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The nieces take Bruce and Marija to Paris, Venice and London

The nieces take Bruce and Marija to Paris, Venice and London

Old Jul 25th, 2016, 06:18 AM
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The nieces take Bruce and Marija to Paris, Venice and London

Many of our trips are planned quickly but this one was not only planned quickly but also unanticipated. We have a 16 year old niece who watched the travel channel since she was old enough to turn on the TV. Her mother would find embedded notes in her room such as "when in Bali make sure to find the shrine behind the McDonalds." She's charmed her way into accompanying a Japanese classmate on a visit to Japan, gone to Iceland on a school trip with a class she wasn't enrolled in, and twisted Santa's arm for a family trip to Paris and Rome. She even flies with us to visit Bruce's 90 year old parents in a retirement home.

On a recent visit (like a month ago!), she bemoaned the boredom of the summer without any trip on the horizon. Ever sympathetic, I muttered that maybe next summer she could join us on an international trip. Grabbing the suggestion she lectured me on the hazards of postponing such activities at our age since you never know when the Grim Reaper might reap or at least throw a wrench into the works. To avoid further morbid musings, I changed the topic to our vault of frequent flier miles which surely couldn't be redeemed this summer. So confident was I that I gave her the password to our Virgin Atlantic account. Before I could gather my wits, and it does take a little longer now, she located four upper class tickets on Virgin Atlantic. Seems that while we were all eating at our favorite Neapolitan pizzeria, she had obtained her mother's permission to go and enlisted her 18 year old sister to join us. Damn those iPhones. So a couple of quick clicks, a credit card number and the deal is done. Twelve night in Europe starting and ending in London.

After the initial flurry of excitement, I was entrusted with working out the details. (Our intrepid traveler has prepared many hypothetical itineraries but none of them as tame as Europe.) Dipping into our stash of British Airways miles, I booked us flights from London to Paris and Venice to London, and Easy Jet from Paris to Venice. This gave us five nights in Paris, three nights in Venice and four nights in London. (Since none of us had been to Nice, I tried to include Nice instead of Paris I but just couldn't get the flights to work. Lucky break.)

This was our first flight to Europe with Virgin Atlantic. We usually fly British Airways with miles. The food was great but I think the BA lie flat beds are more comfortable, even though they are shorter. The seven crying children in upper class didn't endear themselves to the rest of the passengers and may have impacted my opinion of the beds.

Perilous Paris

We wanted to rent an apartment in Paris with two bedrooms so we would all have our space. With a two week lead time that wasn't easy. We found an apartment on
Ile St Louis on Trip Advisor and put a deposit on it. Within the allotted 24 hours the owners changed their mind and credited back the deposit. There was a Paris Perfect apartment that was available but a wise Fodorite pointed out that it was on ground level and people would walk right by the windows. I failed to see this in the photos. We finally booked with Guest Apartment Services which seems to have a good reputation, takes credit cards, and has an office on the main street of Ile St. Louis. A week is usually their minimum rental but they made an exception and rented for five nights. The apartment was perfect for us:

https://www.guestapartment.com/rent-...ouis-eglantine

We paid city tax separately. When booking I had no idea if the apartment met the "legal" criteria. One day we did receive a call and email from the rental agency warning us not to let anyone, including people posing as city inspectors, into the apartment. Draw your own conclusion.

The rental agency arranged for an airport pickup at Orly but the driver was a no show. However, I had a contact number and another driver was dispatched quickly and we were not charged for the ride. Since it was a Sunday the rental agency was not open and the prearranged driver gave us keys and introduced us to the apartment. There was a very strong military and police presence in the airport which I suppose should have been comforting but instead reminded us of the fear gripping Paris as Bastille Day approached. But our close call turned out not to be from terrorists.
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 07:28 AM
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are we nearly there yet!
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 08:08 AM
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Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report.
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 08:26 AM
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Signing on. Very enterprising niece!
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 10:00 AM
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On board!
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 03:28 PM
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I am not an anxious traveler and have been to Paris many times but I must admit our stay in Paris had an unpleasant edge. When we arrived at the apartment the streets were full of cars and motorcycles loudly cruising along the Seine waving French flags. Again police presence was very noticeable. The finals of the European Football Championship-- France vs Portugal-- were to take place that evening and the fans were showing off in the streets. The stadium where the game was played is in St Denis so I wasn't particularly concerned about the spillover of rowdy drunken fans but it did seem like a highly visible terrorism opportunity. France lost and there was rioting, tear gas and violence centered around the Eiffel tower which remained closed to tourists the next day, as we discovered after a long hike.

When we set off in search of croissants the next morning many armed officers patrolled the deserted streets. It's unsettling to see men with guns so early in the morning. (Note that nothing opens early in Paris. We had to wait until 7 for the patisserie to open and couldn't locate an open market to buy coffee beans. Most grocery stores didn't open until 9. There was a Starbucks with a posted opening time of 7:30 but we were told it would only open at 8.)

We were in Paris on Bastille Day, properly called La fête nationale or Le quatorze juillet, and the girls were looking forward to the festivities, including the traditional Firemen's Balls which take place at the local fire stations, the morning military parade and the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. Again we faced a quandary. Bruce and I were not tempted to brave the crowds but the girls wanted to be part of the activities, activities which were great targets for terrorism.

The Firemen's balls take place on the evening of the 13th and are open to residents and tourists alike. The owner of the rental agency thought that would be fun for the girls and recommended that we go to the ball at the Arènes de Lutèce, a ten minute walk from the apartment. That afternoon the older niece wanted to go to the Catacombs of Paris so the two of us set out. The niece loved it. I was a little less enthusiastic since I have seen so many displays of bones but I had never been in the bowels of Paris so it was a win for both of us. After climbing the 130 steps to get down, and 83 steps to get out, we decided to take a taxi back to the apartment. The streets were quite empty, no doubt in anticipation of the holiday. In the cab, I handed my iPhone to my niece so she could download any photos she wanted. And then the cab hit a divider and flipped on its side, trapping us inside.
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 03:52 PM
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dear lord
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 04:02 PM
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Dear lord is right. I love your apartment though.
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 04:32 PM
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Whoa! I hope you made it to the ball!
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 11:27 PM
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oh boy, years ago I stepped out Milan station to watch a car zipp up to the roundabout and flip over to stop upside down in front of us, such fun.
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 11:29 PM
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still if you repeat this experience in Venice, going to get wet
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Old Jul 28th, 2016, 06:28 AM
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Thanks for reading. Bilbo, we didn't flip in a gondola but did return to a flooded apartment thanks to our upstairs neighbor.
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Old Jul 29th, 2016, 10:27 AM
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I saw droplets of blood on the front seat of the van among the shards of glass. In terror I called out to my niece who replied that she was OK. I was content to just sit there dazed but the engineering student sized up the situation and decided we had to get out quickly. Her door was jammed against the curb, mine was up in the air. We were fortunate that passerbys immediately came to our aid. Several men ripped open the hatchback, pulled down the seats and helped us out. They even retrieved my purse. In my niece's hand was my iPhone which she had valiantly protected during the crash.

We both emerged completely unscathed, only the driver had a cut on his hand. A small group of concerned women surrounded us and offered assistance. A woman on a bike pulled out water from her sack and insisted we should have some. Water wasn't really my drink of choice in this situation but we gratefully followed instructions. My niece speaks French well, so she chatted with the good Samaritans while I thought of how, or if, to tell my sister about the accident. I took some photos of the mangled car on its side, in the middle of the intersection.

The decision as to what to do next was not ours. We had to follow procedures. The famed Sapeurs Pompiers of Paris arrived with sirens blasting, then the police. We were led to an ambulance and examined and interrogated. They took our blood pressures and pulses, counted respirations. The big decision was whether to take us to the hospital. The beautiful young English speaking pompier consulted repeatedly with an off site doctor. She indicated that the balls scheduled for the evening had left them short handed. I think a doctor was supposed to actually be in the ambulance.

Since we were uninjured the atmosphere in the ambulance was jovial, with the male Pompiers flirting with my very beautiful niece and the female pompier (their boss) jokingly admonishing them. Between the niece's French and the pompier's English, communication was easy and within an hour or so the forms were completed. (Note that copies of our passports were good enough for IDs.) Before we left, they scared us by saying the decision not to take us to the hospital was rescinded, but that turned out to be their idea of humor.
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Old Jul 29th, 2016, 11:10 AM
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Wow. Far more excitement than necessary! Glad you both emerged physically unscathed.
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Old Jul 29th, 2016, 11:20 AM
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Wow, Marija - how terrifying that must have been in the moment! So glad you're all okay.

On a lighter note - I'm reading with interest, as I have two nieces and two nephews and would love to be this kind of aunt when they're old enough.
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Old Jul 30th, 2016, 04:39 AM
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was the driver ok?
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Old Jul 30th, 2016, 05:10 AM
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Bilbo, She said the driver had a cut on his hand.

You have to speed up this trip report please. More installments. I am not a big fan of cabbies. They scare the bejesus out of me driving.
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Old Jul 30th, 2016, 06:03 AM
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I was always one for the iceberg rather than the Titanic
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Old Jul 30th, 2016, 07:11 PM
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Quite an adventure!! Looking forward to more!
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Old Jul 31st, 2016, 05:48 AM
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Very frightening experience on the way to the firemen's ball, but it sounds like your niece had a ball with the firemen anyway. Not the usual tourist experience; glad it all worked out and nobody was seriously hurt.
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