I was down to my last €50 note, so I *HAD* to get to the money place today to exchange traveler’s checks. A hop on the metro, one transfer, and I was there in less than 20 minutes. Less than 20 minutes after that, I had traded $1000 for €713. With no exchange fee, unlike the last two times. Remember, people, check with AmEx about places that don’t charge fees!!
I walked out of the Change place, and as Michelle and I were going down the steps, this woman stopped in front of us, bent down and came up with a ring. She held it out with a “Is this yours?” look on her face and we said no, to which she replied in broken English, “Then this is my lucky day! And it’s my birthday!” We wished her a happy birthday and were about to move on when she tried on the ring, saw it didn’t fit, and offered it to me with the “Here, you can give it to her.”
I was just going to take it into the Change place and say that someone lost it out front, because it still hadn’t hit me that I was being scammed. But before I could turn around she said, “Buy me a coffee for my birthday?” That was fair enough, I guess, so I dropped €2 in her hand and went to move on. “And a sandwich?” I didn’t have all that much change, and I wasn’t about to pull out the wad of €50 notes I just got, so as I was picking through what was left in my hand, she just started indicating she wanted it all. That’s when I got a clue, closed my hand, pocketed the ring, and walked away.
Yes, I had forgotten my brain. But that wasn’t all.
The Change place was right near the Opera. And the Opera building is BEAUTIFUL. So I went to take a photo of it and my camera blinked at me “NO CF CARD.” I’d forgotten to pull the card out of the reader attached to this very computer. And since I only brought the camera, and not the full gear backpack, I had a Canon shaped albatross around my neck for the afternoon.
Instead of metroing back to le Marais, we decided to wander back in that direction and explore the neighborhood. That’s when I realized I’d also forgotten my pedometer. So none of the walk we made got counted on my “Walking a bajillion miles in France” chart. 🙂
But during the walk we found café thrice, once solo, once with lunch, and once with cheesecake.
Made it back to the apartment just in time to start work, and hammered out a bunch of workey goodness.
I did take a few photos with my iPhone… and here they are:
