day 25 - august 29th

i'm usually really good about waking up on time, so it never worried me not to have an alarm - until this morning. i wanted to get up at 7 to make my plane ... so of course i was awake every half hour from 4:30 until 6:30 when i threw the towel in. an uneventful subway and bus ride later, i was on the plane (where i finally got to weigh my suitcase - just over 5 kg!). transferred in paris where i bought a very expensive book (phillip roth's the plot against america), which i still haven't finished, so take that for what you will. sat next to a nice indian man who was going to the us for the first time, and gave me the window seat, and had excellent food on air france. AND! the plane had an amazing selection of movies such that i didn't sleep at all. AND! one of their channels was a live video looking down from the bottom of the plane. it was SO COOL! and they left it on for landing, although as we got very close they focused it ahead instead of down. customs was uneventful - the drug beagle didn't mind my sunflower seeds - and andrew and peter picked me up. whew.