Susan Sherlock of Elmhurst and her husband, Vito Pingitore, took a walk through Paris on Friday, their first night in the city.
“We were walking near the Arc de Triomphe last night and heard police sirens,” Sherlock recalled in a Facebook post. “We thought nothing of it, walked back to our hotel room.”
At the hotel, they first learned of the synchronized terrorist attacks throughout the city through an alert Sherlock got on her phone from a Chicago TV station.
They had originally planned to take in the art museums over the weekend before a river cruise Monday to Normandy. Instead, Sherlock said they were cautious in venturing outside Saturday, but chose to see what they could during daylight hours.
“As evening drew near, the presence of police and troops became more apparent,” she said later in a conversation over Facebook Messenger. “Although this is my first time in Paris, I thought the city had an almost eerie feel to it.”
They decided to have dinner at the hotel rather than be out after dark, Sherlock said, finding others had the same thought as the restaurant was extremely busy. The hotel, L’Hotel du Collectionneur, had increased security, checking people’s room keys as they entered, Sherlock said.
Sunday brought beautiful weather with temperatures in the low 60s, and they attended Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. While closed to sightseers, the cathedral was open for Sunday services, Sherlock said.
They followed that up with a walk along the Seine River, seeing the outside of Museum d’Orsay and the Louvre they had planned to visit.
“We also went to see the Eiffel Tower even though it, too, was closed,” she said. “There were police and troops guarding the streets pretty heavily.”
Sunday afternoon, the couple walked near the Champs-Élysées and had an early dinner at a local pub. Sherlock said live news coverage was being aired throughout the meal, and she was definitely being more cautious and aware of her surroundings.
“Unlike Friday night when I thought nothing of the sirens I heard, I now stop and pause as they pass,” she said.
But she said if they let this tragedy ruin their vacation or alter their plans, then the terrorists win. They will continue with their river cruise.
“My heart goes out to the victims and the Parisians whose city may have been inexorably changed,” she said. “This is a beautiful place full of wonderful friendly people.”
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If she were French, Sherlock said she would be angry because extremists were trying to ruin her country.
“As an American, I want to be supportive and not reactionary,” she said.