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Geo: 48.8331, 2.3264
Traffic was pretty awful getting to SeaTac this afternoon. There was construction around Montlake, and the freeway was just backed up like usual. I was getting a little worried, but we made it to the airport in plenty of time. And then I found out that my flight was delayed one hour. Sigh ... On the bright side, John knows a secretary at Byrnes & Keller who is married to a guy who works for British Airways. We were at a B&K party last week and got to talking to James. Found out after I was told about the delay that James got me into the Lounge, which was really nice of him and a pleasant place to sit, especially with the extra wait time. There were little sandwiches, a bar, salad fixings, soup and little fridges with pop and stuff in them. I only had a Sprite and a bowl of vegetable (!) soup.
The flight was supposed to leave at 6:45 but didn't take off till just after 8:00. And for the first time in a long time on an outbound flight, I had someone sitting next to me. It was okay though: he and his companion in
the window seat were youngish and still skinny. I killed a couple of hours by watching several episodes of "The Big Bang Theory," and also spent too much time trying to get my restless legs to calm down. I finally stood in the back of the plane and stretched for ten minutes or so. I only slept a little bit. We were served dinner (chicken curry) and then something that was supposed to be a croissant about an hour before landing.
The passport control/security line at LHR Flight Connections was the worst I've ever seen. Still, it probably only took ten minutes to get through, and I managed
not to set off any buzzers.
My onward flight to Paris left on time and was only a tiny bit late in arriving because of thunderstorms outside of Paris. This made for a very bumpy ride, but at least it's a really short flight. (The flight from Seattle was pretty bumpy too, come to think of it.)
Made it through French passport control and then walked about half a mile through the airport to get the suburban train (RER) to central Paris so I could get a Metro to my hotel. The ticket was 9.75 euros, and I bought it from a bright yellow machine. The RER wasn't too crowded at first, but it rapidly filled up and I felt guilty about my suitcase taking up a seat. (I didn't put it
on a seat, but it took up enough floor space that it made one seat unusable.) When I got out of the train at Denfert-Rochereau it was raining, and my train car was far enough down the platform to not be covered. Dashed for cover and then made my way to Metro line 6. Tons of stairs, both up and down. Made it to the right platform and two stops later proceeded to try to exit the car through the wrong door. So embarrassing! I wondered why the well-dressed black man gave me a weird look when I said "Excusez-moi" and then moved past him to the (unbeknownst to me) wrong door. He was very nice and opened the correct door for me and held it while I hauled myself out of there!
My hotel, Hotel Delambre, was just around the corner from the Metro stop (Edgar-Quinet), and fortunately it had stopped raining. It's a decent little hotel, and my room is on the ground floor practically in the lobby. In fact, the set-up and color scheme remind me very much of the Hotel du Champs de Mars, where John and Katie and I stayed in 2000. I can't remember what kind of hairdryer the Champs de Mars had, but this hotel has the worst hairdryer in the world. Can't wait to see what happens to my hair tomorrow!
I'm hungry, but I really don't feel like putting clothes back on and venturing out on my own at 9:00 on a Saturday in a slightly iffy neighborhood. I should get a bottle of water from reception though. I'll try to stay awake for another hour at least and then hope I can get some sleep. The reception area isn't exactly quiet.
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John
non-member comment
Avec, Avec. Heureux d'avoir fait sain et sauf! Vous manque d?j?. Rappelez-vous, il est fran?ais ? partir de maintenant. Essayez de ne pas montrer votre guide. ;)