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An early start, but by the time the sun set in the west, it was setting on the horizon that disappeared into the Pacific Ocean. Home is always a nice place to come back to.
| 4:15am | Arrrgh! The now grumpy girl stumbled off to the shower while I dressed. |
| 4:45am | The driver (not Giuseppe) stowed our luggage in the taxi and we headed for the Leonardo da Vinci airport, along with Neil and Joanne and Orlando and Gigi. |
| 5:14am | Rachel and I went through security. This time I was not bombarded by x-rays. None of the shops or commissaries were open within the airport at this time. The two of us munched on chocolate chip granola bars. |
| 7:46am | We’ve only been sitting on the plane for an hour and we left only 46 minutes late. On to Paris via Air France. |
| 8:35am | Breakfast was doled out. It wasn’t bad. I stuck with the tangerine and a bread roll. |
| 9:45am | Touch down in Paris. We’re the C7 concourse and need to get to C2. Doesn’t sound far, does it? Well, we tromped down several flights of stairs and had to take a very very slow shuttle bus to our area. We went through passport control and security again. Then raced to gate 83, as our departure time was 10:20am and it was now 10:15am. |
| 10:17am | We’re on the gangway, heading to the plane when this petite French lady stops us. Ooh goodie. We get the pleasure of a frisking and a thorough search. I stayed close to Rachel because she was steaming mad. I can’t recall a time when I saw her this disgruntled. Her spare set of batteries for my camera was confiscated. Oh, she was quite outspoken about that. I tried shushing her as to not cause problems. Finally, after I was manhandled, we were allowed to board. We got a window seat in the ass of the plane. |
| 11:02am | And we’re taking off. Thank god! Rachel was still grumbling and declaring she would never go to France for any reason. |
| 12:58pm (PST) | The beautiful site of tarmac at the San Francisco Airport. I woke the girl up. She nodded for a great deal of the trip, managing to wake up for the lunch and dinner service. I spent the flight watching Je reste! and Michel Vaillant, on these cool TV screens built into the backs of the seats. Once the luggage was claimed, I spent about 2 minutes with the pleasant customs officer and was ushered through. |
| 1:35pm | The girl’s family pulled up and whisked us away to Jack in the Box for some greasy, hearty American fare. Mmmm, greasy. |