LEWISTON — A Kingfield woman said Tuesday that she was asleep in her room at a hotel next to the Eiffel Tower when the first three terrorist attacks occurred Friday night in Paris.

“I woke up to the sound of my hotel room phone ringing,” said Emma Twitchell, who returned home Sunday. “I had about 55 missed calls and messages, and I had no idea what was happening, but I heard sirens outside and people screaming.”

She said when she looked outside “I could see many armed military police patrolling the streets. I called my mom and she told me about the attacks and I immediately panicked.”

Twitchell said it was very confusing and the lack of information only instilled more fear in residents of the hotel.

“The only news we had at the time was that there were bombers on the loose, so everyone in the hotel was in complete horror,” she said. “Our hotel was right next to the Eiffel Tower, so many people thought that would be the next target.”

She said the hotel was locked down until the next morning and “everyone just stayed awake and on alert.”

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The next few days were still scary, uneasy and bleak, she said.

“The Eiffel Tower shut off all of its lights that night, as well as the following in respect for those who had been lost,” Twitchell said. “The next day, the city was quiet — eerily so. The military police continued to roam the streets with full armor on and with large guns.”

She said she finally went outside later in the day to get some food, and only saw other tourists.

“I was told by our taxi driver that the Parisian people were too terrified and distraught to leave their homes,” she said.

Twitchell said because the French borders were closed and flights delayed, 
“It took many people hours and hours to get out of the country.”

Twitchell made it home Sunday, she said, “relieved to be back but also sad for those who had to stay and continue to deal with the aftermath.”

She said she plans to “continue to show my support for Paris as well as Beirut and Kenya, where other awful acts of terror occurred.”

She said she’s been in constant contact with good friends who live in Paris.

“They are all still scared of what this means for the future of France and what will happen as France continues to not back down from their retaliations against ISIS,” she said.


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