Day 5 Paris
I suddenly sit straight up in bed from a deep sleep. I jump up grab my car keys and run downstairs to look at my car. I had a dream my car had been towed while I was in Paris ! I get to the car and it looks OK, so I guess it really was just a bad dream.. I stand there just looking around thinking... Wow I am in Paris. I feel pretty stupid at this point and head back to my hotel room. Still feeling a little weird. I look out the hotel window again, thinking, maybe I should just go move the car. The dream was so real ! So as I am looking out the window I see a tow truck hooking up my car !!! OMG, I grab the keys and run downstairs and out the door, by the time I get there the truck is driving off with my car ! I try to run after it on foot, but by now it is already 8am traffic and I could not quickly get across the street to chase him, I try anyway, but he is off and out of site !
I run back to the hotel and tell the front desk clerk what happened, she was like yeah they do that a lot around here, she was so sorry for me !! So I inquire as to how am I suppose to get it back ? She pulls out a tourist map and shows me where the location is on the map. All I can tell is that it is located on Rue de LaBlanc a couple of miles away. Then she wrote the word La Fourrière on a post it note.
I try to get a taxi for about 30 minutes, I guess I am not very good at hailing a taxi. I look around and see a bus stop with offices. I go to the bus stop office and show them the post it note. They point me to the bus and tell me it is the second stop. OK, now I am getting somewhere. I get off the bus at the second stop and ask the driver if he knows where this building is located. He tells me it is 2 blocks down and turn left. So I go 2 blocks down and turn left. All I see is a hospital, a very large office complex with 25 high rise office towers, a couple of restaurants and a few other buildings. I try asking several people where this might be located, no one knows. I do not see anything that even remotely could resemble a car impound lot.
I double check and make sure I am on the correct street. I am. I start going in each building one at a time and asking if they know where this might be located. I tell them it is suppose to be on this street. The street is only about 3 blocks long. There is a big park on one side of the street and I remember seeing it on the map. For 2 and half hours I am going in each building inquiring about the La Fourrière. No one has even ever heard of it ! I spot a hotel down one of the side streets, so I proceed In that direction. I enter the hotel and ask the front desk clerk.
He smiles, leads me by the arm out the front door and points to a building about a half a block away. Tells me what will be written on the outside of the door and off I go to get my car. I enter what seems like an ordinary building and a ordinary office. I tell the clerk my dilemma and he ask me what kind of car is it, I reply a silver one. What make and model he ask, I act like I do not understand him and tell him silver again. He says, you do not know what kind of car you drive ? I said it was a silver car. So he ask what is the license plate number. I tell him I do not know it is a rent car. So he says OK, we are getting somewhere now. I need your rental paper work. I reply it is in the car. He just looks at me like a parent would look at a child they are scolding. He said it was against the law not to carry your rental paperwork with you. I told him it was with me when I had the car ! It is in the front seat in case I need it. I showed him I have the car keys. So he says to come with him.
I thought he was going to take me to jail for not having the paper work. We walk through a door, and it is a parking garage. I told him the name of the street and address where the car was towed. We walk down a couple of level and he said OK click the button. So I did and we found the car !! Yeah ! He said get your paperwork and we will go back up stairs. So I follow him like a puppy that just found their owner. We get back to the office and I hand him the paperwork. He informs me, that they do not return rental cars to the driver, the rental car company has to send someone to pick up the car. It is the law in France ! So I quickly began my sob story of being on the UK train that hit and killed someone and that the airline made me buy another ticket to France and that I could not find a hotel in Blois or Versailles and they were working on the freeway and I got lost because the car company did not have a map, but I finally find a hotel in Paris at 1 am and I ask the hotel guy to check my parking space and Paris was my lifelong dream to visit but everything bad is happening on my dream vacation and he said OK pay the 136.00 euro and you can have it back, but keep the paperwork with you at all times !
Thank God I am really good at sob stories !!! And I did not even have to cry ! I think I did it in one breath, which gave it more dramatic effect.
I told him I was going straight to the airport and turning it in and going to take the subways and buses. He laughed and said OK
OMG, where is Orly Airport ????? Ok, I finally find the airport, but can not find any car rental locations..what is up with that ? I drove around the entire airport 2 times, went to the cargo section, no car rental returns anywhere.
So I am thinking, OK, I will go to arrivals and follow the car rental buses ! Yes I am brilliant. Or so I thought. The buses and the cars do not take the same entrance or exits at Orly airport. And after thinking about it, I have not even seen any car rental buses anywhere......so I drive back around and decide to just park in the parking garage and go inside and make an inquiry as to where they are located.
I pull into the parking garage and guess what ? There they are, all the car rentals and rental returns are inside the parking garage! OK, find me the person who thought of that so I can slap them! And find me the person who decided they did not need any Car Rental return signs! So I finally find the Hertz return and by the way, I was supposed to turn this car in at the Tours Airport Hertz location. So I am expecting a fine to be added on to my rental return. Probably 60 or 80 euro's. At this point, really, I'll just pay the fine be done with it. I am thinking the fine will probably save me a 136 euro tow charge again. So at this point I am still going to come out ahead of something !
I pull up to the return area and am mentally preparing my sob story again. I hand the girl my paper work, she walks around the car, gets in turns on the key to make sure it has a full tank of petro and it does. She smiles and hands me back the contract and circles my original charge of 256 euro and tells me this is the price that will be charged to my card. I am like Thank you, Thank you !!!
So now as I am walking back to the airport to catch my express back into Paris, I realize I am missing my night photography class. I am Ok with that, because, " it is what it is "
Now I really did not look up the hotel information very well, but I do specifically remember their site saying " Just a few blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. Well, knowing Paris as I do, I know which train and which subway to take to that Metro stop. And I know that area pretty well, so it should not be too hard to find. I arrive and start looking for the street on the maps at the Metro Station. Well according to the Metro map, that street is not located In this area, but located several miles from this area. Invoking my vacation Motto once again : It is what it is " I conclude, that is what taxi's are for, people like me that think they are smart enough to navigate this complex town on their own. Really, taxi drivers love people like me ! And they are trained not to ask questions that would make their passengers look too stupid ! You just give them the address and they are there to whisk you to your location. Eight euro's and less than 10 minutes later I arrive at my hotel !
I have a great room on the 8th floor with a very good view, so no complaints ! It turns out to be a really great hotel, very accommodating staff, clean, large rooms for Paris ! A nice restaurant on the ground floor.
Really, by now, I want day 5 to be over and I am ready for Day 6 And by the way, it has started to storm by now, so I leave my window open a bit so I can hear the rain, makes for a really good nights sleep.
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