5 degree weather did not stop these talented skiers from showing their skills during the yearly “Bikini ski contest” in the French Tignes ski resort.
The resort is one of just 2 locations in France with year round snow, and even in the middle of summer, temperatures are low enough that they can offer perfect snow conditions.
You’ll find a second (better) video clip here.
Oft voted among the worst airports in the world, Charles De Gaulle outside of Paris doesn’t have a great reputation among travelers. The terminals are disjointed, sprawling and confusing, public transportation is mind boggling and security is amazingly frustrating.
With enough practice and preparation, however, the beast can be tamed. Connected to the heart of Paris by regional RER trains, it takes about one hour to get from terminal to city center, so it’s very possible to get in some quick sightseeing during a long layover.
With CDG, the keys are in managing security and the train station to minimize time wasted in transit. Stick around for a few tips from the experts and to learn how to take advantage of your next layover in Paris.
Shorter Layovers (2 hours)
CDG is so expansive and confusing that it’s usually not worth the effort of leaving your terminal if you’ve got a shorter layover. If you’re in the right terminal, however, you can still take advantage. International passengers in terminal 2E will meet the fortune of wide open spaces, duty free shopping, a few couches and even video game consoles to pass the time.
Other terminals, such as 2A are a little thriftier. But at least each terminal has a cafe where you can enjoy lovely French espresso, sit back, and try to adjust to the time zone of your destination.
Longer Layovers (4+ hours)
If you’ve got enough time to sneak out of the airport, it’s actually fairly easy to get into the city from Paris. If you’re flying international, the RER train station is between terminals 2E and 2ABCD at CDG, and these frequent trains run straight into the heart of the city.
You’ll need either cash (just over 8€) or a credit card with a smart chip to get tickets, the latter of which few American’s have. So as you’re passing down to the train station, stop by the HSBC on the right at the top level, withdraw some cash and head downstairs. Since the ticket machines don’t take bills and the line for RER tickets is always crazy long, head into the (RER, not SNCF) ticket office and look right immediately. There will be a change machine two meters away from you where you can get coins. Take these to the ticket machines outside and get billets into Paris, dodging around the dozens of confused travelers trying to use regular credit cards in the machines.
Downstairs, all trains lead into Paris, but some are express and can save you 15 minutes inbound. If there are two trains waiting, take a look at the scheduled stops and jump on the train will take you faster to Gare du Nord. That’s the beginning of Parisian stops.
Be prepared for the quaintest and Frenchest performers playing the accordion on the train. It happens every time.
Once inside the city you can connect to almost anywhere from Gare du Nord (North train station) by hopping off of the RER and transferring to the Metro. The Eifel Tower is either off of Trocadero on the 9 or Ecole Militaire on 8.
If you’re short on time, consider taking the RER one stop further to St. Michel – Notre Dame, where you can surface from the trains and see the magnificent church with a very short walk. You can also walk south from this stop into St. Michel and grab a crepe and beer in St. Michel, which despite being touristy and pricy, is still a lovely experience.
Finally, the Louve can be reached from either the 1 or 7 at Louvre Rivoli or Palais Royal. Be forewarned, however, that lines at the famous museum can be very long, and on a short layover you may not be able to justify seeing a fraction of the museum for the entry fee.
Other Tips
While the RER trains are frequent and fast, make sure you leave plenty of time to connect back into CDG from the city. Northbound trains don’t all run to the airport, either, so make sure you get on the right train when you board at Gare du Nord or St. Michel.
Though you’ll already have your boarding pass, also remember that you probably need to go through immigration when you return, so plan on spending a little extra time waiting in line at the kioks.
Also remember that you can’t bring any of that wonderful French wine with you on your trip, but vacuum packed cheese is totally allowed!
Covering the Paris Air Show is like trying to cover a football field with a napkin. There is so much space, depth and gravity to each display that you could spend a week going through each exhibit hall and still not get the full picture.
The above photo is a great example. This landing gear will be part of the new Airbus A350 aircraft, a model that still hasn’t been fully developed, but that’s generating a lot of buzz.
Standing right next to the gear you get a sense of the size of that aircraft. Each of the wheels comes up to your chest, which means the entire system is over 15 feet tall. And this is one corner of one display, in one corner of hall 3. It adds up quickly.
Engines have the same effect, with Pratt and Whitney, United Technologies and GE all bringing out the big guns for jaw dropping passers by. Check out one of the GE GENex engines that’ll be used on the Boeing 787 (with composite fan blades!) on display after the jump.
For a Father’s Day nod to famous fathers, it seemed apropos to do a post on Father’s Day travel with a twist. Read a biography of famous men and it may take more than a few paragraphs to get to their children. The children seem tucked in between those details that made a man famous. Regardless how much or how little press is given to the offspring, there are landmarks where these men lived with the people who helped keep their legacies alive.
Although these are the sites we head to to find out about what made these men tick as contributors to the rest of us, they are also the places that children called home, and where the men who might have tucked them in at night were called “Dad” (or “Papa,” or “Father” or “Pops” or some other variation) by those people whose tiny hands they once held in their own.
Here are five men through history who have had an influence on the world and where you can visit where they lived with their children. From humble houses to elaborate palaces, here are five places where you can imagine the varied conversations that happened within the walls–the type that only fathers and children share.
1. Henry VIII (Religion)–Hampton Court Palace, London. This Tudor palace is where King Henry 8th of England, with a penchant for beheading his wives, lived the most. It’s a gorgeous piece of architecture with a fascinating history and a remarkable maze in the garden. Henry’s three children used this palace as a haven after they became adults as well. Son Edward was christened in the chapel and Mary spent her honeymoon here. Henry died when Edward was nine. The two daughters were older. Henry’s desire to divorce his wives led to the England’s shift away from Roman Catholicism.
2. Abraham Lincoln (Politics)–Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield, Illinois. This is a hallmark year to visit the house where Lincoln lived with his family prior to becoming president. Take a guided walk in the neighborhood where Lincoln took strolls, probably with sons Robert, Willie and Tad (son Edward died.) Lincoln brought the North and South back together.
3. Claude Monet (Art)–Monet’s House and Gardens, Giverny, France. Monet moved to this lovely farm with his family and lived here for 43 years. Here he painted is famous works connected to Impressionism and provided a haven of art and creativity for his brood made up of eight children. When you look at Monet’s studio where he painted, inspired by the garden on the property, imagine what his children saw and how the smell of paint and flowers were prominent in their lives.
4. Martin Luther King Jr.(Civil Rights)–Dexter Parsonage Museum, Montgomery, Alabama. Visit the house where Martin Luther King Jr. lived where he was a young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist church. This is where he was living with his four children and wife when someone threw a bomb onto the porch. You can still see the damage. No one was hurt. The house looks as if the King family just stepped outside for a moment. It’s a step back in time for sure. King’s message of equality provides hope and drive to those who are struggling for equal rights. If it wasn’t for him, and those who rallied behind his words, where would we be?
5. Elvis Presley (Music and Popular Culture) Memphis, Tennessee–Graceland. No matter what a person thinks of the over-the-top decor of Graceland, it’s the place where Elvis felt at home and he lived with his wife Priscilla and daughter, Lisa Marie until Priscilla moved out, taking Lisa Marie with her. Still, this is the home where Lisa Marie can still go to remember her dad who made a big time impact on popular culture and music. The photo is of Lisa Marie’s swing set in the back yard.
Stepping off the shuttle bus from RER Bourget into the air show grounds, you begin to digest the magnitude of this event. From a plan of the show, one can see that aircraft displays and flights take place at one corner of the airport. The other two thirds of the show can be seen inside of several massive exhibit halls, where a curious visitor can spend an entire week walking up, down and through the displays. Set your bag down, gaze down an aisle and marvel as booths extend beyond your field of vision.
These aren’t low budget, Lincoln Log booths either. As the show is in France, many companies have cafés integrated into their exhibits, where passers by can grab an espresso, look over the wares and discuss business in a comfortable, European setting.
A million smaller displays feature tiny facets from suppliers, facilitators and buyers around the planet, with a few eager representatives waiting to give you their pitch. On the other end of the spectrum, displays from GE, United Technologies and Pratt and Whitney have full engines on site, where you can step into the cowling, poke the fan blades and get your photo taken inside of the massive, circular maze.
Out on the tarmac you can wander around the myriad displays, from the massive A380 to the drone helicopters to the missile defense systems, jostling around military brass, men in power suits and women in high heels and sun glasses.
And as with all air shows, there is a flight component. A tightly regimented flight schedule is published each day, detailing a few hours of quick, varied demonstrations. New aircraft are obviously highlighted (this year Sukhoi‘s Superjet 100 was a treat,) but with the centennial this year, several older aircraft were mixed in with the show. We’ll tell you more about that later.
We’ll be posting pictures and videos from the air show for the next week or so (including a sweet demonstration of the 787 window technology.) Come back and visit often.
