Arrive' de Paris

Je suis a'qui!  I am here.  The sky is grey and deeply overcast but it can not dull my enthusiasm for Gay Paree'.  The non stop flight from Atlanta was uneventful. (Here I was going to begin with a photo of the gate sign saying we were departing on time.  Oops, now I remember why I was packing the external card reader!  Ah well, when I unpack i will find all the appropriate conning cords, I hope!)

Weird, but the 3:44 p.m. flight seemed short and we even arrived twenty minutes early.  The food wasn't too bad and the service seemed quick since they began as soon as we reached cruising altitude.  Complimentary drinks were quickly followed by complimentary wine with my dinner of decent chicken teriyaki four hours later they began the breakfast service.  That was not good food at all but I ate part of my eggs on a muffin sandwich but was much  more interested in two cups of very hot and very strong black tea.  And we landed at DeGaulle outside of Paris, France!

I had my usual window seat, this time row 48, on the right side of the plane.  It was good I chosen it because that way no one could bump my sore arm which I rested on a pillow and I could relax.  I said relax, not sleep.  I just don't sleep on planes. This was a Boeing 777!  I would fly it again in a heartbeat!  Several inches between my knees and the seat in front.  A very tall man I later met, said he was also very comfortable.  Love planes with private viewing screens that work.  I watched The Imitation Game!  Very interesting movie.  Not sure how they figured out what they figured out but thought that since the key was a comment by a friend it gave it an interesting concept.  The best thing and the first time I experienced it was the seat!  When you reclined the seat the back only moved a couple inches.  But, and here is the terrific  innovation.  The seat slid forward!  Not far but a comfortable recline was achieved!  Wow!  Wish I had had that on the 16 hour flights to and from Africa last year!  I hope we have a 777 on the long flight to Honolulu.  Wow!

Seated next to me, in the middle, was a very nice, affable young man from Forsyth who was on a school Spring Break trip with four classmates and two teachers.  So polite and will to chat a little and never for a minute played a video game.  He was watching TED Talks and any we talked about he immediately checked out on his IPad where he had downloaded a hundred articles and maps for his one week trip.  The app was called Minipedia.   I will have to see if there is a version for Android.

Although our flight arrived early, De Gaulle is a huge airport.  First we walked, not too far, and boarded a speedy train and at the second stop was baggage claim.  After a not too long walk we took an escalator down one flight, then walked, then down another flight, then walk, then down, then walk then down maybe six or seven times!  I stopped at the ladies room.  took advantage of the Mother and Baby room so that I would have plenty of space.  I laid down my carry on and opened it to put my travel pillow in and take my  makeup and passport case out in order to get my ship tags and my sticker so Viking would recognize me. When I finished brushing my hair and my teeth I rejoined the rest of the passengers, most of whom had already finished Passport control.  I only had one person ahead of me and then continued on to the baggage claim.

It was nearly an hour from the early landing until my bright purple bag was spit out onto the conveyor belt for a short ride to be reunited with me.  I made my was to the Sortie and exited to find the Viking kiosk and a very nice girl waiting to check me off her list. Jean Baptiste then took my bags and led me and two couples to a very comfortable, limo type, van to whisk us to the ship.  I say 'whisk' but we were driving 7 to 10 minutes when we saw the sign that we were exiting the airport!  It is HUGE!

We then took about a 20 minute ride into the city itself.  You think you are in Paris but it begins at the at Boulevard Napoleon.  Our driver said welcome to Paris.  Now you are here.  Since my seat was facing forward I could see and easily recognize L'Arc d'Triomph.  It was still early Sunday morning and he circled it slowly so we had a fantastic, up close view of the massive size of it and of the depth of the carvings.  The Eternal Flame of the Tomb of the Unknown blazed brightly through the misty morning light.

And circling back to be opposite the Boulevard we were then on Le Champs Elysee'.  Wow!.  If you have a few hundred thousand dollars and want to spend it in one day here is the place to be!  Cartier, Bulgari, Rolex, Luis Vuitton flagship stores glittered with invitation, beautiful to see but I would not even know how to behave in them!

We passed the scale  model of the Statue of Liberty and crossed the Seine to board our boat, the Viking Pride at the foot of  La Tour Eiffel!  Unbelievable.  I LOVE river cruising!

We never touched our bags as Clara, our Program Director, greeted us and introduced us to the Hotel Manager who led us to the dining room for breakfast.  I was not expecting anything until lunchtime or I would not have touched the nasty muffiny sandwichy thing on the plane.  We could choose from the daily breakfast menu but I opted, as did my new friends, for the buffet filled with fresh fruit.  I did have a couple of rummaki made of bacon wrapped plums1  A little different.

And about my new friends.  Karen and Larry and Kathy and Jerry!  Larry and Jerry, older than me, have been friend since high school.  Kathy and Jerry were married this past October although Larry was quick to point out that she was his second wife.  I murmured something about being sorry for his loss and then brightly added, but I bet Kathy is as wonderful or even better.  He replied, "Way better!"  True love on the downward slope of life!

Ruth should be arriving soon so I while I wait for her and for our cabin to be ready I am going to step outside and look around, help myself to hot chocolate with a shot of caramel and see what they are planning for lunch.  I noticed that as clean plates came from the kitchen in the dining room that they were carried to the lounge for the light lunch that is offered to arriving passengers.