Paris to Providence, one planet to another

5:00 a.m. came very early for us. We've had very relaxing mornings since we came to Paris and now we're moving back to our previous routine: early to bed early to rise. . .

The bags were packed so all we had to do was shower, dress and schlepp everything down to the ground floor and wait for the BluVan shuttle to the airport.

Our neighborhood was incredibly quiet as we hauled our bags outside and put them in the back of the van. A bad omen I thought at the time was when the van pulled up the driver just stood by the back door, making no movement toward helping us. Our previous experience with BluVan was with friendly and helpful drivers. Not this one.

We pulled away from rue General Renault in the dark and spent the next hour and a half driving around Paris -- and I mean that almost literally -- making three more stops, ending up in the far southern end of the city. Of course Charles de Gaulle airport is on the far northern side.

We got to the airport a little before 8:00 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. flight. Confusion seemed to be the order of the day and we spent the next 45 minutes or so rushing from one line to another, first trying to get our bags checked (done), asking to be given priority (finally) through an incredibly long and sluggish security line where they were actually doing one person at a time and checking their bags and of course we had our passports looked at about three dozen times by as many different people.

All of which made us feel secure - right. No, but it certainly made us realize that it wasn't just the US government that has gone hysterical in the post-9/11 age. The French have apparently taken their absurdist theater notions and applied them to how one exits the country by air (wildly known as "airport security").

As it turned out Delta was kind enough to delay our flight's departure time, giving quite a few of passengers, like Susie and I, the opportunity to make the flight (relatively) on time.

We had the same seats going back that we did going out: the very last row of two on the left side allowing us to enjoy another very bumpy ride in a tube-shaped box with a broken bathroom, tired equipment nicely matched by disinterested staff. Oh, but there was yet another opportunity to see Kung-Fu Panda, just in case we missed it on the outward bound trip. (Sadly we opted to skip it both ways.)

Less than eight hours later we touched down on time in New York, and miracle of miracles, were through passport control and had our bags and out on the air train heading toward long-term parking in less than 15 minutes! Amazing and certainly a first for us.

After loading the bags in the back of the Mini we headed for the Van Wyck expressway and eventually I-95 and home.

Or is it home?