After avoiding CDG was many years I'm a virgin no longer. It wasn't as bad as I had expected.

I flew into T1 on United on the 26th, and had to get to T2 to pick up Mrs. Milepig who was coming on AA (long story) and then the RER into town.

My arrival at T1: Landed, got to T1 and then circled all the way around the satellites before we arrived at our gate - do the planes only go in one direction? Fairly short walk to immigration, where there was no line at all. I almost walked past it, since I was looking for a line. A strange trip through the habitrail tubes to baggage claim (was the architect on drugs?) where there were actually benches to wait on. The baggage carousel stuck regularly and some poor man kept disappearing into the bowels to get things going again. UA aside - as always the priority tagged bags came off last. Then a walk around the circle to customs where there was no one even watching. Then another walk around the circle to door 22 and a quick walk across the road to the well marked bus stop for the trip to T2. Crowds were non-existent at 9:15 - 10:00 am. The terminal was cold and dirty. Grade B+ with good marks for signs, lack of crowds and bad grades for ugliness and dirt.

T2: the bus stop between 2A and 2C was convenient for AA. Since I was early I scoped out where the AA arivals area was then then headed over to the RER station to buy the tickets. The trip there was hot and crowded. I had directions printed from the CDG web site that indicated I could take a shuttle bus, but the signs in the terminal just pointed me through 2C and then to the RER station, which took less that 10 minutes. The terminal as hot and the crowds were large and shifty looking. Seemed like pickpocket heaven. THe RER station was new, large, open feeling, and the machine took my credit card the first time - unheard of in France. Back to 2A to wait for Mrs. Milepig. From the time her flight status changed to "landed" it took 45 minutes for her to appear in arrivals, and this with no checked luggage. Then a quick walk back to the RER station, where the trains were clearly marked, we waited about 5 extra minutes to get an express, and all went perfect. T2 grade: C-. Ugly, dirty, crowded, confusing signs.

But, overall for an experienced traveler, no worse than many other airports I've used. Still hate LHR and FRA is also right up there. CDG was not as bad as I expected it to be.