11:30 Monday 31/30/03 - Writing this on the plane fly back to the US. This 767 is not as nice as the 777 that brought me over. No personal TV screens and no choices. The movie is "The Trouble With Charlie," not that good, but at least set in Paris. My seat mate is a 26 year old French man who has lived in California (working for HP) for three years. His American girlfriend was supposed to have accompanied him but canceled at the last minute when her parents were afraid.

This morning I visited Les Invalides, a few blocks from my hotel. It is the home of Napoleon's Tomb & the huge French Army Museum. More cannons, old armor and WWI & II things than you can shake a stick at. I originally planed to see the Louvre this morning, but decided to make the day less complicated.

On the way back to my hotel, I stopped in a small market and converted most of my remaining euros to chocolate. Then picked up my bags and headed out to the airport by metro and RUR.

There were two young men playing accordions on the train. I heard only one street musician during this visit. All the others were on the RUR or metro.

I arrived at the airport a bit over 2 hours before the flight - lots of time for American Airlines, an hour would have been tight but OK. I spent my last 15 euros on some more chocolate, this time with scotch inside, for some convention charity auctions.

American Airlines had additional security people that asked detailed questions (much more than US customs). Even things like how long I had owned my camera and had it ever been repaired. When she asked if I had anything that could _possibly_ be used as a weapon, I said the closest thing was my corkscrew (which flew to France with me) and she had me give it up.

The actual airport security to enter the secure area was pretty standard both ways.

Copyright 2003-2023 by Keith Stokes.