Travel Advice -   A minor brush with terrorism                                        

Several years ago, during an extended vacation in Paris, we had planned to visit the Musée d’Orsay, a short ride on the Metro from our hotel on the Right Bank. Practicing our recommendation to avoid traveling in rush hour, we slept in and, then, had breakfast while the Parisians headed for work.

When we returned to our room to prepare for our days sightseeing, we noticed that the television news show was displaying a “flash” news announcement that there had been a bombing at the Gare d ’Orsay station, which is collocated with the Metro stop for Musée d’Orsay. Although the damage that day was not great, bombings earlier the same year at other stations caused 8 deaths and over 200 injuries.

We felt that it was judicious to avoid the museum and found another attraction to fill our day. We did not consider abandoning Paris for another location, or cutting our vacation short. We would continue to enjoy Paris and see the Musée d’Orsay on our next trip (which was a few years later).

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