I'm so sorry this happened to you. I can certainly understand that you would be distracted during Mass. You're handling it very well and I admire your spirit.

I hope all will be wonderful for the rest of your vacation. Give yourself a special Paris treat when it's resolved.

I can empathize with you and send sympathy--I had my wallet stolen out of my purse oon the London underground. The station manager, who offered tea and sympathy, said that he had told his mother to put a fake wallet on top of the real one, and that's what I've done since then--as well as carrying credit cards in an inside-the-blouse thing.

iloveparis,

I am so sorry you had a bad start. But things will get much better, I am sure. Just a little warning to everybody: my friend almost had her wallet stolen in the metro in Paris, by a couple posing as tourists. They acted like they were consulting a map, while the woman had her hand in my friend's purse. Luckily, she felt the woman's hand and pull the purse, as we were riding up the scalator. We tried to get some help, but the couple ran away while we curse them off (in good Portuguese, because we could not remember the bad words in French...).

iloveparis,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you! The same thing happened to my father when my family was travelling in Paris. My father had $1000 cash in his pocket (I know, not very smart! but none of us knew he even brought that much cash) and a pickpocket came in with us into a crowded metro, and in one hand grabbed all the cash away and attempted to run out the metro door. Fortunately, he felt the pickpocket, realized something was wrong, and screamed! The pickpocket wasn't able to get away, my father yanked the entire handful of cash back (some dollar bills were ripped, his hand was bloody), and my sister cursed out the pickpocket in French (to the shock of everyone on the train, I guess they were expecting us to look like passive tourists), and pushed him out of the door!

It was then that I decided that when travelling in Paris, it's very important for me not to carry too much cash and get a money belt. Sigh...

Take care iloveparis. Again, I'm sorry to hear about what happened.

That is such a shame. Kudos to you for not letting it sour the mood or your trip. And of course, it was not YOUR fault in any way, shape or form...100% of the blame belongs to the thief.

Did you file a police report? It won't help you get your money back, but it may help future travelers. When my wallet was stolen at the Gare du Midi in Brussels, the police there told me victims should always file reports because the stats help them get a clearer picture of the patterns of crime and also are useful in getting better police coverage for an area (because there were so many pickpockets and muggers working the Gare du Midi and people raised enough fuss, the train station now has its own police branch and canine patrols working the area almost 24/7....crime there has dropped substantially).

I wonder if there were any undercover officers at the service. If you can remember any details about the people who were directly near you, it might come in handy.