Our trip from Victoria to Montpellier went very smoothly; all planes on time, OK food and our luggage arrived with us. Arrival in Montpellier dropped us into a very warm spot, must have been over 30 but felt like at least 35. After a 30 minute bus ride then another 30 minute tram ride we found our home for the month on rue Francois D'Orbay, 2nd floor above the shops and offices.
It's a very cute little 1 bedroom apartment with huge windows that open wide, and a little balcony. An incredibly well equipped kitchen shows the owner's love of cooking. It looks down into a small square with a pizza shop which seems to be the gathering spot for a group of men who chat and discuss away the late day and evening. We were promised a wonderful Boulangerie right next door for morning croissants but it's been fermé since we arrived. (Much disappointment). There are two or three others just down the street but I had been imagining my favorite "pain au chocolate" just steps away.
We got into the apartment with no problem using the directions and keys we had brought with us from our friends in Victoria. Top lock 2 turns clock-wise, bottom lock 2 full turns anti-clockwise. The French are fanatic (dare I say paranoid?) about locking doors. We only spent an hour or so inside, opening the apartment up, shutters, windows and doors opened, bed made, quick cold water shower (hot water takes a few hours to warm up after turning the breaker on) which was exactly what I needed. Then we decided we needed a bit of food to get started - milk for tea and something for supper and breakfast tomorrow. Therein starts the difficult part of our entry. We left and locked door but then we were not sure if it did lock correctly so tried to unlock and start again. No luck, thought we had done something wrong but turns out something amiss in 2nd turn of lower lock. We tried unsuccessfully for 30 minutes or so getting more and more frustrated. Wendy went to next apartment which is a doctors office to ask if anyone could help. A tall man waiting for his appointment came out and told us he was a locksmith!!! We thought how lucky could we get. But he could not get it opened no matter how hard he tried. He told us it was "Bizarre", a famous French expression for anything they can't figure out.
The door to our apartment. Note: camino shell.
We were out in the hallway, without a phone but were able to email our friend Mary in Victoria, who alerted landlord Doug to read email sent to him. By then our 'locksmith' went off with his wife on their motorcycle to get a ladder, so he could climb into our open window. We could hardly wait to see this happen, a ladder on a motorcycle. But he was very sweet to want to help us. And then our saviour arrived in the form of Greg who lives upstairs. We were not sure why he was coming down to our floor but he immediately wanted to help and he had the door open in no time. At this point Doug was on the phone with me having read Wendy's frantic email. It's so reassuring that we have folks working to help us and we were not totally alone here. Even if it felt like that after 2 hours, I was sitting on the floor in the hallway outside our apartment and Wendy was pacing back and forth. After being up for over 27 hours and with Jet-lag raging inside one of us, desperately needing some supper and a bed - we were not in any state to think of the best way through this. Greg went up to get his WD-40 and his tool kit to mess around with the lock. Seems some issue with it but as long as we just use top lock, we will be able to get in and out of this apartment without further issue. And just to be on the safe side we now have Greg's phone number with us at all times!
By this time it was just before 8pm and we had to do a quick walk to the closest open grocery store, about 20 minutes away. We bought the bare essentials and walked back in the dark. A very quick supper of salad and bread and the crankiest of us was sent to bed to sleep off the worst headache. Did I tell you in was still about 30 inside apartment?
We were woken with a severe thunderstorm with pelting rain during the night so things cooled down a smidge for the rest of the night. The morning brought a new excitement looking forward to our first French coffee and croissants.
No comments:
Post a Comment