Timing is Everything
March, 2020
The options for us to legally stay long term in Europe were somewhat limited. The easiest option was to obtain French "visitor" visas which were issued for one year at a time and must be applied for in the United States. We obtained our French Long Stay Visas in February, 2019 with expiration dates of March 10, 2020. The rules for these visas were that we had to be out of France by the expiration date and we could not apply for a new visa until the old ones expired. To give ourselves plenty of time for things to go wrong we scheduled our flight back to Atlanta on March 4 and our visa renewal appointment for March 11. As part of the application process, you must surrender your passport to the French Consulate so they may insert the new visa. They then return your passport and new visa by overnight mail. The first time we went through this process, it took about ten working days. In order to allow time for things to go wrong, we scheduled our return trip to Paris for about six weeks later, on April 15, plenty of time for extra paperwork and to complete all of our visiting and appointments in Atlanta.
When we arrived in Atlanta, news of the Covid virus was just beginning to make major headlines. About two days after our visa renewal appointment, the visa service stopped taking new applications of any kind and cancelled all scheduled appointments. About three days after that, I received an email saying our passports were being returned. We were pretty sure that meant we would have to start the whole process again once the visa service re-opened.
Two overnight UPS packages arrived the next morning and Viola! our passports and shiny new French visas were inside. We figured we may have gotten the last two visas issued because all visa service activities were now closed until further notice. Timing is everything! Another few weeks in Atlanta and we could return to France and stay another year.
By the time April 15th rolled around, our return flight was cancelled, Businesses, stores and restaurants were closed and finally our hotel, a 400 plus room Hilton with less than ten rooms occupied, closed its doors as well. With France in total lockdown and not accepting visitors from anywhere, we were homeless once again. We found another hotel and re-discovered why we never order take-out food.
By the beginning of June, most of Europe was considering easing some of the lockdown rules. I found an official notice from the French Diplomatic Corps stating that non-French citizens could now arrive in France provided they swore they had no Covid symptoms and could prove a residence in France. Armed with the required forms plus copies of marina contracts, attestations, invoices, and ownership documents, we were able to re-schedule our return flight to Paris on June 24.
The only documents that anyone asked for in Atlanta or Paris were our visas. We figured it was only because we had all the other documents in triplicate that no one wanted to see them. Home at last! Even covered in dirt and spider webs, Amanda never looked so good. Only a few days later, more headlines and travel restrictions were being put into place with travelers from the United States not being welcomed in most European destinations. Timing is everything once again.
Watch Your Step
July, 2020
On the next Friday, I decided to get ambitious and wash the top of the wheelhouse. I had managed to scrub most of the four months of grime off the forward deck the week before. We have found that it is best to use a short step-ladder placed on the cabin top to climb up on the wheelhouse roof. Once finished with the cleaning, as a precaution, I asked Jim to help me get back down as the forward deck was now also wet and slippery.
He had been working inside and neglected to put on his shoes before coming to help. Before we knew it he had taken a nasty tumble on the main deck. A very loud curse got several people in the marina running our way. One look at the position of his wrist and he knew it had been broken. Quick action by our dock-master and several neighbors and the rescue "pompiers" were on the scene in minutes.
Pompiers are actually firemen (Yes, they have the calendar) but they also are highly respected for their emergency services. In just a few minutes, they had assessed the situation and made a plan to get him safely to the hospital. Here's a few shots of the tricky manuevers to get him off the boat.
The assesment was two broken bones in his left ankle and two broken bones in his left wrist. He had surgery the same day to insert pins and plates. No weight on his ankle or wrist for six weeks. It's beginning to look like our boating plans will be on hold once again.
Now What?
Three hours of surgery and five days in the hospital later, we were faced with what to do about our living arrangements. The surgeon insisted that absolutely no weight could be put on either ankle or wrist for the next six weeks. We originally thought Jim could "hobble" about inside the boat but it did not take long to determine that was not an option. We could even get the pompiers to bring him back to the boat by the same method they took him away, but then what?
The best idea seemed to be renting a wheelchair and moving into a handicapped-equiped hotel room. After having just spent four months in a hotel in Atlanta, it didn't sound that appealing, but options were definitely limited. I managed to find a pretty nice "apart-hotel" just down the street from our marina, so it looks like this is where we will be until sometime in late August.
Looking very dapper in the latest handicap designs.
Hotel Olivarius (The Olive Tree Hotel?) has a four story atrium for a lobby. We expect the hotel has quite an impressive electric bill to keep the huge area at a tolerable temperature. Yes, that is a red cow in the lobby.
Jim Anderson and new friend.
And yes, they do have real olive trees in the lobby.
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