Oh Well, We Were Only Going Home

Monday morning in Paris, it was get to the airport time. We got down to the hotel checkout with an hour to spare to get to the airport, so as to have that recommended 3 hrs. to kill AT the airport. Sez the clerk: "Zhere is a small problem wit zee trains...." Strike. The Metro in the city was running, but the dedicated lines to the airports were shut down. Cabs were either down in sympathy, or were so impacted with fares that they weren't answering their phones. First we were told we could Metro to the Roissy bus terminal at the Opera stop and schlep our stuff onto a bus for ride of indeterminate lenghth to De Gaulle. Then we were told, no, take the Metro to the Gare de Nord (one of 5 train termini within the city) and catch a one-per-hour train they had running out to De Gaulle (I guess management still knows how to drive a train). This involved multiple Metro transfers, all with a big rolling bag, a smaller roller, Don's commuter daypack, the camera bag, my expandable tote that goes with me on every trip, and of course, a huge purse loaded with the essentials. Mind you, by now my left hip joint isn't talking to me anymore, it's swearing. So we roll, carry, drag and hump our luggage everywhere under Paris - and end up in a 10-person-deep crowd of commuters and tourists on the train platform just trying to get to the airport. The smell of "oh-god-we're-going-to-miss-our-flight" was thick in the air..... a train arrives, the crowd surges, then parts to let arriving passengers get off, then surges once again - Don spots an open door to the next car, sort of behind a pillar..... points and mouths "go! go!", we schlep everything over and press forward.... we got on. We were sweaty, SRO with all our luggage piled in one precarious stack, all the smaller bags dangling from our aching shoulders -but we were on, like the last train over the border ahead of the Nazi advance. It took an hour to get to the airport, then shuttle to the right terminal, do Customs, check in with the airline and check luggage (yay! only the purse, camera bag and daypack left!).

We took no pictures.