The Arrival: Trials and Errors

So, I've prepared and here we go. We just landed at CDG.

We only brought carry-on, so we exit and get through Customs and Immigration with ease. We enter the lobby of the airport. I give the Currency Exchange the finger, LOL, then I use the ATM next to the Currency Exchange to withdraw some starter money. We head towards the RER. We get tickets from the machine and get to the train with no problem. My planning and research has paid off so far. Other than the hordes of people we had to navigate through to get to the RER, I have had no irritations yet (that'll change soon).

The plan was to take the RER to St. Michel then take the metro to the Invalides station and we would come out right at the apartment. That was the plan.

The RER stops at St. Michel station, there are signs saying that the metro is under repair from St. Michel to Invalides...of course it is. So we exit the metro (kept our tickets so we can get out, don't forget). Sortie, sortie, sortie. We're on the streets of Paris. I'm at home.Wow, the feeling came back, ok. They have footprints posted on the ground to show you where to go to catch a bus service they have set up to carry people from St. Michel to Invalides while repairs are going on. We follow the footprints, it's a change of plans, but it's all good. We find the bus and it lets out not the Invalides metro entrance/exit but at the one closer to the Seine, by the consulates. Now I'm disoriented. I pull out the iPad and use the interactive Paris map I downloaded (huh, preparation), plug in the apartment address and it leads us right to the apartment.

*** SIDEBAR: The week before we were to leave I received an email from the landlord with the apartment address as well as instructions for meeting her to get the key. Odd thing occurred, she gave me the address, said she wouldn't be able to meet us there but that we can pick up the key in specific mailbox in the building at noon. Then she said that if anyone in the building asks who we are, just say we are her friends. This struck me as odd and shady but a week before we leave I didn't have many options available within my budget so I proceeded. ***

We get to the apartment, so efficiently that it is not yet noon (flight landed at 11a), so we have to wait outside the building. Out of curiosity we checked the mailbox and the key was not yet there, so we know she hasn't been there yet. We sit on a bench outside the building (beautiful) and watch people entering and exiting the building. Surely if she comes and sees us sitting there she will introduce herself...surely. Then a light rain starts. Through my research I knew to be prepared for that so we had brought umbrellas just in case. The weather is fine, the rain is not heavy, we're a little annoyed but we're good. BTW: the apartment was RIGHT next to Les Invalides.

Noon comes and we had seen several people come and go from the building but none acknowledged our presence, but we decided to check the mailbox again.....the key was there.

So, this person had seen us sitting there in the rain and didn't bother to introduce herself or let us know the apartment was ready. This is the start of a shitty relationship.