Arrival 15/05

I got off the plane into December. The cold, moist wind, the different looking trees, the clear air...all screaming into my ear that this is a different country. I thanked god that the immigration lady was nice...that my baggage hadn`t been lost...and that noone had planted a packet of heroine in the numerous unlocked external zippers that my bag had (a proof of my stupidity). For some reason, the crowd at the airport gates had decided to be kind to me and did not turn up dressed in red. The only red dress was that on Shirley, who managed to look quite professorly in it; despite whatever some sweet people back home had said.

Pro-Paris fact 1

The airport has an integrated RER station ( I think that`s what they call the city train) as well as TGV station ( the ultra fast inter-city train). So getting to the institute here was a simple matter of lugging my bag a few hundred meters and into a train.

Pro-Paris fact 2

The train system is integrated with the metro system. So you can get out of a train, and climb into a metro without having to buy a separate ticket; as long as you don`t step out of the station.

The institute turned out to be in a surprisingly good locality, completely in contrast with most such places back home. I thought I could see the Eiffel tower while approaching the residence, but I dared not ask Shirley for confirmation. There are two metro stations within a few hundred metres from the residence, and the Montparnasse TGV station is about 20 mins away, so I expect life to be easy.

Spent the rest of the day sleeping; about 10 hours of jetlagged sleep.

Pro-Paris fact 3

Woke up at quarter to 10 and discovered that the sun doesn`t quite set till about 11 or so. The evenings are surprisingly long. Went to the nearest store and bought some basic stuff... water at a euro a litre is very hard to gulp down.

Dined on bread and milk, tolerated about 10 minutes of french-dubbed-american-soaps and went of to a troubled sleep on the way-too-soft bed.

The adventure continues...