Up In the Air

June 7-8

Leaving San Francisco, the day was warm but overcast. A thick blanket of fog covered the city like goose down feather filling. In Europe the weather was quite similar.  Flying over France into Switzerland, there were puffy white clouds and sheets of soft clouds covering the terrain with spots of beautiful countryside occasionally peeking through. The clouds are like the ones in a Mario Brothers Nintendo game. Perfectly formed. I got to fly over my beloved Chantilly! and see some of the spotted cities below. From Switzerland into Italy the clouds were ethereal as well:

The flight over was relatively uneventful, but tiring. I watched three movies, "Country Strong," "Just Go With It" and "No Strings Attached."  

Upon arriving in Zurich for my transfer to Florence I discovered several things. As in France, air conditioning is not highly prized. Meaning no AC in the airport. AT ALL. The airport had an absentminded and altogether calm vibe about it (although that could just be my extreme exhaustion talking). I was told that "in all likelihood" my plane was in a certain terminal and could do nothing but go through the checkpoint and then wait. Here is a picture of the sign I stared at for an hour and a half.  Right beside the sign is a Camel Cigarettes lounge, where smokers go into an aquarium-like space to smoke, people watch, and be stared at.

"Bitte warten" means please wait. Thankfully I didn't listen to the sign and went down in time to board my plane. 

After checking in, I took a bus with my fellow passengers to a tiny plane on the tarmac. It was cold, unlike inside, sprinkling and there were lush woods surrounding the runways and mountains in the distance. The air smelled particularly fresh. This plane took me to Florence!

Here are some pictures flying into Tuscany and Florence from Up In The air: