On Lockdown

Harboring a prisoner

It’s been a crazy few days in the City of Light. The barriers are solid, the gendarmes serious, and helicopters are constantly flying overhead (I have never seen a helicopter in Paris in my life till now). NO ONE is getting in without a pass jeux. My neighborhood is on serious lockdown. Guards everywhere. A houseguest arrived today and when the guards scanned his pass it flashed red and said “INTERDICT”— forbidden. He was getting out of a cab near our apartment-because it is impossible to get all the way to the front by the quai, and I had come to meet him to guide him the remainder, but as he approached the guards and flashed his pass -he was denied. Standing in the middle of the road on Rue Dauphine, I begged the guards, who have seen me come and go for three days now, to let him come with me. I pleaded that he was a houseguest, and that he had a pass and that the whole process was malfunctioning. Ultimately, on the strength of my pleading, or more likely their weariness with my begging, they let him come with me, but ominously warned, “ If he leaves the apartment he cannot get back in.” Oh my!

Out of my living room window

Rue Dauphine

It’s like it’s World War II and I am harboring a resistance fighter from the Nazis. Tonight, I slunk out for food for the both of us -scanning the streets for potential ways to bust him out—none were found. I brought the food back to the apartment. We ate in the kitchen and then we went downstairs and walked the perimeter of the prison yard. Me showing him where the guards are lurking, careful not to go too close to the edge where they might ask to see a qr code. All of these pictures were taken surreptitiously-photos are not welcome. He is being a sport, but I am sure being cooped up inside our apartment while all Paris awaits is super frustrating.

My husband arrives tomorrow and I am saying my prayers that his qr code works. There are just no guaranties, and no way to fix it if it doesn’t work. My sons and daughter come Friday and I am worried for them as well. What a bummer it would be to come to Paris for the Olympics and be stranded outside of your own home. Not saying there shouldn’t be security, but tensions are mounting. The tourists here are super angry that no one told them they needed a pass to be anywhere near the Seine.

Yesterday, all the bridges in both directions were closed-even to pedestrian traffic, while the Olympic people did some strategizing for Friday’s opening ceremony. For some unknown reason it involved luggage carts—you know the kind that hotels use when you pull up in the valet line to check in. They were lining the Pont Neuf. Not sure what that was about. Anyway, there was only one bridge open to cross from Left Bank to Right. Pont St. Michel. So, of course I went—needed picture-hanging tools from the BHV. On a side note— I bought this 1940’s icebag for Les at an auction of items from the Hemingway Bar-Colin Field’s personal collection. So cool! Had it framed and think it needs to hang here in Paris. But I digress.

I approached the pont and guards, showed my qr code and gained passage. As I crossed from the Left Bank and onto the Ile, it was just completely empty. Not a person in sight. So surreal! I walked past the entrance to St. Chapelle and there was no one in line. No one at all. The Conciergerie-same thing. It is crazy! These are top tourist sites that are usually packed. Even the river itself is devoid of traffic. The usual Bateaux Mouches taking tourists up and down the river all day and all night are gone. No boats on the Seine.

Tomorrow I think I will go to the Louvre. Maybe I can finally have a moment alone with Mona!

More unhappy tourists begging to get through!

Police vans lining Pont St. Michel

Real time photo. Olympics workers guarding the Pont Neuf.