When it was first built, four decades ago, the terminal was praised by avant-garde architects and damned by those with a more practical view of passenger requirements. The circular design has proved something of a nightmare in a building where it is easy to get confused, lost or both. Those architectural bouquets are long dead.

Transparent tubes carry people heavenwards towards seven departure satellites, but the rest of the place is gloomy. The shopping and eating experience at the bottom of this many-layered concrete cake sets the appropriate standard.

The biggest challenge to arriving passengers is finding their way to the correct exit for buses or taxis and those unfamiliar with Terminal 1's idiosyncrasies can end up going round in circles. The Flying Dutchman syndrome lives here.

A desirable (but expensive) answer would be to knock it down and start again. There have been voices in France calling for the wrecking crews - but while it stands the best advice is to get a map from the Information Desks.