OK, I admit: they can be SUCH A NUISANCE!
It's a sad fact that they are in every big city. Does that mean that you're going to stop travelling? Of course not!
The drawback of being one of the most visited cities in the world is that
millions of tourists attract hundreds of "scavengers" who feed on them.
There are therefore certain areas and certain metro lines to avoid, particularly at certain times.
Just ask your local guide!
And they sometimes give museums a good reason for being on strike! (click here to find out why).
OK, I would be a liar if I told you that it is 100% safe to come to Paris. The whole world still has in mind the shootings which happened in November 2015 inside the Bataclan concert hall. Sadly, our politicians (and most of my compatriots) didn't give enough attention to what had happened in January of the same year with what most of you refered to as the « Charlie Hebdo shooting ». Foreign and local observers were simply not concerned enough after the Charlie attack because at the time most people thought that:
1) as it was a specifically targeted assassination, they were not concerned.
2) those journalists had it coming and should have known better (so the fools thought and sadly some still do).
But after November 13th, 2015 it suddenly became obvious that what had happened at Charlie could happen anywhere and to just anyone, and that was suddenly more than anyone could bear… (If you have time to lose in order to be serious for a few minutes, and if you want to know how I personally felt after the November 2015 attacks, you can read this).
Now, we all know that a terrorist attack is bound to happen again in Paris one day, whether this year or the next, or in 10 years… the same way we know that it will happen again in Brussels, Berlin, Boston, London or New York (to name just a few) or any other town where some brainwashed minds will want to draw worldwide attention to their pathetic lives by going down in flames while killing as many innocent victims as possible… but are we going to let that potential threat ruin the rest of our lives?
There are dozens of plane crashes worldwide every year which generate hundreds of fatalities but:
1) are we going to stop flying? (some people do but they are a minority).
2) it’s still the safest way to travel.
3) the odds of being killed in a plane crash are 1 in 3 million while WHO tells us that "the risk of patient death occurring due to a preventable medical accident, while receiving health care, is estimated to be 1 in 300."
The truth is that terrorism pushes our emotional buttons… and the 24/7 media coverings (together with our politicians) make a business out of this.
The truth is that you'll never get to visit a museum again in Europe without having your bag searched or without walking through a metal detector.
The truth is that the days of reckless abandon are sadly simply over but you are nevertheless less likely to die from a terrorist attack in France than you are from being hit by an asteroid!
