There was blessedly more legroom on the AF aircraft today. Also, said aircraft was delivered on November 23rd of this year making it the newest plane I've ever flown. It didn't smell new though, such a disappointment.
So having been so impressed by KLM, and this being a longer flight (1.5 hours vs 1 hour) I was expecting a lot from Air France. And boy was I EVER disappointed. Where do I start? Let's see, one beverage service, drinks in a plastic cup, and this sorry excuse for a meal. In fact, it's so small, I can't even call it a meal, let's call it a mea.
That's supposed to be some cold vegetable salad (maybe?), an apple tart and a tiny chocolate mousse dessert. What is the opposite of blown away? Because that's what I was. And no Flight Attendants in the aisle except to pick up trash? If I wanted to stay in the US and fly crappy US carriers I would have! I DEMAND A BETTER CLASS OF FLIGHT!!!!11!!!one!!!
I liked the feature at CDG telling you when your bags would arrive, what I liked even more is that my bag (the 11th off) beat the expectation!
Paris
Like I mentioned earlier, noted Flyertalk
Top of Climb flew down from London just to see me! Well, and to buy a tacky souvenir, but I think at least 65% of it was to see me. Some of you may remember him from his report:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...cx-ba-f-j.html
In fact, I got a whole two paragraphs in that report for introducing him to Biscoff cookies (thanks, Delta!). On this trip, I brought him an entire pack (about two dozen) from the Skyclub at RDU who were so kind to support our habits.
So once we were united we bopped over to the Hilton CDG which ended up being the nicest hotel I visited on this trip. There the lounge was open and champagne was flow'n (written as such to ryhme with open, sorry English sticklers!).
Putting an Hhonors Gold in a room with no shower curtain? DEVALUATION! DEEEEEEEEEEVALUATION!!!!
Chicken wings and nuggets at the lounge? In Paris? As in Paris, FRANCE? I was confused!
The best part of the hotel was the literal one block walk to a train station so we could get right into the heart of Paris. Luckily, the helpful front desk staff explained to us where to go and where to get off downtown. She asked me what we wanted to do and I said “take photographs and eat dinner”. I thought it was a good description.
Anyone mind if I rant for a minute? Good. So a roundtrip to Paris costs 18,20 Euros. And this time my point isn't that that's expensive (which it is) but about the ticket machines at the station. They don't take bills (who has at least 11 coins clinking around in their pocket?) and they couldn't read either of our credit cards. And T of C had one of those fancy European chip things and THE MACHINE WOULD NOT WORK. Why did it not want my money? I mean, if it wasn't for me, the machine would be speaking German right now. Anyway, rant over, we got on the train and everything worked out.
A man got on the train and played the accordion to us all, now THAT'S an introduction to France!
Not to brag but that is hands down the best photograph I've ever taken.
So after walking as far away from the restaurants with English menus as we could, we found ourselves in a large alley somewhere on the Left Bank. We cased the eateries and found one that looked sufficiently French and dined. It was wonderful! We split a bottle of Rosé and I got to eat my first ever dish of steak tartar (something I'd wanted to try for a long time). Dinner was excellent (and reasonably priced) and the company was even better. In fact, I'd like to thank T of C again. You see, I'm a talker. I always have been. But this week I talked less than I ever had in my life. My conversation was limited to ordering food or paying for a ticket and even when I met people who spoke English, they didn't want to make friends (I would have apologized for the Iraq War and everything, I swear!). So with T of C around I was able to talk again. And talk we did! In fact, we talked so much and laughed so loud (thanks, alcohol!) that we scared a table of French women away from us. Shame too, I was just about to charm them with my “Hey baby, if you ever wanted to rent a Ford Focus in North Carolina, then your dream is about to come true!” pick up line.
Sadly, after a wonderful evening it was time to turn in for we both had flights the next day.