This is a very perplexing time for me.
The plans - for which we have reservations, tickets, all of that -- are that we go to Paris at the end of June, spending three weeks visiting people whom I know in several cities, and coming home after a quick visit to the family who sent us their daughter, years ago.
Now I read about -
- strikes, affecting various portions of the country and/or its infrastructure, including the availability of fuel, inter-city train service, and possibly air travel.
- ferocious weather, such that the Seine is actually flowing over its embankments
- the possibility of terrorist attacks during the Euro soccer tournaments in June, and the Tour de France in July.
The US State Department has issued a warning for Americans to be very careful in crowded areas, and to be aware of the possibility of danger at or near the locations of sporting events.
We're supposed to be in Paris for five days, then either staying with friends or at a hotel in a quiet section of the country. I don't feel any particular danger. Yet the confluence of all of these has preyed on my mind, and made me uneasy. I don't want to find that inter-city rail has suspended service from one location to another (but you can take a bus, probably), or that our rental car needs gas (which you can probably find -- you can speak French, right?), or that the air traffic controllers are on strike. Or the pilots -- they've been talking about that, too.
Maybe this isn't a good time to go?
1 comment:
There is no bad time to visit Paris. I lived in Paris in the late 80s, during the Reagan era, after we bombed Libya and tensions and fear of terrorist attacks were very high. There were armed guards EVERYWHERE. You had to be searched before you could enter the American Express building. Americans were advised not to speak English in public places. And it was still a terrific place to be. If I could afford to visit Paris right now, I'd go in a heartbeat.
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