I’m slightly surprised that nobody’s asked how Paris is doing, in the weeks following the attacks. We honestly didn’t know what to expect when we changed our plans at the last minute to include a few days in Paris (Paris wasn’t part of the original trip; we had actually planned on just Greece & Jordan, but the logistics of Jordan started to become a bit overwhelming, and we decided to thumb our noses at the idea that terrorists would control our fears).

Well, Paris seems to be doing just fine. Security might be slightly more obvious than before, but not much. Surprisingly no passport inspections whatsoever entering France on a flight from Rome. In fact, the only immigration control we’ve seen the entire trip was during our transfer at Frankfurt airport. A bit disappointed that we have no passport stamps so far, other than from a country we didn’t even visit!

As for crowds, it’s tough to say whether what we’ve seen is normal or not. This is December after all, and it doesn’t get into the big Christmas vacation period for another few days.

But really, nothing seems out of the ordinary. Life is as normal as I’ve ever seen it in France, and I’ve seen it here quite a few times. If you’ve been thinking about visiting, the only thing that might hold you back right now is that it’s cold, at least for Californians!