Touring Tunisia -- Part One

"She Who Must Not Be Named" and I recently returned from a trip to North Africa -- Tunisia to be specific. What follows in this and subsequent posts will be a brief summary of what we experienced.

Our trek began at Dulles Airport near Washington. There we met with some other members of our tour group, checked in, snacked on airport food, and waited for our flight to take us on the first leg of our journey.

We were flying Air France, a definite improvement over most US carriers. The staff was pleasant, efficient, and helpful, and the food was not bad -- not bad at all. I usually lose weight when traveling, but this time..., I wonder. The inflight selection of films was impressive, too. Lots of films still in theaters. A good start to the trip.

We landed at Paris/DeGaulle airport -- my first time there. The architecture was interesting, as you can see in the first few shots.





Lots of curves converging in the distance -- I like!

There were other interesting features. Some people have long layovers, and there is no reason not to make yourself comfortable. The only worry was that you might fall asleep and miss your flight.



Others in our group rested in a more traditional fashion.


That's Van, the very definition of a "seasoned traveler". There's hardly anywhere he hasn't been -- several times. There were lots of shops in the concourse, too, and it was Paris, so naturally "She Who Must Not Be Named" saw a shopping opportunity. She excused herself to visit the ladies room and did not return for more than half an hour proudly sporting new sun glasses [Prada, I believe]. Well..., it was Paris [sort of].




The flight south was a bit bumpy -- lots of turbulence crossing the Mediterranean -- but once we were on the ground we in for a treat. Palm trees, bright sunshine, a sea breeze -- all the things I missed while wintering in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

We were met by a lovely young woman who, we later learned, was the daughter of our bus driver. She led us out to the parking lot where we boarded our bus and were off to our hotel. That's it in the final photo -- the light tan building near the top of the hill in the distance on the left.


The sunset view from our room. Nice, no? The tall structure on the left of the picture is a spiral mosque designed by engineers from the local university.

More posts soon.