A Morning in Paris

On my way to a conference on Innovations in Mobile Data Collection for Social Action in Iraq and the Middle East. Perfect, right? More on that later.

I booked a flight with a daylong layover in Paris, so Jeff and I spent our jetlagged morning walking around fueled by coffee and pastries. We intended to fly a camera-kite in front of the Eiffel Tower, but the dual lack of wind and sleep prevented it. Instead we strolled the streets, just eating whatever came by. Stopped at the oldest registered bakery in Paris, serving deliciousness since 1802. Then Jeff either translated the hieroglyphics off the column at the Place de la Concorde, or did a good job bluffing. Either way, I was impressed. My French wasn’t as good, but I’ve still got enough to get by.

Then we took the RER back to CDG and napped fitfully in Terminal 2 until we could board the plane and sleep there. Landed in Amman at 11pm, took a mad-dash taxi ride to our ridiculously fancy hotel, where we ordered room service and slept again. Need to be sharp for the discussions tomorrow.