Europe 2017 – day 22

Today was another big day of walking around the city of lights.
First stop was the Musee d’Orsay, which in a prior life, served as the main railway terminus for Paris. That big clock? That was the clock that gave travellers an idea of when their train was leaving.

Then, it was on to Sacre Coer and the artistic hot spot of Montmartre. Then down the hill to see the Moulin Rouge. We didn’t see a show there, as we had booked tickets at Lido instead.

Mid-afternoon, we made our way back to our Air B’n’B so as to say goodbye to Janine, who needed to get back to Rotterdam. Cath and I had a little rest, before heading out for our dinner and show at Lido. The show was beautifully produced, and to anyone who thinks it might be tacky, I can assure you, it isn’t! I would highly recommend it if you have the opportunity. After Lido, we headed back up to the Arc de Triomphe, which was just a couple of hundred metres up the road, for some night shots.

From there, we headed off to the Trocadero Gardens to get some night shots of the Eiffel Tower. And it was here that the trip suddenly took a turn for the worse. A safety fence was proving to be a bit of an issue for the camera/tripod combination. Scouting around, I noticed a brick wall that people were sitting on. The thought struck me that if I was standing up on top of that wall, with the tripod fully extended, I might just be able to compose a shot without the security fence in the way. I told Cath I was headed that way and she tagged along behind me. I dropped my camera bag at the base of the wall, while I climbed up and began setting up my tripod and camera. With Cath standing right beside my camera bag, I didn’t think much more about it.

Over the next 11 seconds (I’ve checked the metadata from my images), I fired off 3 photos. I looked down to where Cath was standing and asked “Where’d you put my bag?”
She looked at the ground right beside her where my camera bag had been, looked up at me, and said “Haven’t you got it up there?” And in that nanosecond, it hits you that it’s gone, and you’re never gonna see it again.
The mongrels got 2 lenses, all of my memory cards except for the one in my camera, all my filters, my Triggertrap cable, a Black Rapid R-strap, my good flash unit, a Flashwave 3 trigger and receiver set, and a bunch of minor accessories.
All up, about $1700 worth of gear.
Thankfully, when I travel, I backup my images every single night to a laptop or tablet device. So while it was infuriating, I didn’t lose ANY images (I’d thankfully been shooting on just one card all day!).

In order to make an insurance claim, I had to make a report at a police station within 24 hours. The only problem was, we were leaving Paris at first light (it was around 23:40 when the theft occurred). That meant we HAD to find a police station RIGHT. FREAKING. NOW.
We walked to the nearest one, only to find it was closed. A chat with some lads at a nearby restaurant, and we were on our way to the nearest 24 hour cop shop…. 2 train trips away. Oh joy. By the time we had made our report and got out of there, it was 01:30, and 02:00 by the time we got back to our Air B’n’B. Meh. Who needs more than 4 and a half hours sleep anyway?

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