Fairytales and Finance in France (Part 2)

Ten hours later, she was standing in the queue outside of Charles De Gaulle airport, waiting for a taxi. Theresa checked her watch—it was already noon. At least she had made it past rush hour, a traffic back-up that made Chicago’s crowded expressways look like a country lane. Theresa snorted as she thought of the Paris rush hour, which began at 8 a.m. and ran until 9:30 a.m., an hour the French thought was early. No wonder they were in the shape they were, Theresa thought. Though what shape exactly that was, she wasn’t exactly sure.

The cab driver pulled up and Theresa scrolled quickly through her French phrases and gave him the name of her hotel. She wished she knew enough to tell him which autoroute was the fastest, but she was unable to communicate that many words and gave up. The cabbie, mistaking her attempts to direct him for a desire for conversation, began a mangled monologue. “Americaine, yes? New York? Yes?”

Theresa rolled her eyes. Why did everyone outside the U.S. assume everyone from within the U.S. was from New York? She said, loudly and clearly, “Chi-ca-go” and dug her Blackberry out of her bag.

But he continued anyway. He said, “You, um, like ze bikes? Ze Tour De France? Vous connaissez? Ze bike race?” Theresa nodded vaguely and he kept talking. Her mobile pinged with a text message from one of her team and she returned it as the cabbie whipped along the expressway, approaching Paris and the Eiffel Tower as rapidly as he spoke. Theresa noticed neither.

The hotel was a small, local affair near the Sorbonne and the Luxembourg Gardens. Theresa had found it with her Blackberry. The hotel was almost a pensionne, really. But Theresa had told the travel department they were only in town for the day, so why waste money on expensive digs? It was convenient to the station from which they were taking a midnight train out to the Loire and enough for a nap, a shower, and a change before the Paris meetings.

Theresa grabbed a shower and met her team in the lobby; they had taken an earlier flight to do some sightseeing and they filled Theresa in as they all walked to the meeting.