Local Family's Vacation Turned Upside Down Following Brussels Attacks
By Paul Kurtz and Trang Do
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A vacation to Brussels has been turned upside down for a family from Lafayette Hill.
"It's very eerie," said Jay Freed. "You walk around and people are very sad, very shaken."
READ: CBS News: ISIS Claims Responsibility For Brussels Attacks
Alice Lindenauer and her husband Freed, of Lafayette Hill, say Brussels was eerily quiet in the hours after the bomb blasts. There was a very strong police presence outside, but otherwise Lindenauer says people are staying indoors.
The couple is with their family visiting a daughter who is studying in Belgium this semester. They had to scuttle a planned visit to Amsterdam.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings an hour apart early Tuesday. The first hit the Brussels airport. The second bombing happened at a metro station in the city. Throughout the city, the family described a very visible police presence.
"I feel safe, but having all of the police and military people lining the streets, you just wonder if it is safe, why would they be there?" asked their daughter Jocelyn.
"I called the train station and they said the trains were running, but when we got there everybody from the train station was outside and there were armed soldiers by the gates. Then, they told us trains are not running," Lindenauer said.
"They're asking people to kind of remain inside and to stay put to allow the police and security forces to do what they do to keep the roads clear," Freed said. "They've asked the folks that are at work to kind of just stay at work."
READ: Flight From Brussels To Phila. Canceled After Deadly Explosions
The family is within walking distance of the Maalenbeek Metro station, but wisely heeded the advise some locals gave.
"That was the neighborhood we were told to stay away from the beginning," Lindenauer said. "After the Paris incident they said a lot of the people who were involved from the Maalenbeek area. So that was the one place we knew were not going to." As Lindenauer subsequently discovered, the warnings were about the similarly sounding Molenbeek area, however the family was relieved that they heeded the advice and stayed away from Maalenbeek.
Anna Freed is a junior at American University. She is staying with a host family outside of the city. All of American University's students studying abroad in Belgium are safe and accounted for. Meanwhile, the Freeds aren't changing their travel plans and will stay in Belgium through Saturday morning.
