We made it to our hotel. Safe, but it was a crazy journey. We caught a cab from the train station. Apparently the Yellow Vest demonstrators were joined by the Anarchists, the violent ones.We ended up in a wild cab ride, detour after detour. We rounded one corner near an overturned car, by a burned out one! Our driver kept inching closer to the hotel, and finally a block away, he could go no further. He let us out and pointed in the direction of the hotel. We get out, and between us and the hotel are protesters and police in full riot gear. The police stopped us, we showed them where we were going, and they let us by, but not before wishing us luck. There was trash everywhere. On a bench was an injured policeman being tended to by a couple others.
We got all checked in and had a needed glass of wine. During the evening, the protesters and police were in front of the hotel. We could see them at the arch de triomphe. Fires, tear gas, flash bombs were all over the place. When we thought it had died down, at least in front of the hotel, we went back down to get something to eat and see how the staff was holding up. They were amazing by the way. No sooner did we sit down, but we hear a loud bang, and tear gas started flooding under the lobby door and the wind blew the door open. We cried and ran to the elevator. The hotel staff was fantastic, doing everything to make us feel safe, when you know they must have wanted to get out themselves!
By morning when we headed out to our cooking class, other than a few burned out cars, there were few signs it had ever happened. The staff at the hotel had assured us the trash would be picked up by morning. On our street anyway. A later walk revealed there was not one useable ATM within about a mile. There were several burned cars on the streets. Many of the store fronts along the Champs-Elysées were broken out, even the Nike store!
Monday, we decided to take it a little easier. We had an AMAZING French omelette at Josephine’s. James says he will have to up his game when we get home. Then we headed off to the arch de triomphe . You can no longer get up close, at least for now. The gates to go through the underground tunnels are chained up. The graffiti has been removed though. Underground parking in the area, also blocked off.
On my list is a trip to the original Chanel shop, so good sport James and I headed out. After about a mile, we started hearing sirens, seeing roadblocks, etc, but we kept going. Then we started seeing crowds of protesters and finally teargas. Coco will have to wait another day!
James has brought along his fathers beloved beret, so watch for many pictures. His way of bringing Pops along with us!
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| Boarded Nike Store |
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| Destroyed during the protests |
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| At the arch de triumph |
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| Les Champs-Elysees |
Sounds like quite the adventure! I hope your cooking class was amazing!
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