Visiting France During a State of Emergency

If you’ve been watching CNN images of burning cars throughout France, you’re probably wondering if you should cancel any travel plans for France. At this point in time (November 10th), I can tell you that we first learned about the past weekend violence from family members in Los Angeles. We had spent the weekend on a our walking tour of Paris’s 13th arrondissement in complete tranquility. If you go out on Paris streets, you would not know that there are people who’ve had their cars torched the previous evening throughout France. In other words, people are going about their daily occupations. We ate dinner in the 17th arrondissement last night. The restaurant was full – with a notable American presence. Of course, the same thread of conversation permeates the room – how much, how long, where will it all end?

If you are planning on transporting a car to France, I would definitely suggest waiting a while, but if you are simply coming over for a week or two week visit, the situation is currently okay for public transportation. There was one incident of a public bus which was torched but not in the Paris city limits.

In Normandy, cars have been torched in Caen, Evreux and even towns as small as Lisieux (app 20,000 residents). Evreux was hit particularly hard with shopping centers and part of the mairie severely damaged.

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