Dispatch: An American in Paris
Travel Weekly contributor Jenny Hart was in Paris after the city was attacked. Her report follows.
I had just boarded my flight to Paris when the messages started coming through. “Where are you? What’s happening? ARE YOU OKAY?”
It was Friday, Nov. 13, and the terrorist attacks that would take 129 lives were underway in France’s capital city.
Nothing was mentioned during the 7-hour flight. I wondered what the airline staff knew.
I scanned the heartbreaking headlines as we disembarked and prepared myself for absolute chaos at Charles de Gaulle Airport. What I encountered was almost more disconcerting: complete silence. The customs officer wordlessly took my passport, stamped it, and shoved it back at me. I was on an equally quiet street just moments later, the loudest noise the buzz being my cell phone and its incoming flow of concerned messages.
When I arrived at my accommodations — the Idol Hotel, a lovely music-themed boutique property in the 8th arrondissement — I was greeted with an apologetic smile: “Welcome to Paris. I’m sorry this is the day you have to come.”
Similarly, later that day when a cafe barista realized I was American, he shook his head and said earnestly in English, “I hope you are still able to enjoy my city while you are here.”
I felt terrible guilt being apologized to, as if the experience of a tainted vacation could ever be worse than having one’s home attacked. But I suppose to truly excel in hospitality, the patron has to be put first. And the service I received that day, at the hotel and the various venues I visited, was nothing short of exceptional. I was humbled by how serious the French took those responsibilities during such a perilous time.
The streets were nearly empty the entire day. Even in heavily populated areas, crowds were sparse. Paris, normally so beautiful and bustling, felt unshakably eerie. The Eiffel Tower mourned with its city, looking like a sullen, hulking mass in its blacked-out state. During my 30-minute walk home from dinner, I must have passed more than two dozen heavily armed police officers patrolling the streets. But I didn’t pass anyone else.
شاركها!:
محمد ماهر
اسمي محمد ماهر من سورية مواليد 1990 أحب التدوين بشكل دائم لانه يجعلني مسرور عندما اشارك معكم أشياء مفيدة تهمني وتهمكم
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