"Have we been ripped off?"

After parting ways with French Woman with a Dog, we found a crepe stand open. We tried the crepe avec jambon et fromage (with ham and cheese). This became a frequent stop for us during our stay. They are delicious and really filling!


The day was starting out really chilly, but we braved it and sat as long as we could, watching the Parisians parade by us. We wandered around the George Pompidou Centre area, but found that lugging six suitcases was not fun, especially since my guys had to handle them all. (Neurosurgeon's orders!)

The time finally got close enough to noon to park ourselves in front of the outer apartment door. There we stood, surrounded by our bags and looking rather homeless. We'd been up for about 36 hours by this time!

A woman emerged from the apartment building and asked, "Are you waiting for someone?" In English!

"Yes, we are renting an apartment short-term."

"Oooooooh. There was a company renting short-term and it turned out they were crooks. I hope it wasn't my apartment they rented to you!"

Groan.

And with that, she strolled on down the street. And panic struck.

Had we been ripped off? What would we do? We have six bags, two sets of tired arms, and three pretty exhausted people. How could we find a hotel at this point? We were not in a touristy area, so no hotels were in sight. We'd have to get back on the Metro, go to a hotelish area, and start asking. And hotels are so much more expensive! Our deposit was lining somebody's pockets and we were out a few hundred dollars.

We stood there, dejected and worried. Our trip was off to a very bad start indeed.

About fifteen minutes passed and a young man emerged from the building.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

What? Is this the question of the day or something?

I repeated my answer, "Yes, we are renting an apartment short-term."

"Oh. Let me check for you."

Well, that sounded more positive.

He returned a few minutes later and asked, "Is your name ...?"

"Yes!"

"Okay. Come on in."

We were relieved, to say the least. I could not wait to get inside and set some sleep!