Our flight was supposed to depart from the Fort Myers airport at 12:09, but my husband and I were told to be at the airport three hours in advance! I had checked in our luggage online and printed out boarding passes as well. When we got to the airport (thank you, Nancy), I checked in our luggage curbside, and the attendant was surprised that I was there so early. He said that even for an international flight, one to two hours was sufficient for a comparatively small airport like RSW (Southwest Florida International Airport). He was right. He was the first person to check and scan our passports. We shuffled through the Security checkpoint shoeless, and our passports were scanned again. At the gate our passports were scanned once more. There could be no doubt that our whereabouts were carefully monitored by someone, somewhere. As it turned out, the departure of our plane was delayed by almost an hour due to weather conditions in Cincinnati. We had time to wander around the new terminal, opened in 2005. The terminal was needed to accommodate new aircraft and ever-increasing air traffic. In this new facility, the Lee County Port Authority showcases Southwest Florida artists and their work for the traveling public.
“Tango”
Visitor Information Desk at RSW
Dragonflies
Sculpture, Dragonflies and our concourse
The sculpture Tango is by Olympian Larry Young, a two-time bronze medalist in 1968 and 1972 and the only American to ever win an Olympic medal in long-distance race walking. Young's sculpture is a replica of his original piece, which is on permanent display at the Walden Sculpture Gardens in Urbana, Ill. The objective of the Art of the Olympians is to encourage individuals to excel at their dreams. I really liked the huge dragonflies, too, but I don’t know the artist who did them.
Fort Myers is very proud of the fact that Henry Ford had his winter estate in this city. His likeness is here with his Model T Ford. Ford’s property is adjacent to the winter estate of Thomas Edison. These estates are a very popular destination not only for tourists, but also for residents as well, myself included.
Becky at Starbuck’s
The Delta flight gets ready for boarding.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) was a very pleasant surprise. It was very nicely appointed, and it was not at all busy; there was a reason for the lack of activity-- this airport has fallen on hard times. It was once Delta’s second largest hub, but with sharp cuts in the number of destination cities Delta serves, and a correspondingly large layoff of employees, business for the airport has also fallen sharply. The only remaining intercontinental service by Delta is a daily departure to Paris in the evening--my flight, which left at 5:45 PM. .Because the airport was not busy or crowded, I would recommend it as an alternative to such airports as O’Hare in Chicago or Miami, Atlanta, or Dallas/Fort Worth, which also have international connections.
The Cincinnati Airport
Can you guess which restaurant this guy is the mascot for?
This is Faye, our waitress.
A rainy day at the Cincinnati airport
Airborne over Cincinnati
Above the clouds on our flight to Paris
We left Cincinnati at 5:45 PM, on schedule. I forgot just how big the jumbo jets really are. We were seated toward the rear of the plane, in row 39, so we just kept walking down the aisle, seemingly for a long time. When we finally took our seats, I couldn‘t believe how cramped the space was. The size of the plane may have gotten bigger, but the space between the seats has shrunk. And if the people in front of you recline their seats (and they did), your tray is in your lap. But never mind. I shouldn’t have bothered putting down my tray because the food wasn’t worth eating--not the dinner meal nor the breakfast meal, either. The drinks were OK. Together with screeching children, a crying baby, barely edible food and no room to get comfortable in, the flight was pretty miserable. I had planned the trip so that we would be flying overnight and could get a little sleep. That didn’t happen. We landed in Paris on schedule, at 7:55 AM. We gained six hours.
The Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport ((CDG) is one of the world's principal aviation centers, as well as France’s largest airport.. CDG is Europe’s second busiest airport (after London Heathrow) in number of passengers served. CDG extends over 12.50 sq miles of land. Fortunately, our trip from the plane to the pickup point was short and sweet. I had scheduled online a pickup by a shuttle service called Paris Airport Shuttle It cost 36 euro, which was about $47.00 at the time. After picking up our luggage, I called the service, and a driver appeared right away. You can get a private shuttle, too, if you prefer. We had to pick up 4 more people, but it wasn’t a problem for us. One couple was from Australia, and their flying time was 24 hours. Compared to that, our flight to Paris was a hop, skip, and a jump. Driving away from the airport, I realized how huge it is, and I thought a person needs a great deal of familiarity with this airport in order to navigate around it successfully. At 9:30AM, the traffic was horrendous, but the most shocking thing was how the motorcycles were being driven. The drivers must have taken lessons from Evel Knievel. There was no space too narrow between two lanes of moving traffic for a motorcycle to squeeze through, nor too little clearance between one car and the next for a motorcycle to cut in between, all while driving at breakneck speed. Miraculously, there were no accidents while we were en route to Paris. The driver delivered us and our luggage to our doorstep.
This is the “portal” that leads to the courtyard where our building is located. It has a combination you must use to get in. There used to be a “concierge” who lived on the premises, watched over the comings and goings of residents and was responsible for the building and its maintenance. It seems that concierges have been replaced by electronic gizmos, at least for gaining entrance to the building.
The courtyard of our building
Our apartment is at the very top of the building, where you can see three flower boxes.
The apartment I rented is on the Ile Saint Louis. The two islands, Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame is located, and Ile Saint Louis, are both in the middle of Paris on the Seine River. The building dates from 1627, and our apartment is on the top 2 floors of this very quiet building overlooking a leafy courtyard. From the balcony you can see the rooftops of Paris. Of course, it has been completely renovated and has all the modern conveniences, but one thing many buildings lack on this island is an elevator, and this building is no exception. There are a lot of steps to get up to the apartment, but I thought it would be good exercise. There are three flights of winding stairs followed by 2 flights of narrow, tightly twisting stairs. Getting ourselves up these stairs was a challenge, but getting our luggage up these stairs was an even greater challenge. We managed, of course, and then went out to take a look around Paris.
The first set of stairs. Three sets of stairs were wide and not too steep, as stairs go.
The fourth set of stairs gets tighter, steeper and narrower.
The last set of stairs, looking down from the top, which we finally made, luggage and all.
No, this isn’t our terrace, but it’s what a terrace can look like with a little TLC.
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