We had plans to wake up early and take another self-guided walking tour, but with our extreme fatigue, we slept until about 11 AM, which gave us enough time to get organized, check out of the hotel, and find some breakfast before catching our ride back to CDG airport.

It turns out that it’s very difficult in Paris to find some place willing to serve breakfast past 11 AM.  We did manage to find a restaurant willing to sell us some pastries and coffee, but they were reluctant to let us eat it there.  Apparently they were concerned about their lunch crowd seeing someone actually eating breakfast at this late hour!  Those rumours about the French being a little strange?  Well, they’re all true!

We headed out to Charles de Gaulle garbage dump airport to catch our Air Madagascar flight.

We arrived to find long lines everywhere, except for one section of about 8 check-in booths, all fully staffed without any line-ups, dedicated specifically to Air Madagascar.  I’m still unclear why so many agents are dedicated to this airline, which runs only 5 flights per week out of this airport, and all to the same destination.  I’m not complaining, but it just doesn’t seem like a model of efficiency to have so many idle agents in one place and massive lines elsewhere, but then, that fits in perfectly with the whole theme of CDG garbage dump airport.

We were forced to check more baggage than we would have liked, as the rules in Europe do not allow as much carry on luggage as in North America, but went along with it and hoped everything would be waiting for us when we arrived in Madagascar.

Arriving at the gate area, we were pleased to see the Air Mad 767 parked at the jet bridge.  They only own the one, so if it was in for repairs, I’m not sure how we would have got to Madagascar.

On the plane, we were pleased to find we were assigned two seats (a window and aisle) in an exit row, with tons of leg room.  The unfortunate part is that the seats didn’t recline because it was an exit row, but I didn’t quite follow that logic.  As is typical, the row in front of us didn’t recline so it wouldn’t block our exit in the event of an emergency, but there was no exit behind us, so what exactly are they worried about blocking?  Anyway, the plane was not full, so we sat there for a few hours enjoying the leg room, and before it was time to try to catch some sleep, we moved to some other seats that did recline to allow for better sleep.

Below is a shot of the interior of the aircraft.  Note the overhead CRTs… how quaint!

The plane was a little old and could use an interior facelift.  I’d read that they’d purchased their 767 used from Air Canada, but they were supposed to have ordered a brand new one from Boeing a year or so ago.  Perhaps it’s still on order?  The Malagasy cabin crew were extremely friendly and professional.

We arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2 about 9 AM CET (UTC+1), unfortunately without much sleep on the plane.  We deplaned and proceeded to claim our luggage.

I’ve heard from many people that Paris is a beautiful city.  However, I can only assume they were not talking about Charles de Gaulle airport?  What a massive dump!  There was a toilet odour in the air, and the building was poorly laid out, completely falling apart and totally lacking any architectural aesthetic qualities.  Sidewalks and hallways in this airport are not wide enough for 2 people pulling luggage to pass each other.  I have photos, but won’t bother posting any.  They’re not pretty!

Anyway, we phoned our prearranged transport advising them we were at the airport, and were quickly picked up and taken to our hotel.  Driving in Paris is something I don’t wish to try.  Traffic rules are apparently not enforced, which is scary considering how small the roads are.  It seems the roads and all of the cars and busses on them are scaled down a fair bit from what we have in Canada.

As we entered the downtown area of Paris, the quality of the architecture improved immensely from the crap we saw out by the airport.

After checking in to our hotel, we decided to go out and find a bank machine and some coffee while waiting for our room to be ready.  Below is a photo of Nadine in front of our hotel, taken later that evening.

When our room was ready, we proceeded to the elevator, which was only large enough for one person and one suitcase at a time.  The room wasn’t much larger, but we were told this was typical of Paris.  However, the room and bathroom were both clean and comfortable, but the view was fantastic.  We had a corner room on the 4th of 5 floors, and we had a direct view of the Eiffel tower.  Below are some photos taken from our room, number 45 at the Duquesne Eiffel Hotel.

After getting settled, we headed out on a walking tour of the area, heading in the direction of the Eiffel tower which we could easily see from the hotel.  We did the usual tourist things and went up the tower.  Below are some photos from our walk.

Roadside gas pumps?  Never seen anything like this before!

Here I am on the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower looks beautiful at night.

After exploring the area on our own, we met with Nadine’s cousin and her husband, who live in Paris.  We hopped on the Metro to get across town for a walking tour and then they took us to dinner.  I can now say I went all the way to Paris to have dinner at a Japanese restaurant!

It was getting late, and we wanted to see if we could catch a night boat tour of the Seine for the evening, but unfortunately it was getting close to 11 PM, and they were finished for the evening.  As I didn’t really sleep on the plane, by this point we were tired and decided to return to the hotel since I hadn’t really slept in for a long time.