Bonjour!

So I landed @ CDG airport in Paris around midnight Boston time having left around 2:30pm and after a fairly bumpy journey on Iceland Air (Boston to Iceland, Iceland to Paris). The flight from Boston was much better than the flight to Paris -- nicer plane, much bigger seats, etc. Also on the flight to Paris I was seated next to a guy who downed 3 beers and then proceeded to leap over me to get to the bathroom (I had the aisle seat) without even asking me to stand up so he could get out. You should have seen the expression on the teenager's face across the aisle from me -- he couldn't believe what this guy had just done.

Icelandair has transferred completely to a system where you must purchase all food on board. Thank goodness I had a big lunch before I left home and brought trail mix with me! The food on the flight didn't look so good and was pricey, so I figured I'd wait until landing in Iceland. Sadly everything was closed (it was midnight local time). So by the time I got to Paris, I was famished and spent an obscene amount of money but did not care on the following: coffee, croissant, sliced pineapple and...wait for it...yogurt au citron yay!

I have a very long wait here in Paris -- basically about 6 hours -- until my flight to Marseille. I'm actually kind of glad because it's given me time to sort out my ebook situation. Before I left Boston I purchased a bunch of Google ebooks, but unfortunately I forgot to download them to my laptop so that I don't have to be online to read them (internet time is precious when you're paying by the minute!). I managed to connect to the airport wifi for modest fee and have downloaded all the software, etc. that I need -- so I will be set to say the least with the following menu:

• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
• The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• The Big Short by Michael Lewis
• The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
• My Life in France by Julia Child
• The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the world of Chinese food by Jennifer 8 Lee
  

Yes that's one novel and 6 non-fiction books -- which is pretty typical for me :-)

I've wanted to read the Tuchman for awhile, but having just seen the play War Horse in New York, World War I is definitely a subject that I'm more interested in these days. Same goes for the Goodwin -- I loved her book No Ordinary Time about the Roosevelts during World War II, so I'm looking forward to reading this one about President Lincoln and his Cabinet, which is one of her most lauded.

It's 9am here and the noise level in the terminal is picking up...

Spied at CDG airport...two tiny South Asian girls dressed up in their finest with matching backpacks shaped like fluffy sheep...a group of friends from New York City, one of whom had a totebag that said Orange County, California on it...Muffins that cost $7 which certainly are lovely looking but yikes! :-)

The jet lag and lack of sleep are starting to sink in...I only slept an hour or two on the plane...I'm going to be the opposite of fresh as a daisy when I get to Marseille. :-)

Au revoir for now...I need to grab some lunch in time to get through security and to my gate.