Rajeev's World: Europe trip

Showing posts with label Europe trip. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Up In The Air .... Part 26

The next edition of Up In The Air is back, this with a bang and with some lovely pictures of the stunning and bright azure skies of Europe...

Takeoff from CDG...

Overflying Melun...

...and setting course for Istanbul's Atatürk Airport...

Overflying Fontainebleau...

The idyllic French countryside below us...

The red winglet with the Turkish logo does look nice against the azure backdrop...

Imagine the view pilots have...

It must be breathtaking...

Overflying the Swiss-German border...

Approaching the Balkans...

The Black Sea on the bottom left...

Right above the European side of Istanbul - the Asian side of Istanbul is on the centre-left of the frame...

Banking and turning to line up for the approach into İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı...

A speed boat...

Flaps set for the approach...

Istanbul does look pretty...

Touchdown! The landing was extremely smooth and the flight crew got a well-deserved applause for that! Now we look forward to an exciting time in Turkey!

Au Revoir, France!

And the day has come when we say goodbye to France!

We came to Europe to enjoy and these two weeks had been absolutely amazing. These two weeks will forever etched in minds as a trip of a lifetime.

We had heard that French weren't too friendly from a visitor's perspective and that Paris as a city isn't too safe. And we had heard great things about Switzerland.

But our experiences were exactly opposite. France was very friendly. Right from the hotel at Gare de Lyon, where we were, in a sense, welcomed with open arms, to the common man on the street in Paris or in Fontainebleau who helped with directions or translations. It was absolutely astounding. We felt at home here. We feel in love, allover again with each other and with Paris. And we learnt the essential phrase - Je t'aime Paris!

Switzerland on the hand made us feel a bit uncomfortable. Some people were a bit unfriendly and some did show a touch of racism. But then there were good people there as well.

These thoughts were racing in our minds as we headed to the airport....

Once at the airport, we encountered a very friendly staff from Turkish Airlines who checked us in. The Turkish Airlines counters were full - there are 11 daily flights between Paris CDG and the two airports in Istanbul of which 6 are of Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines, off-late, has emerged as a formidable carrier much like the trio of the Gulf - Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad. And the growth of Turkish Airlines has helped Istanbul's Atatürk Airport develop as an intercontinental hub for those traveling between Europe and Asia and Africa. We had quite a few passengers with us who were traveling onward to Cameroon, Uganda, Israel and countries of the CIS.

My inflight entertainment - I chose a Turkish newspaper as well to get a feel of the mahoul of Turkey...

We boarded the Turkish Airlines Airbus A330...

The IFE comes on...

We are on our way now to Istanbul...

And I got some time to ogle at some pretty birds...

A view of CDG...

And there we are, Up In The Air...

The view of the lovely French countryside, as we fly over Melun, and head towards Fontainebleau, a place that will have a special place in my heart, our hearts, always...

We carry back home a little bit of France with us - all those lovely experiences, anecdotes and sights that form a part of the rich mosaic called life... And we definitely aren't complaining about the empty pockets, because these experiences have enriched us immensely...

Au Revoir, France! Et Prochain Arrêt Istanbul...!

Plane Spotting At CDG -- Part II

And the final round of Plane Spotting At CDG is back. And I am quite pleased as we have spotted some pretty exotic and stunning birds here today...

As we approached Terminal 1, we spotted an Air France Concorde from our taxi. This aircraft has been put up on a static display after the entire Concorde fleet was retired by both Air France and British Airways in 2003 following the crash of Air France flight AF4590 (F-BTSC) at Gonesse after its departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, en route to New York JFK, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members. Rising costs following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and a decision by Airbus to discontinue maintenance support aggravated matters further...

The aircraft had a stellar accident-free operational since 1969 and the end of its operations were pretty tragic. A little known fact is while there were only two long standing operators of the Concorde, over a dozen had evinced interest or placed orders for the supersonic jet, including our very own Air-India - indeed those were the heady days for Air-India when it was regarded as one of the finest carriers...

Another quick glimpse of the Concorde from our speeding taxi...

Air China Airbus A330 being towed...

There comes taxiing a United Boeing 777...

An Air Transat Airbus A310 - I never expected to spot an Airbus A310, which is a species nearing extinction. Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec...