wanderful

I was in Florence in 1993 when a portion of the Uffizi was blown up. I wasn’t near the museum, but subsequent security at Malpensa airport in Milan was super-tight.

A few years ago I was in a new terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport. I bought some wine and cheese at the duty free shops and flew home to New York City. A few hours after I left that CDG terminal, it collapsed.

More recently, I spent a last night in Paris walking around the Eiffel Tower, enjoying the night. I flew home the next day, only to read in the paper that some fellow, a Norwegian, if my memory serves, tried to parachute from the top of the Tower and was killed.

What about you?

Dukey

Please post all your future itineraries so we can take appropriate actions LOL!

sandi_travelnut

My thoughts exactly! Nothing like that has ever happened to me.

tripgirl

Although it happenend back in the States, we were in Paris the year JFK Jr died the plane crash with his wife and her sister.

It made front page news on every paper and their tribute to him, his wife and sister was touching.

robjame

Not eart shattering but...
We were eating dinner at Jules Verne in 2005 when an unsuccessful parachutist passed by. His chute caught on something as he jumped from the Eiffel Tower. Our daughter saw the report on television in Canada though we were unaware of it until we left and the place was surrounded by police.

Peggyann

We were staying in Florence for the month of March 2003,when the US attacked Iraq. I remember all the rainbow banners with PACE written on them hanging from just about every building.

Statia

Not me, but my sister and her hubby were scheduled to depart for Madrid just a few hours after the bombings.

They were panicked on whether or not they should still go and whether or not it was safe, but since they were going to be with local Spanish friends I suggested they keep their plans in place (after checking the State Department website, as well) and their friends said the same.

We continually saw the press coverage of the mourning in Spain, the mass gatherings of people in public squares, as well as how the country was faring after such an awful tragedy, and it was a bit surreal to realize that my sister was there in the midst of it.

Fodorite018

Three times in one trip. We had been traipsing around Scotland and the day after we left the big news was hoof and mouth disease. From Scotland we went to London, and on our last day there the BBC was bombed. After London we were in Paris, and on the news one evening we heard about the earthquake in Seattle, which is where we were living. We had a great trip, but were thankful to make it home in one piece!

wanderful

Note to Dukey & sandi travelnut:

I’ll be in Paris from May 3 through May 16, in case you think I’m potentially hazardous to your health.

Celia

I'll never forget seeing the newspaper headlines in Charles de Gaulle airport:

ELVIS EST MORT

I guess this dates me, no?

BTilke

I was at Goldberg's restaurant in Paris in 1982 shortly before the restaurant was attacked by terrorists (it was listed in the Let's Go Paris guide as a good place to eat). That same period, I was visiting with Lebanese friends at their apartment in Paris when the Lebanese president was assassinated...I can still remember their despair, talking about Lebanon being "faible", a small, weak country everyone in the region tried to take advantage of and use for their own aims, no matter how much the Lebanese suffered. Princess Grace also died in that same period, quite a lot going on as far as French news events.
I was scheduled to attend a client meeting in NYC at the WTC in early September 2001, but it was pushed up to August. I still have my WTC visitor's pass.

Living in Brussels, you see a lot of muckety mucks TALKING about events, but not that much actually happens in the city. I've walked my dog in the Parc Cinquantenaire many times while international network news reporters were filing for that night's broadcast (you probably know the scene, big arch with big Belgian flag fluttering underneath, with pompous reporter yakking about NATO and/or the EU).

WillTravel

In 2005, in late August in Madrid, I kept on watching the Katrina news on CNN get worse and worse. At first, it seemed like things were not so bad.

Trish

The first time I went to Europe was in 1998 and my boyfriend and I were checking in to a hotel in Zakynthos and the news was on and and I heard Halifax, Nova Scotia amongst all the greek words. It was when the Swiss Air flight tragically crashed off Peggy's Cove. It was strange to see my little corner of the world a fixture on the news when I was so far away.
I was also in Greece during hurricaine Katrina, I was taking a cab in Rhodes and the driver was telling me about the storm and since my Greek is still not the best all I was getting is that there was a lot of wind and rain, needless to say when a I saw the tv I was shocked at the devestation.

missypie

We were in Paris for the 1st anniversary of the US bombing of Iraq. We happened upon a major anti-war demonstration...to my eyes, it was huge. (In Dallas, there are typically a couple of dozen protestors at any given demonstration, and they go home as soon as the TV cameras leave.) There were thousands and thousands of people there. However, it merited only a slight mention on the world news-because it had been one of the SMALLER demonstrations that day!

Gardyloo

I was in a thatchy roofy pub in Somerset when the Argies keeled over in the Falklands. The local laird came down from the Big House and bought all the locals - and the odd tourist - well, peculiar, anyway - a pint. Much celebrating and forelock tugging. Mrs. T's peak of popularity, as it turned out.

nbujic

in Cannes when Elvis died
in Rome when JFK Junior's plane went down

NeoPatrick

We were in a motel in Clearwater Beach in the late 1950's (1958?) when we returned one evening, the middle eastern owner was having a screaming fit. "A rack has fallen, a rack has fallen". We had no idea what she meant and asked if anyone got hurt. Finally we found out that Iraq was some country we had never heard of.

We were in Italy and ready to stop in Assisi the next day on our way from Gubbio to Spoleto, when we found out that horrible earthquake had happened that day.

where2

I was in Ireland in March 2003 when the US invaded Iraq. Many many Irish people came up to us to express their support of America. There were protests, but every-day people were saying it was mostly students.

amyb

I was in Dublin when Princess Diana died, and in Edinburgh for the week in between her death and funeral. I visited Holyrood Palace, where so many people were leaving flowers and notes of sympathy. I flew home out of LHR the day before her funeral and as we landed in London to connect home, I was astounded at the crowds you could see from the plane waiting outside the palace in London waiting to sign the condolence book.

mcnyc

In the same year...separate trips

I landed in Madrid a day after the bombings

I left CDG a day before that terminal collapsed

I think I got all the creepies out of my system as nothing's happened since.