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Gerry needs some string, or so it would seem by what he has lost. First he lost a fine Minolta SLR worth about $150, then he lost his glasses, worth about $80, and finally he lost his weekly commuter pass, worth about $14. Maybe by tieing his stuff to him with a piece of string he will not lose anything else.

That extreme measure is probably not necessary since the value of what he has lost seems to have been continually going down by half so it won't matter so very much if he continued to lose things. And his rate of losing things has gone down — he hasn't lost anything in about three weeks. Of course he did recently almost get off a bus without his wallet, but a kind lady asked him if he would like to take it with him.

What's the cause of these losses? After reading the whole story maybe you could offer us your theory. We don't think it is just because Gerry is getting old. Although there is evidence of that: he is now sometimes offered subway seats by younger people! And it is not infrequent for him to be called "Father Christmas" by startled (drunk?) passers-by. And one day, Jan heard another driver shout, "Make up your mind Grandfather".) We don't think that he has mad cow desease (although we haven't had his brain scanned). And we don't think it is because he was giving subtle hints of what he wants for his birthday.

As noted, the camera went first. One day we were getting ready to go out and Gerry checked his backpack for the Minolta. Not there. And not anywhere in our flat. It was clearly lost. Only after several days could he figure out where he last had it. That was on June 30 when we visited the Père Lachaise Cemetery. We had found a quiet place to sit and read about it. While there Gerry took a picture, and thinking he might take more, left the camera out. When we left our quiet spot the Minolta must have stayed behind.

Having realized this, we immediately changed our plans for the day and made a return trip to the cemetery. At the main gate we told of our loss and asked if there was a lost and found. Not hardly. And anyway, this was France — nobody was going to turn in a nice camera; we shouldn't waste our efforts. We kind of agreed. We were trying as much to learn the system as to get the camera back. While it was nice, it was more a sentimental loss than a financial one: Gerry bought it during our first trip to Tokyo in 1978. The silver lining to its loss was that we didn't have to wonder anymore what to do with four cameras on this trip. We were now down to three, one of them also being a Minolta SLR, and even a newer model. Anyway, we were told that if we wanted to try to get it back we should go to the district City Hall, la Mairie de la 20ème Arrondisement. That was where lost items were taken. So we put that on our list of things to do, noting there was no rush.

The glasses went second, just over a week later. We were taking a subway train home, line 8 to Creteil, and got off to change to our line, 11 to Mairie de Lilas. As soon as we were off Gerry knew that his glasses were still on the train. (He doesn't always wear them while sitting.) If we were birds we would have flown down the tunnel to the departing train and searched it. But we can't fly and stood there perplexed as to what to do. After what seemed a long time, but must have been less than a minute we noticed a phone on the platform; in essence it said, "Use me for emergencies". So we pressed the button and waited for an answer. And waited. And waited.

Before the phone was answered the following line 8 train came into the station. We jumped on with the intention of moving forward and asking the train driver if he could help. We couldn't move forward so at the next stop we raced along the platform and knocked at the window of the driver. He was very helpful and considerate — he said for us to get back on the train and that he would radio forward to the train where the glasses were lost. At the next stop he came from his cab and told us that the train ahead had been searched and no glasses were found. So we gave up and went home. Now we had two good reasons to go to the Lost and Found.

When we first came to Paris we made mostly one-way subway rides: we would walk to town and ride home or do it vice versa. But as we went further and further we were riding both ways and using up more and more ten-ticket carnets. So we bought a weekly pass — and liked it so much that we decided to buy another. Monday, the first day of the week that it was good, was Jan's birthday. We used it several times, including to make our first trip on bus 26, our local line, toward the south east. We went to the end of the line, Cour de Vincennes, just to see what is there. We had a drink and then started to walk around, when we found Gerry's pass was gone. All the looking in all the pockets all the times he did was to no avail: it was gone. The next day we went to buy a replacement pass and asked if there was a lost and found for passes. Nope.

We now had three items that might be in lost and found at the district city hall. Nonetheless we did not go there immediately. A week or so went by and we found one day that our appetite for museums was not so high. So we took bus 26 again south east; now to Place Gambetta where la Mairie de la 20eme Arrondisment is located. We'd toured la Mairie de la 18th Arrondisment the day of our visit to the Pyramide quiz show because we walked by; we had found it a very lovely building. That had wetted our appetite to see all of them, all built in the middle to late 19th century like some civic palace.

Getting help in France is a chancey thing: it depends on where you are and who's on duty. Sometimes the people are extremely helpful. Others times, such as at the Mairie of the 20th, are more problematic. We, or more precisely, Jan, with her near perfect accent, had to ask three times, from three different people where the lost and found was. The first two seemed to think she was some crazy person to want to know. The third was that helpful person that is usually encountered. She told us that Paris has a central lost and found, called "Objets Trouvés" (Found objects: French people think positively) and looked up the hours and address for us. Go any weekday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Lunch at Jacquemart-André Museum

We'd been at the Jaquemart-André museum when we decided to go to Objets Trouvés. We'd seen all we wanted to of this jewel and had a very nice lunch on its terrace, and it was only 3:00 p.m. During lunch we started to search the map for the address given for Objets Trouvés when the waitress offered help. She obviously wanted to talk to us and practice English. We soon found the street on the map. And that "Objets Trouvés" is important enough to be marked on the map.

Since it was but 3:00 p.m and we had five hours to go before closing we set off rather leisurely. We took a bus and got off at the wrong stop and decided to walk the kilometer or so that remained. On the way we stopped to buy a fruit snack at one shop and then at another bought a phone card. That shop owner was from Iran (he came to France just after the Iranian revolution) and we talked Iranian politics with him for a while.

Objets Trouvés Ticket

From there it was another five-minute walk to the Objets Trouvés office. As we approached we could see the French flag on the building and were sure we were in the right place. Getting a little closer we saw a stream of people starting to leave the building. A glance at our watch showed it was 5:01, obviously quitting time. But what of our information that it was open until 8:00 p.m.? The sign on the door said it was open indeed until 8:00 p.m., except July and August. After all, with most of Paris on vacation then, who would be about to find anything? Why keep the office open so late?

There was nothing to be done but come back, which we did the next day. We determined it would be bright and early, which for us turned out, as usual, to be just after noon. This time we took the faster metro, rather than the slower, but above-ground bus. As we approached we realized that this time they would be closed for lunch from noon to 2:00 p.m. Lots and lots of French establishments still do that. Happily, Objets Trouvés was open continuously.

Objets Trouvés Office

The guard quickly checked our backpacks for security purposes and then sent us up two flights. There we found a large room with service windows around three sides. The open area had a large table that could seat about 10 and another few chairs scattered about. In the center was an information desk. From it we got two forms to fill out, one for the camera and the other for the glasses. The helpful lady told us to take a numbered ticket, such as is found in some bakeries, but only one ticket: both of our searches would be done at the same time.

We sat at the table and each filled a form. Our number seemed to be the sixth or seventh next in line. There was only one person serving people and he was spending considerable time with his current client. So we opened our books and read. While waiting two young ladies came in and soon were getting some help from Jan. They were from Brazil, spoke fractured English, and no French. Jan helped them complete the form describing a "lost purse". Later they admitted it was stolen.

At about 1:00 p.m. a lady opened a second service window. She had obviously just come back from lunch. Just because your office doesn't close for lunch doesn't seem to mean in France that the workers can't go to lunch. That would be illogical.

Gerry at Objets Trouvés Window

Soon thereafter Gerry's number came up and he was directed to her window. She read his forms and then started two computer searches. It seems that everything that comes in is cataloged. The cataloging is not perfect, because she tried very many different searches. We had naively thought that "Minolta camera" would be unique enough and had only put that on the form. In talking to her we added the color, the model, and the fact that Gerry's name was on it. The last piece of information caused the search to recommence, using some new method and a different database.

She was very pleasant and helpful. All-in-all she spent about 45-50 minutes on the search but came up with nothing. If she had, we learned by asking a question, we would have paid 30F for the service for each item found. The amount paid depends on the value of the item found; under 1000 F it is 30 F and beyond 1000 F it is 3%.

By the time we left it was 2:00 pm. and we were ravenous for lunch. We went kitty corner and bought take out sandwiches from the bar there. We carried them up the street to the Parc George Brassens, named for the now dead famous French folk singer. Our first date together in Paris was to see him at the Bobino in 1973. The parc occupies the grounds of a slaughter house, closed in the 1980s. We got a picture of Jan taking an imaginary voyage to somewhere.

Parc George Brassens