Since we had not really walked enough for the day, at only 3 to 4 miles, we walked to the beach. According to the front desk of the hotel, the beach was easily accessible from a diagonally stretching road from the center of town, which was just a few blocks down the road from where we were staying. So, we began our trip to see the beach. Besides, since Sarah loves the beach and we did not go into the water at Omaha Beach, she desperately wanted to get her feet wet or at least see the water. When we arrived at the beach, there was plenty of room to park, including an underground garage. That seemed really odd to me to find an underground garage on the beach, but it was there. We walked the boardwalk a short distance, then Sarah left me and headed for the beach. On the beach, there were these objects on poles, umbrellas, and even what appeared to be changing rooms. The large objects on poles were at the beach as markers because the beach was so long between the boardwalk and the water.
Upon Sarah's return, we headed for dinner. Along the way towards the beach we saw all sorts of places to eat in cafes. We settled on an Italian place for dinner. Sarah decided she wanted no appetizer, or Entree as indicated on a menu in France, and only wanted filet of sole "meunere". I ordered some grilled vegetables with pesto and Gorgonzola, a light salad of greens, and Bar, or bass sauteed. When my appetizer arrived, it was delicious. I was able to roll up the grilled veggies of zucchini, eggplant, and roasted red pepper around some Gorgonzola and eat. I gave Sarah a bite, and then she ordered one for herself. The salad was a salad, but the actual meal was fantastic for me and yucky for Sarah. The menuiere is actually a marinade of butter. This tends to make the fish very mushy in this case because it was not properly prepared. It was supposed to be sauteed in butter with a flour coating and served with capers, but there were no capers. Had they served it with capers, I suspect Sarah would have eaten it. When the waiter came back to collect our plates, he noticed that Sarah had not eaten hers. He evidently talked to the manager, and that's when we met "Jon Jon". Jon, the manager, asked in clear English why Sarah did not eat her meal. We were stunned. Sarah explained that the texture was the issue.
We spoke to Jon for a few minutes and found out that he was there from the US for the last 9 years, and was originally born in France but raised in Arizona. That explained the clear English. Jon asked if we wanted dessert, and at first Sarah said no, and then decided on the chocolate mousse. I had an apple tart to which Jon simply said the apple pie. Both were fantastic, and when the waiter came to collect the dessert dishes, he noticed that Sarah's was practically licked clean. He held up the glass and called to Jon, "I guess she didn't like this either!" Of course the variety of patrons around us were laughing. I paid the check, and on our exit, the waiter, a nice looking Italian guy, hugged Sarah, with a peck on each cheek. As we began our stroll away, Sarah blew him a kiss, to which he catches it and holds his hand to his face. The patrons were all in awe of Sarah's clear sign of thanks and affection. It was an amazing meal, and an even better visit.
Since the Hotel has a small refrigerator with things to eat and drink at high prices, we decided to go to a small store, called Casino, to get things to drink and eat. But at 10:15pm, they were closed. So we continued our walk back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, we noticed what appeared to be steam coming off the side of the hotel. The hotel was not air conditioned, so I couldn't understand where there would be steam. Then it donned on me, the hotel was on fire. But if the hotel was on fire, where's the firemen, the smoke alarms, the crowds of people. None of these were present. So, we decided to stay outside. Our initial sighting was at 10:20pm.
As we watched our hotel continue to billow smoke, a crowd began to form. But the hotel was still filled with patrons. Someone from the crowd went into the hotel to tell the front desk the hotel was on fire, and the clerk initially dismissed it as a prank; there was no fire because the smoke alarms were not ringing. Then at about 10:30p the smoke alarms started squealing. I figured this would create some serious action, but all it seemed to do was annoy the patrons and the clerk. So the front desk clerk finally comes out and notices this now thick smoke coming from the side of the hotel. The hotel is not a single building. In fact, it is a segment of a larger building that looks like a mountain chalet. The clerk runs into the hotel and from what we learned later, calls the police and then calls all the rooms. He calls the police. I didn't know that police is what you call in the event of a fire. Also, during this mode, I notice there is an older lady on a balcony just around the corner from the smoking building on the patio of her room reading some sort of book. I called to her and told her the building was on fire. She looks at me as if I'm some nut case trying to get some attention. I looked at her and told her again and told her to look right next to her. She dons her robe, turns around, and notices the smoke. She again looks at me rather confused; I thought she was going to look for some marshmallows to toast. She goes inside and a few minutes later comes down with her husband.
Then in a distance, at about 10:35p we can hear the "wee-woos", a term affectionately given to the sound that emergency vehicles use by my daughter. The police are on their way. The arrive onto the street and begin a slow trek towards the hotel as if they are looking for the smoke, but cannot see it because of their vantage point. They stop outside of the hotel, and walk into the hotel slowly. About 3 minutes later they come out covered in dark soot and coughing up a storm. I guess they found the fire. They made some calls to the firehouse, and by 10:40p, 20 minutes after we arrived to the smoking hotel, the firemen arrive. Hurray, someone to verify there is a fire! But the fun doesn't stop here. A fire engine, ladder truck, and what appears to be some tactical truck arrive. The firemen get out, look at each other and begin to discuss, as if a committee is needed to determine what to do, what to do first. The first thing they agree is that they need water. So they send out three firemen to find a hydrant. They locate one right next to the ladder truck. While this is happening, 4 more firemen are wondering what to do next; go into the building and evacuate the people or get a ladder and get to the fire.
At that point the Calvary arrive. Four more fire engines and two more tactical trucks show up to the scene. Firemen are trying to figure out how to extend the portable ladders, while someone is on the ladder truck lifting the large ladder to see if it still works. They swing the ladder around in different directions, left then right, then up and down, and begin to get a feel for how it handles. Mean while, the smoke continues to thicken. Eventually, they get a ladder onto the second floor and a fireman climbs up the ladder onto the landing. He asks for an axe and another fireman gets up there with a deflated hose. Still another two firefighters head into the hotel to look for the hotel hose, though I'm still not sure why. They come out with the hose and attach it to another hydrant. It was pandemonium with all these firefighters running round like chickens with there heads cut off; or as I had once heard, a bunch of squirrels.
Then, what appears to be a leading firefighter yells at all of us to go across the street, downwind of the fire and smoke, so that the hotel can take a role call to see who was outside. The last thing they wanted to do was send someone inside if they didn't have to. It's bad enough I don't know French. But when you have someone screaming in French at you, it makes it that much more interesting to figure out what they are trying to tell you. So, Sarah and I simply followed the crowd. We get to where everyone was standing, now dealing with smoke inhalation, and the manager begins to call out names. We realize they are taking the roll call of who is there. We are in room 302, and they begin at 101; this is going to take some time. After 15 minutes they make it to me, and call out for Alter, Steinzen. He couldn't read the paperwork through all the smoke. I told him my name was Stephen Alter, and he said good. So we stood outside, with smoke wafting over us, watching these looney firemen try to put out the fire. As they progress, we begin to see smoke coming out of other windows in the hotel - the hotel is now filled with smoke.
Eventually, the firefighters make it up to the third floor and have to crash in a sliding glass door to get to a part of the fire. That crash was heard throughout the building complex, which had a set of apartments attached. While the firefighters are battling the blaze and smoke, a lady in a gown in the apartment adjacent to the hotel room where the door was smashed, shows up on her balcony. We call to her and especially the firefighters to warn these people. The firefighter looks down at us and sees us pointing. He looks towards where this lady is standing, and looks back at us. Then he points and we all say OUI! He looks over and this lady sees the firefighter and about poops her panties on the spot. She's shocked there's a fire, and we begin to laugh at the idiots talking to one another about what to do. The extend the ladder from the ladder truck to get her down, be she's planning on staying!
By about 11:15pm the fire is out and the fire chief asks us to come back to the hotel front door for another roll call. This seemed really stupid. After the roll call, we are told again in French in a rather hastily way to go to a nearby hotel and wait. During this trek I come across the lady I called to. The husband wanted to thank me for warning his wife about the fire and for getting them out when I did. I told them that I was confused as to why they stayed after the alarms went off. He said they were rather faint and sounded like a car alarm. So they didn't think much of it. We joined this couple and another couple from Belgium at the Hotel Ibis. The Mercure had the Ibis offer us drinks of water, cafe, tea, milk, and for the Germans, beer; typical Germans. By the way, the Aryan race is thriving in Germany.
One of the more interesting things about this entire fiasco is that the French citizens clearly understood what was being said. But all the foreigners, including the couple we met which were from Denmark, Belgium, and Germany all conversed in English. English is a defacto standard language. While at the Ibis, the firemen tell us we have to wait to return back to the hotel, until they can evacuate the smoke from the hotel. Yep, they expected us to go back to this place and sleep. With the confidence the fire department instilled on us from their performance to put out the fire, not too many wanted to go back. But the hotel Mercure was not going to refund anything. So I was stuck. I could have slept in the car, but that was not too comfortable for sleeping. So we waited until 1:45am and then were able to return to the hotel.
The hotel was a bit smoky, gee I wonder why, but seemed safe enough. That was the conclusion of our day. A very long, humbling, and somewhat odd way to end the day, day.
No comments:
Post a Comment