BARRETT TOWNSHIP -- Barrett Township Supervisor Ralph Megliola and his family were on a vacation in France and were in Paris the night the terror attacks happened. They talked to Newswatch 16 Monday about just how frightening it was and about their struggle to get back home to Canadensis.
Megliola was enjoying a family vacation in France when terror struck the city of Paris.
Friday night, he was in a Paris hotel with his wife, son, nephew and father-in-law when they got a call from home.
“I pick up the phone, I talk to my sister, she says, ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘Why do you ask?’ (My sister said) 'There's terror attacks in Paris.' I said, ‘Oh, there are?’ We had no idea,” Megliola said.
They were just a couple of miles from some of the attacks. Less than 24 hours before the attack, Megliola and his family were sightseeing around the city, stopping at the Eiffel Tower and museums in the area.
"It was hard wondering are we going to get out, are we going to be safe, how are the airports and all that kind of thing,” said Ralph Megliola’s wife Mia.
Their hotel had no TV. Megliola ran across the street to a café to watch U.S. news while he heard helicopters hovering, sirens blaring.
That next morning they decided to try to come home a day ahead of schedule.
"I went out on the streets of Paris, there was nobody out in Paris. Paris was like empty; it was a ghost town,” said Ralph Megliola.
The Megliolas say it was a nerve-racking ride back to the United States but they're glad to be back home safe and sound in Canadensis.
Getting through the airport in France was surprisingly easy.
"There wasn't that much security or much overall security or tightened security that we saw at the airport. I was expecting a bunch of troops but there was nobody,” said Mia Megliola.
The Megliolas had plans to go to the U.S. Embassy in Paris if things got worse, but instead, they safely made it back across the pond.
"When the plane touched down, it literally was a sigh of relief. Because you know you weren't sure if flying was the right idea, if we should wait, if there were going to be more terror attacks, you don't know,” said Ralph Megliola.
“We were so glad to be home, we really were so glad to be home,” said Mia Megliola.
The Megliolas say they plan to travel in the future despite this frightening experience, they want to return to Paris and visit the Louvre.