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Arrived at Incheon on schedule mid-afternoon. Although not as flashy as some other Asian airports, Incheon is far better than CDG, almost the complete opposite in fact. Notably, it had free WiFi available everywhere. However it was far too warm for me - not sure if was just me or the actual temperature. We walked around a bit to stretch our legs and J & H then split off to investigate a shower/massage.
Later I made my way to the Rest Area with comfortable lounge chairs that we had discovered on our way through in March. B was there but departed soon after to exchange money. They girls woke me from my reverie to report that the foot and leg massage (for half an hour) had been fantastic - they felt like they were floating on air.
B had indicated his preference for sushi, but the girls and I had each spotted Korean fast food places and we agreed to eat at one of those. Mine was spicy pork and it was quite good.
The Apple iPad had just gone on sale in France, so this label on emergency equipment available in a case mounted on the wall at the airport was interesting.
It's been a fabulous trip, but I am now very much looking forward to going home again. J is ready to go again for another long trip.
We spent the morning in the hotel, packing, updating spreadsheets and the blog, and relaxing. Our taxi arrived within five minutes and we were able to get all our bags into the boot. To spare the rest of us overcrowding, ever the iconoclast, B had volunteered to walk to St Charles station wheeling his bag. In line with J's fear about our previous short-distance taxi trip in Paris, where we were abused for not walking 600m, the driver merely expressed surprise that we were not going to the airport. Fortunately he took us to the station via the direct route, past the Arc de Triomph.
We waited for ages for our train's platform to show on the board, but when it did it was just outside the place where we had refreshed ourselves with sandwiches and beer. Being 1st class passengers, our wagon was at the far end of the platform - a long walk. We had four seats facing each other with a table - very convenient. We were almost alone in the carriage. Along the way we enjoyed the rest of our sandwiches and a nice 1.5L screwcap bottle of rosé that B had managed for find earlier for the princely sum of €2.89.
All the while we enjoyed the Provence scenery flash by. B and I particularly had very much wanted the TGV experience, our first, and it lived up to expectations. According to the GPS data logger, the highest speed I saw was 307 Km/h, and mostly averaging around 280 to 295 Km/h. Strangely, your vision adapts to this high speed fairly quickly and it is not a blur. That might have been helped by the fact that I had a rearward facing seat.
The scenery after Lyon flattened out, and the cloud cover asserted itself so that it was like being in a different country compared to Provence. We rolled into Paris CDG pretty much on time, fully relaxed. After a short shuttle ride from T2 to T1 and a few escalators and lifts (no steps!!) we were in the check-in queue and after asking for and getting exit row seats, we proceeded to have a drink in the departure lounge.
The Paris airport was a real disappointment - dingy, not particularly clean, very few shops, nowhere decent to eat, poor bookstores, few toilets - the list goes on.
