French Hell

Yesterday was not a good day for me. Not at all.
I had to get the French visa for a brief visit at the end of August. Living in the States, I forget I need visas, so M. and I bought our tickets to Paris, and booked two hotels in Paris and Rouen, without a chance for a refund. All this, even before I even submitted for my visa.
I never had a problem with getting a visa before, in Belgrade nor in D.C. So, I figured, it won't be a big deal in N.Y.C. as well.
But, they wanted me to schedule it online. The first available appointment they had was Aug. 6. And I'm taking off on Aug. 12.
Not much room for error. Story of my life.
O.K., so I thought, I have all the documents they request, and the appointment, so it still should be the same day deal.
When I got there, there were 30 people in line already at couple of minutes before 9a.m. They all had the 9 o'clock appointment. Ridiculous!
And when you get inside, there's only four people working. But to get inside, you have to go pass a stocky African-American bodyguard, who looks and behaves like you're going to prison. No kidding. He cuts you with his eyes and has a sharp tone of the voice. No politeness. So when I managed to pass him, with his searing eyes on my appointment confirmation, I found myself int he line at the top of the stairs.
So we all waited and waited. Standing. Even though we had appointments. They had a technical "glitch," they said. They couldn't take fingerprints. For about an hour. Then they started working.
And in front of my eyes a French woman and a man, kept sending people back to get more information, more documents. I was starting to worry. And you pay $55 before they even take a look at your documents. Non-refundable!
So, after two hours of waiting, I finally got to the window. Guess what? He wanted me to call the hotel in Rouen and find out the zip code?!Oh, yes!
So I had to go downstairs, call Travelocity, and get the zip code. And come back up, so they can process my visa.
I was actually lucky. They told me to come back at 3p.m. I assumed, and hoped, it is to get my visa. That was at approximately 11:30a.m.
After a short wait in the afternoon, I got my passport with the visa. One woman is front of me did not.
Have I mentioned that there was no bathroom not even chairs for all the people who were waiting?!
I was completely drained when I got home.