Travel to Paris 2020 : Updates from the Jewish Quarter Paris – Situation on March 12TH 2020 – COV
Hello,
I am Flora Goldenberg, Tour Guide in Paris, specialized in the Jewish tours of Paris. I came back yesterday to Paris from my nice little trip with my little family, thinking that Paris was going to be under chaos !
Of course, like everyone, I kept an eye on the news while I was traveling, and I received a couple of cancellations, due to the corona virus and the restrictions for people to travel.
But the arrival was very quiet, and the empty airport felt nice.
Everyone was silent, and tourists looked a bit distant, So I talked to them to get feel of the situation. and I helped a couple of Americans coming from San Francesco to Paris Airport Charles de Gaule and gave them some recommendations of restaurants and some safety tips to reassure them.
I booked a private driver for the transfer from the Paris Airport.
Even though trains work as usual, the private driver seemed a safer and cleaner option than mixing with people in the train. I was traveling with my 2 year old baby and the driver was very professional, very clean and did not even want to shake our hands, he sanitized his car and gave me great updates from what he felt was going on in Paris.
The transfer went very smoothly as the traffic was less dense and HOME SWEET HOME.
But only Today, I realized how scary things are … Especially, After the travel bans from USA, Israel and many other countries, sadly, some of my visitors will not be able to come to visit the most beautiful city on earth : Paris …
I walked around my neighborhood, in the Jewish Quarter of Paris called Le Marais. I live in the heart of Paris . One of the most famous restaurants in Paris, l’As du Falafel (considered the best falafel in the city, and some might say the best in the world) was very quiet. I had a chat with one of the waiters, who explained that the restaurant was empty, and only locals were coming from time to time.
But you can’t tell that people are scared : In Paris, people are relaxed, children are going to school, the metro is just as busy as usual, and nobody is wearing masks.
I also talked with my mother, who is a tour guide in Israel. She explained that all of her tours were canceled as well, since Israel decided to close its borders. Some hotels are closing too, and students won’t go to University, until the end of Passover at least.
We decided to stay positive and take pictures for you everyday with a NYT magazine for the accurate Dates 🙂 you can see more pictures on my Facebook.
The bright side in all of this : I will have time to hike, walk around my city, explore some new places, and read, learn, do sport or cook, learn more Hebrew and prepare new food tours 🙂
I can’t wait for my visitors to come back after this all ends ! Pleas send me your questions and your concerns and I will be more than happy to answer you !
I promise I will learn more about my city than what I already know, I will be able to tell you new stories and show you new places, and I will love my job even more ! Because once everything stopped this suddenly, I realized how much I love what I do …
I hope to see you soon in Paris, healthy and happy and curious 🙂
My mantra of the day : More family time, stay positive, work hard and be patient !
Thank you for reading me, I will post more everyday , you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook
Update : Tonight The president Macron will make a public statement @8PM and I will keep you posted on how things evolved here after his speech
Come back tomorrow to read more 🙂