Woman was in Paris during attack

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

The neighborhoods of Paris seemed almost normal the day after the terrorist attacks of Nov. 13. People were going to grocery stores and laundries; or reading the paper and drinking coffee in the cafes.

“It was very subdued,” said Rene Adams, of Ormond Beach, who was visiting the city with friends.

Her hotel was five miles away from the cafes and the concert hall where the violence took place, and the scene was quite different at those locations. People were told to stay in place and police were investigating the scenes.

Adams had arrived on the morning of the 13th, and didn’t know anything about the attacks until she started getting text messages from friends in American in the middle of the night.

She opened her window and heard the sirens, and then heard them the rest of the night, while watching the news with her friends.

They debated whether they should leave right away, but decided that traveling would probably ease up in a couple of days. So they left on Monday, as they originally planned, and did not have any delays.

The morning after the attacks, they had a quiet breakfast, and tentatively walked the street, seeing the life of Paris return.

Occasionally, a group of armed vehicles or police on motorcycles would pass by.

She made phone calls and used Facebook to show friends and family that all was OK,

She and her friends walked to the Eiffel Tower, which was closed, with mounted French police on guard. All of the museums were also closed.

There was one scary moment, when a department store was evacuated and the metal gate slammed down.

She said she had to put out of her mind how far she was from home.

“That was the hardest thing,” she said.

She attended an uplifting service at the American Cathedral, which was well-attended.

“Sunday was a beautiful day,” she said. The parks were full of people. People were walking along the Seine.”

She could see a resilience, which reminded her of Americans after the 9/1/1 attacks. She had visited the site of the World Trade Center two months after the event.

“I realized it is something real that we need to be afraid of,” she said. “But not so afraid that we stop living out lives.”