The Flight to France: Une Grande Aventure

Hey there!

I am safe and sound in France on Monday, August 25th after a very long series of flights. Although tiring, the trip was interesting because of the sights to see in the European Airports. The Airport of Frankfurt was the most interesting. Immediately after we disembarked the plane, three buses could be seen waiting for passengers to take to the terminal. Frankfurt Airport is so large that this is necessary or one would be walking for an hour or more. Inside the airport other arrangements for long distance travel have been arranged. There are escalator-like moving floors which move people to the terminals within the airport and transport passengers between gates. A very long tunnel, with one of these moving floors along it, exists under the airport to move people between terminals. This tunnel can be seen to the left.


After a long walk to the correct gate (which changed 3 times, causing me anxiety) I bought a refreshing iced tea. I don't know if it was because I was thirsty or if it was actually a European version of Nestea but it tasted amazing. Not too sweet with a noticeable hint of lemon. At any rate, it is better than any commercial iced tea I have ever had in Canada. After enjoying my rejuvenating beverage I looked for a recycling bin. I found instead a very interesting garbage can. As you can see above, it has areas for all types of refuse. All the garbage cans I saw were like this. We should get these in Edmonton. It makes recycling easy. As I was walking away I saw a man on a bike in the airport. The sheer size of the airport makes this commonplace for workers. You can see him to the left as well as the shop where I bought the iced tea. They had very peculiar chairs which looked like little white cubes on legs. You can make them out in the background of the picture to the right.

Not long afterwards an amusing and novel invention met my eyes, The Smoking Cube. As smoking is banned in public areas (similar to Edmonton) and in the plane itself, those desperate for a cigarette need not search for an exit sign. They merely enter a "Smoke 'n Go" to light up inside the airport without bothering anyone. In one of these cubes, it was so full of people smoking, it was hard to see inside through the transparent walls. I thought they were quite amusing and a few desperate-looking people made a beeline for these upon sight.

I boarded my flight to Paris without much difficulty despite the 3 gate changes. After a long wait, my luggage arrived intact and I was warmly received by the Corbaux Family: Nathalie, Eric and Hippolyte. After loading my luggage into their car, we drove to Paris to give me a quick tour and have lunch at a café. Paris is amazing. It is definitely made for people as it has many diverse shops both large and small. The architecture is very historic and is it difficult to even find a building that is not at least 200 years old.

The Courbaux's daughter, Scarlette, is on a Rotary Student Exchange as well. She is traveling to Edmonton. Apparently she missed her flight in Toronto, to the great anxiety of her parents, but managed to catch another flight after a long wait. I am glad I did not have such difficulties.

Au revoir pour maintenant. I shall write again soon.