A Visit to the American Consulate (with apologies for the length of this posting)

As we’ve mentioned before, we seem to conduct our real estate business from Lyon.  Well, this time we needed a document notarized.  Since French notaries have a much different function from American  notaries, we needed to find an American notary.  So David, very resourcefully, went out on the web to find one in Lyon.  He searched for the American Consulate and found it, although it calls itself the “American Presence in Lyon” (let’s call it the APL for short).  And, fortunately one can get documents notarized there - for a fee of $50!

Meanwhile, Congress, in its infinite wisdom, had shut down all government offices while they argued about money.  As you are aware, their tantrum finally ended, and the offices opened again.  So Anna called the office of the APL , and reached a very pleasant French woman who speaks flawless English.  (Why is it that French-accented English always sounds sexy but American-accented French does not?) Anyway, the lady on the phone said she would squeeze us in at 1:30 that day since the notary person would be gone all next week.  Super! 

Now all Anna had to do was get word to David, who was out on a local bike ride with Roger and some others.  After a couple of phone calls and a text message, and with Dominique’s help, David got the message and called Anna to let her know he would meet her at the APL for the 1:30 appointment.  Whew!

Now just getting into the building housing the APL is no easy matter.  Its office and several legal and financial business offices are in a very secure building.  In fact the only way to get into the building is to get buzzed in or know the numeric code that unlocks the door, and there is no intercom or other way to call any of the offices from the exterior door.  Anna was considering calling the office of the

The wooden door from the street is open in this

 picture, but  sure wasn't when we were there!

APL with her cell phone, when a nice group of people punched in the magic code and were entering the building.  She smiled, tried to look her non-threatening best, and joined them.  Then she came to another locked door; this one at least had a sort of digital roll-a-dex so one could call an office to get buzzed in.  Her call was answered by a man speaking English with a heavy north-African-French accent.  She had no idea what he said, but he did buzz her in the second door.  Then she took the elevator to the third floor office of the APL, and came to yet another very secure door with a buzzer and intercom.  A Security Guard opened the door a crack, looked at her, and asked for her passport, then closed the door and disappeared.  He soon came back and let her in to the security screening area.  After thoroughly checking her purse and putting some items in a zip-lock bag, he told her she could come into the office. 

But, where was David and how was he going to get in?  Anna explained she needed to go back to the street door to get her husband, who was likely waiting outside.  She was allowed to do so after leaving all her stuff, including both her and David’s passports, with the guard.  Thankfully, it is MUCH easier to get out of the building than it is to get into it.  Sure enough David and Roger were waiting on the sidewalk outside, and Roger was just about to call Anna on her cell (which was then residing in the zip-lock bag upstairs), when she opened the street door.  She held the door open for David, they were buzzed through the two remaining security doors and arrived at the Security Guard’s desk where David emptied all his pockets, took off his watch, etc., and both went through a scanner (which both set off). 

The guard decided we were not a security threat and ushered us around a corner where we were greeted by a life-sized, stand up figure of Barack Obama.  The guard disappeared with our passports once again, and the very pleasant French woman who had spoken with Anna on the phone appeared, welcomed us, took us into a room with a table and chairs, and asked us to wait.  We were just discussing how secure we felt when the US Consul himself entered the room and joined us at the table.  After getting some background information (who are we, where do we live in the US, why are we in Lyon, what is the document we need notarized, etc.) and a little more conversation (he is from California, too, Marin County to be exact, went to Chico State, and worked for a while in The City – that’s San Francisco for any readers who are not from California), we went through the notary process and were good to go.

The object of our quest.

So, clutching our notarized document, we went back to Security Desk, collected all our stuff and exited the building.  Mission accomplished!