France 2011 Kickoff

I finished the Sage worksheet for Lab 1 for Calculus I this morning and and left Nacogdoches on Tuesday around noon to catch my 4:10 PM flight to Paris.

Flying Air France

I love Air France! The ticket agent was very pleasant and didn't charge me for my bicycle (thanks to Silver Medallion on Delta).  The food is great, and they don't charge extra for wine in economy, which would be very un-French.

June and July seems to be the time that all parents use to take their small children to Europe. I can tolerate the children, but sometimes the parents are just a bit too overwhelming.  The flight was delayed for one hour due to thunderstorms over Washington DC. Unlike last year, I left plenty of time for my layover at CDG.  I made my connecting flight to Lyon with no problem.

As I was boarding my flight in Houston, the customs officers were there asking everyone if they were carrying over $10,000 in cash.  My first response would have been "I wish," although I am sure that that would have been a very incorrect response.  Fortunately, I didn't get a chance to open my mouth. They asked the people in front of me and behind me, but they just waived me through. I guess that I just look honest (and poor).

Getting to Ugine from Lyon

I made it to Lyon with no problem.  My luggage and the bike made it also this time.  I had to call the rental car place three times before they sent someone to pick me up at the terminal.  However, once I got to the car leasing place, my brand new Renault Clio was waiting for me.  Only three kilometers on the odometer. As soon as I pulled away, I noticed that the fuel tank was very close to empty.  I spent the next 40 minutes looking for a gas station that would take an U.S. credit card.  All of the self-service stations require and European credit card with a chip and a PIN.

Once I had the fuel problem solved, I set the GPS (the Renault comes with built in GPS) for my destination.  However, I didn't read the instructions properly and chose the avoid toll road options.  I began to realize that I was being routed through every small village and that it would take me over three hours instead of 90 minutes.  I guess that you do these stupid things when you are sleep deprived.  And did I mention that all of this was occurring in a rainstorm and in a part of France that was totally new to me?

I finally arrived at Hotel du Bourg in Ugine.  The hotel is small with only ten rooms.  There is no restaurant, but they still serve petit déjeuner  (breakfast) in the bar.  The rooms are large, and there is a nice place to store the bike.

After quickly checking in, I headed back to Albertville (10 km) to meet Larry Smith and his cycling group for dinner.  I was only 30 minutes late.  After dinner, Larry helped me put my bike together in the basement of Hotel Million.  I finally made it to bed around 11:30 PM, which means that I was up for almost 36 hours not counting brief naps on the plane.