Paris Café Becomes the First Place to Reopen after the Terrorist Attacks

Paris café, A La Bonne Bière, is the first place to reopen since the tragic terrorist attacks on the city that killed 130 people on Nov. 13.

"It's time to get together again, united, to move on and not forget," a message written on the menu-board at the café read according to the Huffington Post.

The people who attended the reopening on Friday ate their pastries and drank their coffees on the sidewalk by the memorials of the victims who died. Five people were killed inside of A La Bonne Bière, which was one of many locations that the militants had targeted with their AK-47 rifles.

NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reported from Paris, "The façade of La Bonne Bière has been hastily repaired, and city trash collectors have begun to clear away flowers from several of the cafes and restaurants attacked. With memories of the night still raw, French news reports show local residents have mixed feelings about the reopening. One woman said Paris has a wound that will never heal, but she said life must go on."

The manager of the newly painted café, Audrey Bily, stated via BBC News, "We are going to start again, to bounce back. We have carried out some work and repainted the walls to wipe away the signs of this nightmare. The Bonne Bière cafe was a place where people meet and exchanged and shared. That is what we want it to be again today."

On top of the café's awning, there is now a banner that reads, "Je suis en terrasse," which translates "I am on the terrace." The phrase showed up everywhere after the attacks as a sign that Paris will not live in fear.

People within the community are glad that the café has reopened.

Aissa, who works at a flower shop nearby, said reported by The Local France, "It's important to reopen and to get the community back together. The attack didn't just affect the Bonne Bière and its customers - it affected all of the people who live and work around here. It's like a village feeling, we all know each other, and it hit us very hard."

"I'm glad they've reopened - I had three coffees there already this morning," Khaled, who works at the supermarket across from the café, added. "We want to have our coffee there in the morning, see the regular faces, then come back again at the end of the day for a beer and a cigarette."

Other cafés and eateries are hoping to reopen very soon.

Managers at the Bataclan rock concert venue have also stated that they plan to reopen before the end of 2016. On the day of the attacks, the venue was taken over by three gunman who killed 90 people.