however, is a native Seattleite and a medical researcher at UW (specialty: the carotid artery and whether insertion of a stent to prevent stroke is good for the patient or just good for the manufacturer), so he telecommutes but has to come back to Seattle about four times a year for meetings. In fact, he has a meeting at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Ugh! At one point he mentioned something about Hay-on-Wye, which is near where he lives, and I said, “Oh, the book festival, right?” And his response was, “You are knowledgeable!” He's never met any Americans who know about Hay. Rather worringly, he felt compelled to inform the flight attendant that he had no life jacket under his seat. We just chatted before takeoff, as he had brought along his noise-cancelling headphones and was able to zone out for most of the flight.

I mostly read one of my new books, but also watched a little bit of TV and “Roman Holiday.” The plane must have been a different 777 model because it had the old “stuff is starting at this particular time” entertainment instead of the on-demand entertainment.

The food on BA has really gone downhill over the years, but there was a piece of chocolate cake with a mandarin sauce that was just as good as anything I'd eaten in France.

Well, it was a lovely, lovely trip and I had a fabulous time, but I was so glad to see John and my kitties and to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow! And I'm reallyreallyreallyreally looking forward to a decent shower in the morning.

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