Day 19
Sometimes Good Ideas need a little encouragement.
We arrived at Gare de l’est on a Sunday afternoon and got a taxi to the apartment we had arranged to rent. We wanted to be in the 10th and were expecting a slow trip through busy Parisian streets. However, the roads were relatively quiet on a Sunday afternoon and the taxi bustled along and got us to the address quite quickly. And cheaply!
We had been given the address and told the owner’s mother would be there to meet us. Entrance was a narrow door between a delicatessen and a café. We entered. Post boxes for tenants (no names on them), a couple of bicycles but no ‘Mother’. We had been told our apartment was on the 5th floor – with a nice view. We had been assured there was a lift.
There was a lift. A 2 person lift in the corner of the downstairs area. It was out of order.
And it had been such a lovely day so far!
Nothing for it, I would have to climb the stairs in search of mother. Leaving Rae by the 3 large cases, I climbed up 5 floors of the tiny, circular staircase. On the 5th floor were several apartment doors. Which one? No numbers or names were to be seen. I called out. No answer. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon; no one seemed to be home.
Climbing back down was easier than going up, but didn’t result in any solution. We had a phone number for the owner, but were using a data sim in my phone so couldn’t call it. Some people had entered and left through the front door. A couple of young guys came in – saw us looking bewildered and asked if we were OK. They offered to phone the number for us. Unfortunately they got a voice mail message and could only leave a message.
You do feel a bit lost in these situations. However, ‘Travel’ is about being brave – intrepid even! I set off to explore the neighbourhood, leaving Rae with the cases again. She was getting less attached to those cases by the minute! Just up the road I found a hotel. A budget hotel. Yes they had a room, and would hold it for us for a few minutes.
I dashed back to Rae, collected the cases and dragged them to the hotel to check in: very relieved we wouldn’t be sleeping rough this night. The hotel had WiFi, so, as soon as we were in our room, Rae sent an email to the owner asking what had gone wrong!
The owner was now in the USA, having recently moved there, leaving Mother to manage bookings. (And omitting to remember to change the contact phone number to Mother’s). We were Mother’s first clients. She had been waiting in the apartment all afternoon, not realizing we didn’t know which apartment to go to. Frantic emails resulted in Mother arriving at our Hotel, paying our bill and arranging for us to go onto the apartment next day when the lift was to be repaired.
All in all quite an adventure. It was fairly scary at times, but in the end everything worked out very well.
All the people we had contact with as we tried to resolve our situation were delightful, helpful and friendly. ‘Mother’ was upset we had been put in a frightening situation and went to extra lengths to make up for it – even calling round on our last day to take us to the station for the next section of our voyage.
The apartment was ideal. The views great, the facilities were all you could want. And the neighbourhood was just as we’d hoped.
Even when you are being a little daring and resourceful people will look after you in Paris. Obviously Paris is always a good idea!
