The Story

A few of you have asked about the back story behind the stolen Paris umbrella mentioned in my last post. The story is this…

While we were in Paris a few weeks ago we encountered some drizzle. So during our stay we borrowed umbrellas from our hotel. {thank you, hotel}. On the day we were to fly out it poured. We’re talking Portland plus Seattle type of rain. However, we only needed to walk about 150 yards from our hotel to the Metro. Once on the Metro we’d never have to surface again, thus avoiding any further rain.

The live in had been eyeing the umbrella already. It’s nothing special though, just your standard black umbrella with a wooden hook like handle. I used it as a cane some days when I was feeling extra tired. Really the cane should have been about four or five inches longer though so I just came across as a homeless women with an unfortunate hunchback.

Regardless of the short 150 yard walk, and the armfuls of luggage we were already carrying, of course the live in swiped the thing. Never mind the hassle it was to carry it in the wind and rain while trying to maneuver our luggage over cobblestone streets. Remember our close call at the Paris airport? Well I left out the part about us being even further delayed while the live in was forced to check the umbrella in a large plastic bag normally reserved for checking car seats. This was necessary because apparently the French put umbrellas into the potential weapons category.

And, so do the Americans we found out. We waited extra long in Chicago for this jewel of an umbrella to come out of the “high risk” conveyor belt as we prepared to go through customs and re-check our bags. At one point the live in got so tired of waiting {and fearful we’d miss our connection) for the umbrella to come through he said we were going to leave it. If you’ve traveled internationally before you know this.is.not.possible. You can’t just ditch half the luggage you started with mid-way through your day. You must claim all baggage before being allowed on to your connecting flight. Otherwise you are seen as a bit of a security threat.

Finally amongst the pets, and guns, and other concealed cargo, our prized umbrella came through.

And that is the story of the stolen umbrella from Paris.