Elevator Man

Today’s entry is a bit of yin and yang. We had a ton of fun with the highlight of the day having dinner with the Thompsons. However, the elevator incident took over the evening. Wendy asked me to blog this one because she still gets a little upset about it. I’ll cover that later.
The day started with us going to the Picasso museum which is conveniently located a few blocks away from our house. We walked around the block where it was supposed to be before we discovered that the museum was closed in 2009 and won’t open until 2012. Wendy had a hair appointment, so we split up and the kids and I went to Notre Dame and Wendy went to the hair place.
Dillon hadn’t been there (he was sick when we went), so Dillon and Hayley got in line. Mali and I went to the crypt. Kinda interesting but not worth the 4 euro. I realized it was 93 degrees outside and I had all the water, so I went back in line with the kids. Hayley and Dillon were enjoying a street performer the whole time. He was wearing a gargoyle mask and messing with people’s heads. It was really funny. He would dupe people. Our favorite was when he snuck behind a man taking a picture and wrapped his arms around him (instead of his wife). He started unbuttoning his shirt before the man realized it wasn’t his wife. A few people screamed but he always made up with the people he freaked out. It really made the line go fast, and he was quite entertaining.
It turns out that Wendy’s appointment got moved out a week without being clearly communicated, so she joined us at Notre Dame. Mali was hot and had been up to the top already, and Wendy hadn't, so the two of us went back while Wendy, Hayley, and Dillon went up Notre Dame. I got back and fell asleep while Mali read.
Everyone got back and we freshened up. We then hooked up with the Thompsons and went to the Pizza and Pasta place just down the road. It was great to meet up with friends and people who speak English. We had a great dinner and then went to gelato. 11 Americans descending on the gelato restaurant chased out the local clientele. We went back to our place to show the Thompsons our apartment and watch the Eiffel tower light up when we had the elevator incident.
Now for background, there are signs all over the building cautioning people on use of the elevator. The day we showed up, a man in the building forcefully told us we couldn’t take our luggage up the elevator. After we were here a few days, a sign with 4 paragraphs of English went up talking about not taking baggage in the elevator. Our next door neighbor asked us to shut the elevator door better. There definitely was a lot of concern about the renters using the elevator. So, we followed the rules exactly.
The elevator only holds three with a max of 250kg. Mali’s ankle was hurting and Maverick wanted to come with us. So, I took them up the elevator while everyone else walked up the stairs. Half way between the 6th and the 7th floor (our apartment is on the 7th) the elevator stopped. We couldn’t open the door. It wouldn’t budge. It broke with us in it. Mali and Maverick got upset and worried. Hayley came out and tried to get us out. I knew we were in serious neighborhood trouble.
First, while Hayley was helping, our neighbor came up and yelled at Hayley saying ‘Shut the door. The elevator won’t come and we’re waiting.’ Hayley said ‘It is shut. It’s stuck.’ She yelled ‘I’m tired of this’ and slammed the door. That’s the first friend we made.
We hit the alarm button. It made a phone call to elevator HQ, but the call would be on hold for 3 minutes, the people only spoke French, and the call would automatically disconnect after 4 minutes. So, it took a while to get things worked out. After an hour, Wendy called the phone number and they said people would be there in 25 minutes. We got game boys into the elevator for the kids to help them relax. After a while we thought we should call the fire department and see if they could get us out. Wendy called and with much effort got them to understand what was going on. They said they’d be there in 5 min, but someone needed to be there to let them in. We sent Todd down to wait. ‘’
He came back with the elevator service people. They were stuck outside the building. Turns out the first man who lectured us on not tacking baggage on the day we arrived was talking with them and refusing to let them in. They let us out to our much relief and we thanked them profusely. Shortly the man from the building came up and yelled at us saying we open the door too fast and take too much baggage. I said we didn’t do any of that, but he yelled more and said he was writing a report. We made friend number two.
It got interesting, though, when the service guy started talking to the angry neighbor. I didn’t fully understand, but he was standing up for us saying we didn’t have too much weight in there. They continued to talk and it turned into a full on yelling match. It was French at 300 mph, so I didn’t catch much, but it was fascinating to hear a language that sounds so flowery turn into two people definitely chewing each other out. Wendy caught part of it with the service guy shouting ‘ARE YOU A TECHNICIAN? ARE YOU A TECHNICIAN?’ The angry neighbor and the service people left. We felt terrible that the elevator was broken, but happy that someone stood up for us. It makes me think I need to help out people lost or confused in our country (and not assume foreigners are all malicious).
After that, we went back in, decompressed from all the adrenaline, said goodbye to the Thompsons and went to bed. I was impressed with how Mali and Maverick handled the fear of being stuck in an elevator 7 stories up. As of this writing, the elevator is still broken. I fear we’re public enemy #1 in the building, even so we’re going to continue to say ‘Bonjour’ to everyone in the building, but it’s definitely uncomfortable.

The crypt of Notre Dame

Laughing at the Street Performer

First official full family photo in France – waiting in line at the Notre Dame

Notre Dame part two – Dillon and Mom’s trip up

Cute kids at Mercedes’ Birthday dinner Cute adults at the other end of the table

More cute kids

Gelato Time!!