Transferring through Paris France

My Camino trek has begun. On Friday April 15, I got to Los Angeles International Airport three hours before my flight to Paris, France, as is recommended by travel people today. Check-in was uneventful, and security a breeze. It seems that new rules are in place, because we did not have to take off shoes, take off belts, laptops and other electronic devices were to be left in a carry-on bag. They did ask that all metal be removed from your body (so I am glad I did not have a metal plate in my head).

Then there was a long wait for boarding at Gate 154. The sign is shown to the left, I am really going to Paris for the first time ever. Even though I’ll only be in Paris this time for about 24 hours, it is very exciting.

This is the best camera view of our plan I could get. It is an Airbus A380-800, the largest airplane made. Air France has these Airbus A380-800 airplanes configured with 450 total seats, 390 of which are coach class, making up most of the lower level.

Paris for the First Time

The flight was long, 11-hours in the air. The food Air France provided was pretty good. Even with some mindless movies to watch, I could not get more than an hour or two of sleep. After this l-o-n-g flight, we arrived in Paris at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Charles de Gaulle is a very large airport, as large as Bangkok and Incheon (Soeul, S.Korea), but spread out much more as newer parts of the airport were added over the years. Immigration was slow, but I was told this is just how it is in Paris. And the slow immigration lines give the baggage handlers extra time to get the baggage unloaded; when we got to baggage claim, the bags were just starting to roll onto the carousel for retreival. I then found my way to a shuttle bus for what seemed like a very long ride into the Montparnasse area of Paris, near the Montparnasse train terminal, from which I will be leaving tomorrow.

And a short, one-stop Metro (Paris’ subway) ride from Montparnasse is my hotel, where I’ll be staying one night tonight and two nights when I have completed the Camino de Santiago.

I was quite hungry, so after checking in, I asked the young lady at the front desk if she had a local restaurant she recommended, and she suggested a creperie about 30-40 steps from the hotel. Here is a picture. The food was good, the people nice, and I had a very good meal (including a large banana split to give me additional carbohydrates for my walk on the Camino) at a very respectable price.

One of my goals is to stay awake until 10 or 10:30 PM to get more adjusted to local time (France and Spain are 9 hours ahead of Los Angeles). After dinner and some exploring in the general area, I walked over to the Montparnasse train station to find out how my e-tickets would work tomorrow. The person I spoke to was very nice, and printed my tickets for tomorrow, so all I will need to do is go to the train and get on with my ticket.

Next: Travel to Saint Jean Pied de Port