As we flew into French airspace, I woke up and looked out the window. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing to see but horizon-to-horizon gray clouds covering the landscape. (A friend of mine from L.A. calls northern Europe "Grayland".)
We landed and deplaned to ... the nasty surprise of a steep flight of stairs into driving rain on the tarmac. By the time I realized I would get wet, it was too late to hold back till I could dash for it. People go down the stairs ve-e-e-e-ry slowly when they are old, or have heavy carry-ons, or are carrying little children and multiple bags. Plenty of time to be drenched. I was one of the last ones off the plane, so I couldn't take a photo of all the passengers trying to get their stuff down the stairs and over to the bus in the downpour.
Was the bus parked close to the plane? No.
After getting soaking wet, we had a literally 15-minute bus ride to the terminal. I saw a sign on the inside of the bus that said it had 20 seats and 90 standing places. So most of the 100+ wet people on the bus had to sway and hold on uncomfortably to their bags for the long drive to the terminal. Judging by the comments of my fellow passengers, this arrival did not create a positive first glimpse of France.
Rows of Air France planes in the rain at CDG
