I wake up early this morning at 4:55am in Munich, Germany to get in a run on the hotel treadmill. After the run, I made my way to the lobby where the WiFi is offered for free. I connect to the WiFi, and suddenly my phone goes off in numerous chimes and beeps. Facebook posts to my wall, Facebook messenger posts, snapchat conversations, emails. If any texts, I won’t know until back as I turned off data and calls and text while out of country. Overall 80 different messages asking about my safety. 

As I start scrolling through them, I have no clue what my friends and family are referring to. I’m fine. Nothing seems amiss in my Munich hotel lobby. You can usually sense when something is wrong in the behaviour of local people and that wasn’t the case.

Finally I find a news article posted on Facebook about the attack in Nice. 

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/world/98dozens+dead+after+truck+runs+into+bastille+crowd+nice+france/12059154/story.html
We were in Nice just a week ago. We arrived last week on Thursday and didn’t leave until Saturday. 

I loved Nice. I ran twice on the Promenade d’anglais that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. This is the very spot that last night some coward chose to perform attack. 

It is funny to hear people mention now how travelling can be unsafe and that they can’t believe I was there. I wouldn’t have never have guessed last week that this could happen. I’m sure citizens of New York wouldn’t expect 911 to happen. Or Paris to expect it’s terrorist attack last year. You don’t expect it. Police and firefighters and paramedics and first responders can train for it. But you can never actually be fully prepared for it. 

This person used a weapon of a vehicle. Something you can’t expect. This is also why I find the discussion on gun laws intriguing. Anything can become a weapon if the person chooses it to be one. It isn’t the trucks or the guns that are dangerous. It is the person who makes that choice to make something become dangerous. 

This attack won’t stop me from wanting to visit Nice again. I said before I want to go back one day. I still do. I won’t let one person define, what we found last week, a beautiful city (a bit crowded) with people that seemed kind. 

As I end this post, I wish all the people affected by this the best. I send my sympathies to those who lost someone. I’m sure it will take time for the people of Nice to process the grief and terror of this tragic event. But when it does, I still recommend to you to visit this gem of a city in the Cote d’Azur (French Riveria).