Quick Stop Before Turin

To return to Turin this year, we chose to depart from the Raleigh-Durham area using Delta Airline’s RDU (Raleigh Durham International airport) to CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, located in Roissy-en-France) flight, as we had done occasionally before Covid-19 hit the world and Delta subsequently cancelled the service. Now that Covid-19 is more or less  forgotten, let’s just say travel is back in full swing and with it – other changes, delays and of course cancellations. So if you are planning any international travel this year to Europe or anywhere for that matter – grit your teeth, hold onto to your hats and try to be flexible.

The Disadvantages Of Flying From A Small International Hub

One of the major disadvantages of flying out of a minor or small international hub like RDU, is that, if there is any type of problem, any delay longer than  an hour or so, especially due to a mechanical issue, can and often do become cancellations. This happened to us early last week after we boarded our plane. About ten minutes after being on board, Delta discovered what they thought was a refrigerant condensation leak, which in the end turned out to be a fuel leak. Really?! The plane had landed hours before and was being turned around for its return trip and they discovered this issue only moments before we were planned to take off. My wife and I could not believe what we were hearing. In fact, the flight crew were also so surprised, the pilot came out to address us personally and answered any questions.

Well I guess it’s better they discovered the issue before we left, then while we were over the Atlantic. It just makes one wonder if we should be worrying more about the inspection schedules of these aircraft,  regardless of their safety records. In any event, our delay of one hour turned into three hours, then five and then they finally cancelled to flight within an hour of the first announcement. The primary reasons; no spare flight crews available locally and they could not fix the plane in Raleigh.

Luckily, we had already left the gate and decided to get our luggage pulled from the plane, which is a long story in and of itself (we ended up only getting one and had to come back  the next day for the other one). Even after getting the jump on everyone else, we still left the airport around midnight to return our son’s apartment and rescheduled our flight out a week (Delta was not pleased with us, but it was their fault and they still paid with extra points, etc.).

Six days later we arrived in Paris without incident and took a taxi into the city to our hotel. Since we are IHG members we booked and stayed at the Holiday Inn – Gare de Lyon. Rated a four star hotel, it is more likely a three star hotel posing as a four star. We have stayed at many privately run three star hotels that were better run and better appointed. However, it was clean, the rooms are fairly spacious and there is easy access to the metro and plenty of restaurants nearby. Moreover,  it is away from the most tourist visited areas of the city. Given all this, I still would NOT recommend it. There have to be better hotels and choices available, if one has the time to look. Plus it is missing some important amenities for an American hotel, if you look close enough to notice.

Though we took a taxi from and to the airport,  I would recommend the RER instead. Traffic in Paris is a nightmare. Though the taxi is not in itself expensive, the travel time will be at least an hour each way. Almost all the roads coming into Paris on many phone map apps will be red or worse yet, dark red, and for twenty or so minutes of our ride we were motionless.

Paris – The City of Light

Our original plans were to spend a week in Paris, but with our cancellation, those plans had to be altered and we only got to spend two days. However, with all of uproar over raising the retirement age here and the never ending threats of strikes, train and venue cancellations,  and all of the protesting; it was probably a good idea to cut this trip short and just plan it for another time. In any event, since I have already been to Paris a few times, I was able to show my wife a few of the most notable sightseeing locations, while occasionally enjoying the food.

Our Short Tour Of The City

The city is eminently walk-able and has an excellent metro. The metro can take you almost anywhere and everywhere you want to go, including back to the airport via the RER. However, in order not to miss anything, you will find walking the best option. We found walking out and taking the metro in between to be the best combination.

The Champs Elysees

This large boulevard is a common venue for the final day of the Tour de France. With its rectangular trimmed trees along each side and four lanes of traffic, it  connects two of the city’s main points of interest – the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde.

The Eiffel Tower

Unfortunately we were unable to see the tower at night due to scheduling constraints, and even then, only at a distance. Even from across the Seine it is still impressive.

Notre Dame

Yet another reason to come back at a later time, the poor Notre Dame, victim of a senseless fire, being reconstructed. Being complacent about anything, will always get you in the end. Yet sometimes to get politicians to act on anything requires a tragedy.

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Restaurants and Cafes

Due to our shortened stay, we were only able to visit one restaurant of note and it wasn’t even French. However, we were able to stop at several small cafes for breakfast and lunch. All were reasonable priced and the food was very good.

Ristorante Spiga

A very small Italian restaurant a block away from our hotel on the Rue Parrot. It has very little room inside or out, so get there early.

The food is very good and ostensibly traditional Sardinian. Italians may find it odd that they have pasta dishes with meatballs, instead of separately. Not a show stopper for me, their sauce was very good and the pasta was cooked to perfection.