Charles de Gaulle Airport

OK, let me make one point first, I really love France. For that matter I’ll go even farther – I even really like the French. They get a rap for being remarkably unfriendly to Americans but I think it’s undeserved. I’ve always found them friendly and even very warm at times. I can remember three separate tables full of Parisians all offering to pay for my lunch a few years ago when I had a credit card issue. Granted, they aren’t the types that would just plop down next to you on a tram and start blathering away about their day, but that’s one of their best attributes – I can get that nonsense at home.

That said, I hate Charles de Gaulle Airport. I know everybody says that, but I really hate Charles de Gaulle Airport. My friend Dave Kelley always says that he starts to get almost sick to his stomach as soon as the plane begins its descent into Paris. It’s not only that it doesn’t make any sense, but that it’s almost perversely, intentionally, cruelly nonsensical. I always half-expect to see the cruel, knitting, cackling crones from Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities sitting in the terminal watching you circle around endlessly. I used to think that the people at the airport weren’t interested in helping you find your way around, but instead I’ve come to the conclusion that they really don’t understand it any more than you do and just don’t want to admit it.

Anyway, my theory is that it’s not really the French that people hate, it’s just the airport. By the time you make it through the airport you’re in such a horrible mood that it automatically makes the French seem insufferable. It almost seems worse when you’re just passing through Charles de Gaulle on the way to another airport. If you’re actually disembarking at Paris then it’s worth it to spend time in that incredible city. If you have to put up with it and then move on to another city it’s probably France’s curse on you for not stopping in Paris. Of course, this is where my luggage was lost, and from what they’ve been telling me in Morocco it’s practically a daily occurrence.