Why I Love Paris. And Hate It at the Same Time…

I’ve had the good fortune of being able to travel all over the western world. Among my favorites: Paris. Among those I really don’t like: Paris. Let me explain…

There isn’t a more romantic city in the world than Paris (Bruges and Venice can give it a run, but they fall short). At night, there’s probably not a more beautiful city in the world. The food is great (if you can avoid the tourist traps). The wine is great. The shopping is great. The language is beautiful (though I maddeningly know about 10 words). You’re surrounded by history and a gazillion things to do, and public transport is a breeze. All the ingredients are there for greatness.

And I’ve never had an issue with the French. Except one: I don’t know if it’s different priorities, different worldview, or what, but this labor issue drive me batty. The 35 hour work week never affected me until I lost my baggage at one of the world’s worst airports, Charles de Gaulle and the British Airways counter closed as soon as they could. If you need a punishment for terrorists, send them to this airport (forget Guantanamo)—the place was laid out by a madman, it reeks of smoke, and terminal “2” is really 6 terminals. I could go on and on...

A long week and no posts...

It's been a long week that saw me go to Detroit for a few meetings, and then a flurry of Christmas parties for the LadyThinker and myself. Needless to say, no time to write any entries in the last 7 days.

For those of you pondering a trip to see the tourist attractions of Detroit: may I advise you to pass? What an abominable place. It looks like nuclear winter, and we didn't even go downtown. Sure, like any large city, the place has a few 'nice' suburbs, but as a whole, it's a dreadful place. And walking the halls of a major motor company, the place was more dead--indeed the people looked lobotomized--than any office I have ever seen.

On the list of things to do and not to do in MoTown:

Avoid:

• The airport. Wow. While U understand Northwest Airlines has a nice terminal, it's like no place I've seen for the other airlines. I don't even know what to compare it to. Think 1950s jail hallway.
• Benihana. Our search for a light dinner in Detroit took us looking for sushi. And Benihana was supposed to be the best of the lot. It was so-so, and while chatting after dinner, we found out why: the sushi was thawed from it's flash-freeze saran-wrapped containers, and they were making rolls for the next day... Not a good sign. I'd avoid at all costs.
• Downtown. There are volumes already written about this, so I won't reinvent the wheel.

Do:

• This is a short list... Tim Horton's. A northern Jewel for coffee and breakfast
• The Four Points by Sheraton at the airport is nice for what it is.
  

Seats on an Airplane

As I write this I am flying from Paris to my least favorite airport, Chicago O’Hare (yes—from one really bad airport to another—ugh). Anyway, I was asked my a flight attendant to move from my center aisle seat to a window seat so a gentlemen could have my aisle seat. A fun conversation ensued over the merits of the seat (20A on an American 767 for those keeping score at home) and Mr. FA said that “it’s an ok seat—but you’ll be sitting next to someone and it’s by the door, so it will get a little cold.” Stop there.

This is one of the great mysteries to me—WHY is air getting IN the airplane? I am a devotee of seatguru.com, a great website that tells you about every seat on every plane, and I’ve noticed that all seats next to doors have notes about getting cold, and my own experience confirms. Does this concern anyone else?

For the record, my favorite seats: 20D on an MD-80 in coach, 4F when American is nice enough to upgrade me. Row 17 in international coach, and I am so thankful for international upgrades I don’t care where they put me in those instances.