Paris in the fog this morning. A week in Paris has flown by, and it’s time to head to Charles de Gaulle airport for the flight home via Hong Kong. Before I leave, there are 90 minutes for one last walk. At Place des Vosges, some clever artwork based on shadows catches my eye, as does the viola and saxophone encased in plastic.
At the nearby Hotel de Sully, the fog is more evident. Deserted at this time of the morning, save for a few intrepid sparrows.
Along the Seine, visibility is limited – a marked change from the clear sunny conditions a couple of days ago. Other than one fellow photographer, the area around the river is deserted, save for the same white swans I’ve seen each day now. What should be a clear view of Notre Dame is simply fog beyond the next bridge.
I’ve decided to try Uber to get from Bastille to Charles de Gaulle airport. It’s a fixed fare of 45 Euros, which is 5 Euros cheaper than the pre-booked fixed fare taxi service. 1 minute after I’ve ordered the car through the app, it’s outside my apartment. Pretty impressive! The downside is that the driver doesn’t speak English, so we have to make do with my fractured French. As we near the airport, it is snowing!
[embedplusvideo height=”479″ width=”600″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/2jjCZYl” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/uXJNP1hL518?fs=1&vq=hd720″ vars=”ytid=uXJNP1hL518&width=600&height=479&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=1&autoplay=0&react=0&chapters=¬es=&lean=1″ id=”ep6809″ /]
Conditions at Charles de Gaulle airport are ‘snowy’ with ‘fog’. The outcome of ‘snowy’ and ‘foggy’ is a 2 hour delay on the tarmac as we wait for the plane to be de-iced.
This is how a plane is ‘de-iced’…an interesting piece of engineering. With a queue of planes waiting to take off, there are multiple ‘de-icing’ vehicles working in relays.
Conditions on the plane look far better! After logging 111.3km on my feet during the week in Paris, first class on Cathay Pacific is no hardship.
