Up Close & Personal With the Police in Paris

Day 2 in Paris started out like every other day. We got up and ready to meet Mark and Janelle at the Eiffel Tower for some serious touristy stuff. We hopped on to the metro and thus began our journey into the abysmal day. I noticed this teen girl in front of me acting funny as I tried to make my way into the metro car. She was moving very slowly and just acting weird. I thought, "Just move in, all ready. People are trying to get on." She shifted over in front of Phil as I grabbed the pole to hang on and turned around to face the door that I had just walked through. As the metro began to move very slowly forward a group of 3 or 4 teen girls (including the weird acting one) suddenly shoved their way through the crowd standing around us and pushed the button to open the door.

As they all jumped off onto the platform I thought (naive me), "Good thing they realized they got on the wrong train before we really got going." I leaned back to Phil and jokingly asked him if he still had his wallet. Not jokingly, and in a voice that can only be described as sheer panic, along with a frantic patting of all his pockets he replied (very loudly), "No...no, I don't." Yes...Phil just got pick-pocketed by a group of teen girls. Who are so good at what they do, I might add, that he didn't even feel the one who snagged his wallet...from his front pocket.

We jumped off the metro at the next stop, and after letting off a bit of steam (there's an electrical box with a nice big dent on the front of it at the Opera stop on the Paris metro, if you're ever inclined to take a look) we made our way to the station attendant who directed us to the nearest police station above ground.

Of course the police station was closed. We were somewhere in Paris with no credit cards, three euros to our name, no metro tickets, and no clue. There was a phone number to call on a plaque outside of the station so Phil called and a policeman said they would send a car our way. When the car arrived, we gave a description of the girls (which, by the way, they described perfectly because apparently small groups of Eastern European teen girls are notorious for pick-pocketing on the metro) although they said we'd never see the wallet again. They drove us to a central station where I proceded to try and tell the policeman what happened for the police report while Phil was on the phone with credit card companies trying to cancel all his cards. What a pain. Even more of a pain when the person whose cards have been stolen has accounts in the US, Australia, and the UK. Lots of calls, lots of headaches. Not to mention the stolen US dollars, British pounds, Swiss francs, Euros, Paris metro tickets, London tube pass, etc...

Hours later, we emerged from the police station, found out we were on the Champs Elysees (not quite how I pictured first seeing the famous street) and given a map to follow to find our way back to the hotel...on foot. And here's where I add that I think in the US, we would've been given a ride back to our hotel seeing as we had no money to get cab or the metro. The French...

After all the drama of the morning we did meet up with Mark and Janelle for lunch and then toured Sacre-Coeur, a church in Montmarte with an amazing view of the city.

We then took the metro (my debit card worked at an ATM so we could take out some euros...whew) to the Arc de Triomphe to look around.

After the Arc, we walked over to Hotel des Invalides. It was originally built as a hospital for veterans returning from war but now houses Napoleon's tomb.

Off to the side was a very pretty garden...

We all had dinner at a little cafe in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and then walked over to the tower to finally see it (at least for Phil and I).

A bit later we stopped at a little restaurant for crepes and coffee and had a great view of the Eiffel Tower all lit up.

We walked back to the Arc de Triomphe and then a bit down a very crowded Champs Elysees before we parted company. Not really feeling like another trip on the metro, we took a cab back to our hotel. After getting to our room, Phil jokingly says to me, "Hey...check your wallet and make sure you still have it." I had left it in my purse which was in my suitcase for safe keeping and all. Yes...you guessed it...a hotel employee with a key card apparently thought it was ok to go into my suitcase and then into my purse and steal all my money but 4 dollars. Seriously?!!??

And the worse part of it? After calling the front desk, then getting the run around the next day, the hotel really didn't think it was that big of an issue to aggressively pursue. Truly. Here it is almost a month later and we still haven't heard a thing from the hotel. So...if you're ever in Paris looking for a nice hotel to stay in, and you want to keep all the money you came with, do not choose the Banke Hotel on Rue de Layfette. Now...on to Versailles.