Left home, winging through the pre-dawn skies.

The first leg, Bangalore to Paris (CDG) was jam-packed, so looking out of the window was better than trying to sleep all cramped up. (I had a HUGE co-passenger in the next seat, wouldn’t you know?)

Across Arabia, another flight, far below us:

Light came in cold shades of blue: As we flew lower and lower, approaching Paris, it was nice to see the innards of the wing. It's those ailerons that keep this huge behemoth in the air. Soon we had seen the Seine (I know, that actually does not rhyme!) Paris' skyscrapers: And the best-known of them all, through the morning smog and mist, was unmistakable: I don't know which racecourse this was....Deauville? Paris still has so much of historic buildings near CDG airport: There's modernity, too, you can see a water-theme park! Loved the mosaic of the land... I still thrill to the can't-be-possible of flight, take-offs and landings! The design of the airport, facilitating air and surface transport at the same time: The "futuristic" airport buildings (the future here already belongs to the past!) Some buildings reminded me of my architect sambandhi, LS, who's designed her house with a similar roof. It's called the Wave House, in Portland, Me : I learnt from a fellow-passenger on the CDG-Detroit leg, that Jumbos are going to be retired in a phased manner, so I took a pic of the sky whale that was going to transport me to the American continent, from Europe: Here's the technical info: We flew from Paris, over Cherbourg: over serrations of cloud and then, the southernmost bit of England: I slept, and awoke. The flight flew into Canadian, and then American, airspace...and at the border of the two, in spite of my cloudy eyesight, I spotted another world-famous landmark: A blurry closer look: As we approached Detroit, the wing played hide-and-seek: Detroit, the City of the Car, had housing in plenty, too: of course, plenty of roads for all the cars: Having a body of water right next to the runway....keeps the pilots on their mettle, maybe?

I was harassed again at Immigration (“Why don’t you have a printout of your return ticket? You should have proof of your return.” My goodness…my return flight is 4 months away, why would I need a printout of it, and what proof is it that I will really return?) but only a bit, and I was allowed into the US of A, and after a long wait in Detroit (with a hopeful-but-did-not-happen chance to get some travel vouchers), arrived in St.Louis, where I spent the next day totally knocked out.

I’m doing the laundry now…but after that…I think the runny nose and the sore throat I’ve picked up from my little grandson, the MistyVision(TM), and the residue of the jet-lag…all these mean, back to a nap!