I arrived in Paris yesterday.
This morning I hurried out to Easter Mass at Notre Dame.
It was beautiful, inspiring and Jammed.
When I returned to my apartment I found that my change purse and credit card purse were taken from my handbag at Mass.
Spent 2 hours on the phone cancelling credit cards and having customer service telling me to have a nice day!
They were very kind, and helpful and I hope that I'll get replacements tomorrow.
And I am very happy that our state does not put ss#s on driver's licenses.

i(still)loveparis

Try to have a nice day. Do you know how they managed to do this?

I really don't. Something similar happened to me at Gare de Nord in 2000 but I deliberately changed my purse - one with a flap the covers the entire front and has an inner pocket that is flapped. I was standing at a post where we were packed like sardines and people were moving in and out. It is conceivable that someone who was pressed against my side could have gotten under the flap and felt the change purse and credit card holder.
Can't let it ruin the trip. I may have a problem picking up my train tickets to Strasbourg since they require the cc with which it was purchased.

So sorry this happened to you. I've read that churches are great places for pickpockets. Apparently otherwise cautious people seem to put their guard down when in a church. It gives me the willies every time I see one of those "beware of pickpockets" signs in a church.

That's an interesting thought about the SS number on a driver's license. Here if Florida they are indeed on them.

Money Belt!

Sorry to hear about you being robbed - what a horrible start to your holiday.

To others - a VERY good lesson why so many of us recommend money belts, especially in crowded tourist sites/cities.

Neo, I moved from Florida a little over a year ago and don't remember my SS# being on my DL. Is this something new?? If so, it's crazy.

I've lived in Florida for 20 years, and have never had my SSN on my DL

Green Dragon, I can't believe you said that. I just took my Driver's License out and lo and behold there is no SS number either. I've had one of those things for 32 years and would have sworn it was on there.

iloveparis,'I'm glad that did not make you sour, enjoy the rest of your trip
and happy Easter to you.

Neo, sometimes we don't see the forest for the trees Now, they do include your birth-year in it, but not the SSN.

iloveparis, I'm glad you aren't letting this incident ruin your vacation. Glad it wasn't anything unreplaceable!!!

Meanwhile thanks so much for bringing it up. My six year old DL expires on my birthday in July. I hadn't even thought about that and would have returned from Paris the following day with an expired driver's license to rent a car! I doubt I ever would have thought about that before leaving in May!

Didn't they used to have large signs at ND warning folks about the pickpockets?

Probably, as they do in tons of European churches these days. That's what is so sad. The most annoying one was an actual recorded warning at St. Croce in Florence that kept repeating and repeating both in Italian and English.

Let's not blame the victim. Those crooks are darn good at what they do.

I say catch them, tar and feather them and then deposit them on Elba for ten years minimum.

So sorry, and glad to see your upbeat attitude. The proverbial milk is spilt, but may I ask of these flaps were zipped or otherwise closed? One of the tricks a seasoned traveler gave me a few years back was to put a safety pin or two through the zipper (fabric, not the teeth of the zipper) of an internal compartment where $ and important documents are stashed when going into a crowded place. Of course, nothing is foolproof, and I have done this only a few tmes but it seems to make sense.

Oh honey, I AM sorry! What a spoiler for a morning spent in Notre Dame!
I hope you get everything in the am, and you can go on without anymore unpleasant happenings ...
Big hugs to you!! Scarlett

There is no SS # on my Fl drivers license either..but there is this terrible picture of a woman I do not know

LOL Scarlett. I wonder if it's the same woman on my drivers license who doesn't look like anyone I know.

mclaurie, she goes around sneaking into photo booths and mucking up otherwise lovely photographs ( I am sure)...

and she is right there at passport photos too - very elusive - gets right in the picture no matter what.

Thank you all for your sympathtic messages and suggestions. I appreciate the thoughts of so many of you regulars that I feel I know from these boards!
I'll be so much more careful from now on. Let the guard down for church on Easter Sunday! Actually, the Mass was so beautiful I sat down and lingered awhile feeling so refreshed and peaceful...