Jaunted

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Bunnies and Airports

Flying into Charles de Gaulle last week, our thoughts were already turning to Parisian bunnies--like the ones we might see at the Moulin Rouge--when we suddenly saw live ones hopping around next to our runway. Apparently they're a well-documented phenomenon there, and a safety problem: Rabbit droppings attract mice, who in turn attract birds, who present a danger to planes. "Operation Rabbit" (or lapin á la moutarde, in the original French) began to capture them and return them to the countryside. Or so they say.

But unusual encounters were the theme of the day, as we turned a corner and nearly walked right into the waiting hall "home" of the man who inspired the Hanks/Spielberg film The Terminal. A mix-up of refugee applications had Merhan "Alfred" Karimi Nasseri arrive in Paris CDG from Iran in 1988. In the ensuing confusion, courts ruled he arrived legally in the airport, but he wasn't allowed to enter France. With no passport or diplomatic status, he also wasn't allowed to enter another country and stayed in the airport. Since 1999 he's been allowed to leave, but the consensus is that his mental state, after 11 years camped in the airport, doesn't allow it.

While we spend too much of our life trying to get out of airports, but it seems the rabbits and Alfred can't get enough of them. What are we missing? Maybe those hard plastic chairs and that blinding artificial light are better than we think. We guess they really buy into the axiom that the purpose is the journey.

Related stories:
Stranded at the Airport [Snopes.com]
Runway Rabbits Wreak Havoc [USA Today]