Taking the trip (to Paris)

waiting by the window...

Sometimes the voyage is just as great as the destination.  Or so it is said. Paris is a pretty good destination.  And not a bad choice a destination for Steve and I to take a vacation together (particuarly a vacation other than going to the lake, one that involves airport travel, and no work or conference obligations for either of us). 

I can't actually remember the last time that happened (us taking a vacation of this sort together).  I will report on the destination itself in a later post, but i would agree that the voyage itself had some amazing moments (given my decision to make sure I had an aisle seat, and enough juice in the phone to capture some photo and video footage).  so, with no further adieu....

First, 4 minutes in what is only an 11 minute flight between Victoria and Vancouver. 

 https://youtu.be/t4YHjylXaTU

Vancouver was a bit more hazy than Victoria (not sure if it was smog, or just nmore summer fire smoke in the air?), and I was seated RIGHT over the wing, which interfered with the angles.  Still, i do love all the misty blue colours.  These are smaller clips (less than 1 minute each)

https://youtu.be/YMfTXamRKz0

https://youtu.be/x1PKzBKnK0g

The trip over the Cascades and Rockies is always astonishing (if the cloud cover is not extreme).  Here are a couple of photos.  They look more like watercolour paintings to me than like the mountains on a clear day.

I do love it that the plane has a map showing you where you are on the voyage.  It was fun comparing what the map indicated with what i could actually see out the window.

the view on the map

the view out the window (clouds, not rivers)

Montreal was again overcast, but there were still memorable sites on the horizon.

the view flying into Montreal...

Steve and I sharing a croissant in the airport

the view flying out of Montreal....

And then... the views as we we flying over France (at something like 6am), still quite a ways from the iconic horizons of Paris, in what could be almost anywhere in north america or europe

getting closer to the ground...

fields, and forests and villages

Air travel is such a weird thing, actually.  You see the world in ways that are just not present to you when actually moving around with your feet grounded in the work of daily living.   Such a strange gift in perspective.