Barcelona to Orly we used a Spanish discount airline, Vueling Airlines. They bring the cart around with drinks but only give them to people who pre-ordered apparently. The other interesting note was when they landed, and after the seatbelt sign went off, they wouldn’t let anyone get out of their seats until the steward(ess) said so. That caused more chaos because everyone got up at the same time and sort-of bumped into each other.
I don’t know if the Orly airport security was an example of French inefficiency but there seemed to be an inordinate number of security people, running back and forth, putting people through in what appeared to be slow motion. In my case, they seemed to be unsure of what to do with my packsack so they didn’t do anything for quite awhile. Eventually someone pulled everything out of the packsack. With everything all spread out it no longer fit in one of their bins so they threw all the bits and pieces into two bins, ran the bins through the security check again and handed me the two bins at the other end.
We are now in our apartment in Nice. The apartment here is “compact”: living room, dining room and kitchen in one room, bedroom and bathroom with a shower. There is, for example, no room for dishes so they have added a separate unit with shelves to hold dishes. There is a washing machine but no dryer – with a line to hang the clothes out the second floor window. We have opted instead to go to a laundromat which is only a block away.
Out the window, you see a church and the associated graveyard. We’ve been told the neighbourhood is very safe and that seems to be the case but the security is like in a NY apartment a la Seinfeld – and then some. There is a massive locking mechanism on the front door of the building – unlocked via a FOB. Then outside every two apartments there is a large steel door with 4 bolts running up the side with a separate key from that of the apartment. Then the apartment itself has a steel door with another 4 bolts and two locking mechanisms. On the hinge side there are 4 bolts that go into holes in the steel door frame spread throughout the length of the frame. Better safe than sorry I guess. Some photos below taken out the window + the door lock on the apartment (with captions so you know what you are looking at).
WR Foster 