It has been a long time since I have been in the city. Last year, Cincinnati, but I always felt safe there, Cincinnati has a small town mentality. I never let my guard down, but I didn't feel threatened when I chose to walk from the ball field back to my hotel.
In Paris, we were part of a large group. Paris is a beautiful city, but huge, unfamiliar, and dangerous if you aren't careful. The Metro is the underground subway system. It is busy all the time and we were riding it at night, just hours after our long flight without sleep. It was chaos, dodging crowds of people, the stairs had human excrement on them, it was noisy, and all the signs were in French. Thankfully, we had an excellent guide that had the good sense to tell us how to act in the metro system. His name is Jake, and he briefed us before we left. He was adamant - do not make eye contact with anyone, if you do they will approach you. I have many things to thank Jake for during and after that trip.
However, regardless of how nice everyone I encountered in Detroit was, I didn't let down my guard. Detroit isn't Cincinnati and has a long history of violence and crime. When Anne and I walked all over and down the river walk after dark, it was still early and because the weather was so mild, there were many people out enjoying it as much as we were. It was not a scary atmosphere.
The first day of the conference, I decided to walk back to the hotel. We had walked there and back the night before so I was confident, it was a short walk, and a straight shot to the hotel. And it was a pleasant walk, except for the 10 lb laptop I was carrying that made my arms feel like gorilla arms by the time I got back to the hotel. :)
Finding my way around the hotel was much more difficult. I stayed in the RenCen. To get to the second floor, you had to ride an elevator to the 3rd or first floor, walk all the way around one of the rings, find the escalator, and take it to the 2nd floor, then walk around the ring again and find the tube that will get you across the street to the other hotel. Then find that escalator and take it to the first floor to an atrium that eventually led to the other hotel lobby. I went over there frequently to meet people for dinner.
Just when I think I am getting the hang of it, I would realize I skipped a step or went the wrong way on the circles. As long as I wasn't in a hurry or in a lot of pain, I didn't mind. Once, I passed the GM Legal Offices. The doors and front of it were all glass. There were light on inside, but nothing else. It was completely bare. It hit my tired brain as hilariously ironic and couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
The second day of the conference, Thursday, was a long one. I was not feeling good, I was sore from all the walking and I think I was flaring too. Part of it might have been the rich and heavy spinach cheese pie I had at Greektown. Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not my usual fare. Oh, I had a bite of a lamb chop, just to try it, and I loved it. Better than steak! Anyway, by the end of the day, I fell onto my bed, hungry, exhausted, and sore. I managed to sit up long enough to call Anne, who felt pretty much the same as I did, and arrange to meet her in her lobby to have an early dinner in the lobby's restaurant.
I did my usual obstacle course to get over there and found her sinking into one of the lobby's comfy chairs. Because we were so tired, we had a subdued dinner, compared to the other evenings, and said goodnight around 5:30pm. Then I started my obstacle course back to my room.Uploaded on July 29, 2008 by Etienne FajardoUploaded on July 29, 2008 by Etienne Fajardo
I hadn't made it very far before I almost ran right into him, but I was tired and preoccupied with the course I needed to take to get back to my warm comfy bed (see the silly post from a tired blogger). The warning flags took too long to register in my strained brain and my legs kept propelling me forward. I distantly heard him saying "Ma'am, ma'am" and saw him shuffling toward me. It was as if it was slow motion as my eyes changed focus from a figure coming at me, to his bloodshot eyes, and registered that he had raised his arm and pointed his finger at me. As I finally focused on his hand, I realized he did not have a finger, just a stub that he was now shaking at me. His odor hit me next and I was already reacting. I broke off eye contact and hurried by him to the escalator, as I rose upwards, I could see him still pointing at me and calling "ma'am" in his raspy voice. He was really more creepy than scary, but my knees were just a little shaky on the escalator and I continued to look behind me until I reached the tube.
Thanks, Jake.
No comments:
Post a Comment