Oh mon dieu, ça va?! Vous n'êtes pas mort?!

So. Interesting.

Today Trevor, Sam and I went to Les Invalides, which was clearly awesome, as Napoleon is involved. I took lots of pictures, you can look at them here and here.

On the way home, Sam and I stopped at the grocery store, but I was taking a bit longer so Sam left a few minutes before me.

So I'm riding the metro, almost home. One stop away from the stop I need to transfer at. My phone rings.

"Jillian, don't get off at Denfert-Rochereau! There's tear gas and police everywhere!"

"Oh my god, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to get out, just don't get off here, find another way home!"

Two seconds later, my metro pulls up to Denfert-Rochereau. The doors slide open, the sound of people coughing and crying on the platform wafts into the car, along with the sharp smell of cayenne pepper. I pull my scarf over my nose and stay seated, clutching my groceries. Mercifully, the doors slide shut and the metro starts moving. I lower my scarf and sigh in relief.

Suddenly, there is some sort of very loud explosion. The metro, only having moved a few inches, screeches to a stop. Everyone stands up.

What the hell was that?! I think. Then, Oh my god, Sam's still there!

Fingers shaking, I hit redial. Ring. Ring. Ring. Finally, she picks up. She is relatively safe, she's gotten out of the station, she did not hear any explosion. She's barricaded in by police, but at least she's above ground.

I, however, am trapped on the metro. The doors have slid open again, and the tear gas has entered the car. Luckily, before I have enough time to panic, the driver gets on the PA system and thanks us for our patience, and the doors slide shut.

I get off at the next stop, a stop I've never been at before. I find a map and see that I can walk home pretty easily, but the only way home I know is by the metro stop where all the crazy shit is going down. Oh well, I guess I'll have to risk it.

So I'm walking by tons of police officers and there are lights flashing everywhere and it's pretty scary,but at least I'm above ground and it doesn't look like the road I need is blocked off. As I walk through the square though, a column of around 30 police officers is marching into the bus station.

Don't worry, I had a nice, boring walk home with my huge bag of groceries, and I am totally fine, just a little shaken. Sam and I broke out our bottle of wine and had some cheese and crackers. I'm going to attack my bar of chocolate in approximately .05 seconds.

So, moral of the story = Paris is scary. And now I never want to ride public transportation by myself ever again.