up early

so I am watching the 6 AM flights take off as the sun rises.  for years - more than a decade I traveled more than 100,000 miles a year, sometimes over 125,000.  many times I was on those flights getting to or from someplace.  as a result of that travel and the mileage accrued, I have been to forty nine states (missing Alaska at this point) and more than 55 countries.  traveling these days is different - and unfortunately more horrible than ever, due to the terrorists having won the battle for control of our airports.  last week I went through my first full body scan, took off  my shoes, put my liquids and gels in their quart bag on the belt along with my laptop - and wondered why anyone bothers to fly anymore.  but of course I know why they fly. because once you actually get through security and on the plane and off the plane you are absolutely elsewhere. for whatever reason you want to be there. 

and for travelers that is the key.  I have been sort of following this blog of a retired swede in Paris and thoroughly enjoying it, as Paris has been "absolutely elsewhere" to me nearly a dozen times in the last fifteen years or so.  in the US when we want to get away (already being dyed-in-the-wool city dwellers) we go to New York City but if we want a European get-away for a long weekend or a short week, I always choose Paris.

last time we were in Paris (earlier this year) we were able to visit with friends on two of the six days we were there.  one friend had come in from Nice and the other from Burgundy.  and this was possible for them because the trains in France actually get people all over the country in amazingly short times- but I swore when I started this entry it would not turn into a rant about our travel infrastructure in America.  so onward...

you can find the link to Peter's Paris on the side of this blog.  I recommend it to everyone but especially if you know the city fairly well as he has some lovely entries for visiting vicariously.

so this obviously calls for a Paris photo - but which to choose from- he has these cool collages of photos on his blog but I don't know how to do that yet so I will see what I can come up with for you.

that one is certainly iconic-

and this one not so much- we pass this sculpture frequently as it is near les Halles and sometimes it looks like this and sometimes it is cleaned of the graffiti. 

and by the way, as I searched for the right picture, the sun has just popped over the horizon and is now creating a silhouette of the steeple of the church to the east of us. 

got to get to my packing list today and I would also like to see if I can figure out how to link to a travel journal on this- maybe you can read up on our last trip to Argentina while we are on this one...just in case I don't get a chance until later to add entries for the blog.