La Vie en Rose (o.k. not quite there yet, but getting there ;-)

La vie en rose?  Wasn't there something having to do with those words?  Yup. Life in Pink, sung by Edith Piaf (click on the link at the beginning) or by the formidable Grace Jones. Both versions are special in their own way ;-) 

Yes, the plane IS THE SAME COLOUR as the trees on the mountains ;-)

Life ain't PINK yet, but definitely less grey and stinky ;-) 

Something I REALLY noticed during boarding this time.  EVERYONE jumps up and stands forever in a HUGE line to get through the gate check, right?  But once they stand, they don't move.  And every 30 seconds one hears desperate Gate personnel shouting "NEXT PLEASE!), because once in line, people seem to fall into a waking coma, and just stare at the boarding-pass-checking person, instead of stepping forward and presenting their boarding passes.  

This seems to get more common these days, same as the people, who start rummaging for their wallet only then in their huge purse, once the cashier in the supermarket has announced the total.  Thought, you wouldn't have to pay today?  Get a life, PLEASE, there are people in line behind you!

Nothing exciting happened on the flight, except I watched 3 or 4 episodes of Bourdain's Parts Unknown on Plane-TV.  Gotta LOVE that show.  And yes, Granada, home to tapas, Flamenco, and the Alhambra, is quickly becoming the place of desire for next years bike tour ;-)





I meet the couple from the ferry (Paulina and Joel) again while waiting for the bikes at the large luggage outlet.  After a bit of chit chat I find out that the two are going to cycle Brittany. OMFG. Memories of 2013 and the very first of my crazy cycling tours come rushing in. Brest to Saint Malo.  They're going to have so much fun ;-)   
Paulina agrees with me that it's so much more fun to travel to countries where people still know how to smile.  Same as Germany, Poland appears to be a no-go zone.

A Klein Bottle

When I get my panniers back, they look like one of those 4-dimensional objects that are simply impossible in 3-D real space. Like a Klein bottle or the Escher stairs.

Escher stairs

At first I blame rough Air Transat luggage handling for the mess, but when I unpack at the hotel, I notice a leaflet falling out out of one pannier that I definitely did not put in there.  WOW. Canada can sleep safe and sound tonight, because its Airport security went through my bags and whatever some security personnel considered 'allowed' was returned to my bag. Note, this way they don't have to specify what they don't return.  

As a reasonably frequent flyer I have had many encounters with such personnel in recent years. And believe me, most are operating at a cerebral level that shouldn't even allow them to vote.
 As one supervisor once said after I asked him why his subordinates wave a wand over bald people's heads to discover anything illegal hidden in their OBVIOUSLY NON-EXISTING hair: "We don't want our employees to think. When they think, they make mistakes."  

I'm flattered ;-)

Yes, it's a shiny bubbly brave new world we're living in. And with such mediocrity lurking out of every corner, I finally understand why Conan Doyle created Moriarty ;-)





But hey, what's that fabulous quote by the gay race-car driver in Talladega Nights again?

After all, there is a kind of Denny's right in front of the CAD$44/night nice hotel room close to CDG.  But since this is France, unlike Denny's, they serve fantastic food ;-)

Salad Nicoise (note how the lptop, the napkin, and the place mat form the French national colours ;-)

Oh, right, the quote  from Talladega nights:

Hakuna Matata, Bitches !

(NO, unfortunately Zu is not travelling with me to act as a mellowing influence ;-)