Indeed it happened to me but I still love Paris!
Feb 20th, 2007, 02:00 PM
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Indeed it happened to me but I still love Paris!
Having travelled extensively to Europe over the past 18 years, I thought it only happen to others...
Well, I was wrong.
The Bad News:
I was pickpocketed on the Paris subway Sunday afternoon and relieved of all of my credit cards, Driver's license, etc. Of course, I did not realize this until I was looking for my change purse to pay for the lunch my husband and I just had at Laudere on Rue Royal.
The Good News:
The lunch was fabulous, the weather beautiful and I still love Paris! Granted, it helps that I had already completed my shopping and it was my last full day in Paris before returning to the U.S. yesterday.
On to matters more interesting to all of you:
First, I would like to thank all of you who respond so diligently with great information to travel questions on this board. I travel a lot and still manage to find new insights fairly frequently on this forum.
On to Restaurant "reviews":
Note: Almost every restaurant allowed smoking and almost ALL patrons smoked throughout the entire meal. Some establishments were better than others with respect to the ventilation (fair warning). The good news is that smoking in restaurants will be banned as of January 2008 (so we were told).
I had our hotel make the reservations.
Aux Trois Petits Cochons phone 01-42-33-39-69)- in Montorgueil section of 2nd district. My husband and I both had Sausage prepared in the Lyonnaise style with an incredible sublte mustard sauce. Fabulous and worthy of much plate licking. We both also had a beef dish slow cooked/braised in an incredible wine sauce with potato/veg. The meat required utensils no sharper than the edge of a fork, tender beyond belief. Reminded me of the braised beef cheek I had several times at Hosteria Giusti in Modena. We are both still dreaming of this dish. We also enjoyed a very smooth and elegant St. Emilion with dinner. The service here was excellent, the smoking constant but ventilation kept it from being too oppressive. We were the only tourists and treated very well. Would definently seek out again.
Au Petit Tonneau (phone 01-47-05-09-01) - located in Invalides section of Paris which is wonderful to walk around after dinner and cross the beautiful Alexander III bridge back to the Right Bank. I had a starter of the morel mushrooms in a wonderful creamy wine sauce. Both my husband and I then had a cote de veau which was incredibly tender and sauteed again in a sort of creamy wine sauce followed paired with a beautiful burgundy and then pear poached in red wind for dessert. The meal was perfect Paris and the service attentive and friendly. Would definently seek out again.
Jet lag has set in and I must go for now but the following restaurant reviews and hotel review will follow tomorrow if you are all still interested:
Le Petit Phamplet (new one/old one flooded)- (phone 01-42-72-39-24)
Le P'tit Troquet (phone 01-47-05-80-39)
L'Osteria phone 01-42-71-37-08)
Well, I was wrong.
The Bad News:
I was pickpocketed on the Paris subway Sunday afternoon and relieved of all of my credit cards, Driver's license, etc. Of course, I did not realize this until I was looking for my change purse to pay for the lunch my husband and I just had at Laudere on Rue Royal.
The Good News:
The lunch was fabulous, the weather beautiful and I still love Paris! Granted, it helps that I had already completed my shopping and it was my last full day in Paris before returning to the U.S. yesterday.
On to matters more interesting to all of you:
First, I would like to thank all of you who respond so diligently with great information to travel questions on this board. I travel a lot and still manage to find new insights fairly frequently on this forum.
On to Restaurant "reviews":
Note: Almost every restaurant allowed smoking and almost ALL patrons smoked throughout the entire meal. Some establishments were better than others with respect to the ventilation (fair warning). The good news is that smoking in restaurants will be banned as of January 2008 (so we were told).
I had our hotel make the reservations.
Aux Trois Petits Cochons phone 01-42-33-39-69)- in Montorgueil section of 2nd district. My husband and I both had Sausage prepared in the Lyonnaise style with an incredible sublte mustard sauce. Fabulous and worthy of much plate licking. We both also had a beef dish slow cooked/braised in an incredible wine sauce with potato/veg. The meat required utensils no sharper than the edge of a fork, tender beyond belief. Reminded me of the braised beef cheek I had several times at Hosteria Giusti in Modena. We are both still dreaming of this dish. We also enjoyed a very smooth and elegant St. Emilion with dinner. The service here was excellent, the smoking constant but ventilation kept it from being too oppressive. We were the only tourists and treated very well. Would definently seek out again.
Au Petit Tonneau (phone 01-47-05-09-01) - located in Invalides section of Paris which is wonderful to walk around after dinner and cross the beautiful Alexander III bridge back to the Right Bank. I had a starter of the morel mushrooms in a wonderful creamy wine sauce. Both my husband and I then had a cote de veau which was incredibly tender and sauteed again in a sort of creamy wine sauce followed paired with a beautiful burgundy and then pear poached in red wind for dessert. The meal was perfect Paris and the service attentive and friendly. Would definently seek out again.
Jet lag has set in and I must go for now but the following restaurant reviews and hotel review will follow tomorrow if you are all still interested:
Le Petit Phamplet (new one/old one flooded)- (phone 01-42-72-39-24)
Le P'tit Troquet (phone 01-47-05-80-39)
L'Osteria phone 01-42-71-37-08)
Feb 20th, 2007, 02:53 PM
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Sorry for your misfortune. Hope all the cards got stopped before anything really inconvenient happened.
Isn't it odd how so many French - who make an absolute fetish of food and dining - insist on polluting their taste buds and sense of smell (which is where we "taste" most things) with tobacco smoke?
Makes you wonder if they're really serious about the sanctity of The Dining Experience, or just putting on airs.
Isn't it odd how so many French - who make an absolute fetish of food and dining - insist on polluting their taste buds and sense of smell (which is where we "taste" most things) with tobacco smoke?
Makes you wonder if they're really serious about the sanctity of The Dining Experience, or just putting on airs.
Feb 20th, 2007, 03:04 PM
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My very first day in Paris on my very first trip to Europe, I had my wallet lifted from my macrame bag...luckily I was young and relatively poor and that was pre-credit cards. However, I had just used my 21 day Eurailpass for that trip from Frankfurt to Paris and so since it was "used", I could not get it replaced. Had it been unused, I could have gotten a new one free of charge.
So being young and relatively poor, this put a real crimp in the rest of our time in Europe, since my pre-paid first class tickets now had to be bought with real money and therefore second class was the most we could afford. We had to call home and have money wired to the American Express office by an unenthusiastic father/father-in-law.
I *still* love Paris!!!
So being young and relatively poor, this put a real crimp in the rest of our time in Europe, since my pre-paid first class tickets now had to be bought with real money and therefore second class was the most we could afford. We had to call home and have money wired to the American Express office by an unenthusiastic father/father-in-law.
I *still* love Paris!!!
Feb 20th, 2007, 04:46 PM
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Robespierre - I agree with you. I cannot understand their need to smoke during dinner. Sadly, it does ruin the dining experience and more than once have had to leave before I could finish my meal because the smoke was just so thick.
Feb 20th, 2007, 05:13 PM
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Not to make you re-live the experience, but would you mind telling us how the pickpocketing happened? What I mean is did you have your purse over your shoulder, hanging from your arm, etc.
I always try to be very careful, attentive, etc., but any new tips are welcome.
I always try to be very careful, attentive, etc., but any new tips are welcome.
Feb 20th, 2007, 10:46 PM
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I would like to know the details of the pickpocket also. we are going end of April. I will be wearing a sling bag across my body with zip facing inwards. I hope this is good enough and I will hold strap all the time also.
Feb 21st, 2007, 06:09 AM
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Due to popular demand, I will start with the pickpocket incident and then follow shortly with the rest of my reviews:
We had just left the Rodin museum and were headed to the Musee D'Orsay. Having travelled to Europe many times before off-season I did anticipate a need to reserve museum tickets in advance; however, if you plan to see musuems on a Sunday in Paris I would suggest making reservations in advance. We got right in the Rodin musuem but it beecame quite crowded once there. The queue at the D'Orsay was not worth it. Every tourist in Paris last weekend had to have been there! By the way, if you go to the Rodin museum make sure it is a sunny day since you can see the intentional play of light and shadow on the statuary in the garden.
Sorry to digress, back to the pickpocket incident....
After leaving the D'Orsay due to the long wait even at 2PM, we realized we were starving and began looking for somewhere to eat. No luck with this either since every place near to the museum was packed or closed. This is when we decided to get back on the subway and head over to the Right bank to have lunch at Lauderee.
We entered the subway at the Solferino stop on line 12 (this is the designated stop for visiting the D'Orsay). As my husband and I approached the turnstyle I noticed a little girl with her mother. The little girl had just gone through the turnstyle and was holding the door on the other side open and looking past me at what I assumed to be her mother about to enter the trnstyle after me.
Well, needless to say I put my ticket in the turnstyle and proceeded to try to exit through the door which the little girl was holding open/blocking (presumable waiting for her mother to pass through next). As you all can probably guess, the little girl was a diversion to block me from going completely through the door so her "mother" had the time to slip her hand in my purse. As soon as I put my ticket in the turnstyle I became aware that either my jacket or purse was stuck on something (or so I thought). While I was trying to free my jacket and figure out why I was stuck the "mother" went to work unzipping my purse and taking my little changepurse containing all my credit cards. What I believe happened was that the "mother" was making it seem that my jacket was caught in something so that I would be distracted by that (as well as my ticket waiting at the end of the turnstyle) and not as aware of my purse which was now slightly out of my sight and slung horizontally across my body with the zipper on the inside.
As you can see, this is a fairly typical scam where there is the person in front who delays and/or distracts you while the person behind you commits the actual theft. At this point, you might be thinking where was my husband during all of this? Well, that is exactly what I was thinking as well later that day.
Well, the little girl was a pro because by holding the door open this blocked my husband's view of exactly why I was being "dealyed" in the next turnstyle. He saw nothing unusual.
Bottom line: We were in a hurry to get to our next destination and did not "read" the set up which looking back I should have been able to see. At the time, something inside of me said the little girl standing in front and looking behind me (in a rather nervous manner) was not right but I pushed away the thought just thinking that maybe she looked that way because she got separated from her mother (naive I know).
This scam is set up with both mother and daughter waiting by the entry to the turnstyles and once they determine which one the target is going through the girl will go through first to delay while the mother "stays behind".
My advice to avoid this happening to you would be the following:
- Make sure you and whoever you are with go through the same turnstyle so you will not have strangers both in front of and behind you
- Do not put your ticket in a turnstyle until it has already been cleared by the person in front of you
- Do not second guess your gut instinct if something does not seem right, even if it involves a nicely dressed mother and daughter (our hunger and urgency to get somewhere else caused us to ignore the signs that WERE there no matter how subtle)
- Hold onto your purse across your chest with your hand so that the zipper cannot be opened or better still put the purse under your coat
- Do not put all credit cards in same place or do not take all with you at once. This was the first time I did this since I had been in Paris for a weeke already and never once "sensed" a pickpocket.
The one thing I was grateful for was that my passport was not stolen since it was right next to my changepurse. There was also only one Euro in there since we had yet to go to the bank. Just imagainge our surprise and the waiter's at Lauderee when we were presented with the bill but had nothing to pay with!
I hope this helps others or just reminds those more experienced to be a little bit more aware when on the subway in Paris. It CAN happen to you.
More reviews later today.....
We had just left the Rodin museum and were headed to the Musee D'Orsay. Having travelled to Europe many times before off-season I did anticipate a need to reserve museum tickets in advance; however, if you plan to see musuems on a Sunday in Paris I would suggest making reservations in advance. We got right in the Rodin musuem but it beecame quite crowded once there. The queue at the D'Orsay was not worth it. Every tourist in Paris last weekend had to have been there! By the way, if you go to the Rodin museum make sure it is a sunny day since you can see the intentional play of light and shadow on the statuary in the garden.
Sorry to digress, back to the pickpocket incident....
After leaving the D'Orsay due to the long wait even at 2PM, we realized we were starving and began looking for somewhere to eat. No luck with this either since every place near to the museum was packed or closed. This is when we decided to get back on the subway and head over to the Right bank to have lunch at Lauderee.
We entered the subway at the Solferino stop on line 12 (this is the designated stop for visiting the D'Orsay). As my husband and I approached the turnstyle I noticed a little girl with her mother. The little girl had just gone through the turnstyle and was holding the door on the other side open and looking past me at what I assumed to be her mother about to enter the trnstyle after me.
Well, needless to say I put my ticket in the turnstyle and proceeded to try to exit through the door which the little girl was holding open/blocking (presumable waiting for her mother to pass through next). As you all can probably guess, the little girl was a diversion to block me from going completely through the door so her "mother" had the time to slip her hand in my purse. As soon as I put my ticket in the turnstyle I became aware that either my jacket or purse was stuck on something (or so I thought). While I was trying to free my jacket and figure out why I was stuck the "mother" went to work unzipping my purse and taking my little changepurse containing all my credit cards. What I believe happened was that the "mother" was making it seem that my jacket was caught in something so that I would be distracted by that (as well as my ticket waiting at the end of the turnstyle) and not as aware of my purse which was now slightly out of my sight and slung horizontally across my body with the zipper on the inside.
As you can see, this is a fairly typical scam where there is the person in front who delays and/or distracts you while the person behind you commits the actual theft. At this point, you might be thinking where was my husband during all of this? Well, that is exactly what I was thinking as well later that day.
Well, the little girl was a pro because by holding the door open this blocked my husband's view of exactly why I was being "dealyed" in the next turnstyle. He saw nothing unusual.
Bottom line: We were in a hurry to get to our next destination and did not "read" the set up which looking back I should have been able to see. At the time, something inside of me said the little girl standing in front and looking behind me (in a rather nervous manner) was not right but I pushed away the thought just thinking that maybe she looked that way because she got separated from her mother (naive I know).
This scam is set up with both mother and daughter waiting by the entry to the turnstyles and once they determine which one the target is going through the girl will go through first to delay while the mother "stays behind".
My advice to avoid this happening to you would be the following:
- Make sure you and whoever you are with go through the same turnstyle so you will not have strangers both in front of and behind you
- Do not put your ticket in a turnstyle until it has already been cleared by the person in front of you
- Do not second guess your gut instinct if something does not seem right, even if it involves a nicely dressed mother and daughter (our hunger and urgency to get somewhere else caused us to ignore the signs that WERE there no matter how subtle)
- Hold onto your purse across your chest with your hand so that the zipper cannot be opened or better still put the purse under your coat
- Do not put all credit cards in same place or do not take all with you at once. This was the first time I did this since I had been in Paris for a weeke already and never once "sensed" a pickpocket.
The one thing I was grateful for was that my passport was not stolen since it was right next to my changepurse. There was also only one Euro in there since we had yet to go to the bank. Just imagainge our surprise and the waiter's at Lauderee when we were presented with the bill but had nothing to pay with!
I hope this helps others or just reminds those more experienced to be a little bit more aware when on the subway in Paris. It CAN happen to you.
More reviews later today.....
Feb 21st, 2007, 06:35 AM
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... and yet people will still say it is silly to use a moneybelt..? doing so would not have completely saved Danielle, but would have significantly reduced her misfortune to the loss of small change and maybe 1 credit card (instead of "all"). Very lucky not to have lost the passport as well.
D. has a wonderful attitude, though, refusing to let such an incident ruin her views on Paris.
D. has a wonderful attitude, though, refusing to let such an incident ruin her views on Paris.
Feb 21st, 2007, 06:52 AM
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I have never traveled outside of N. America before and am planning my first trip to Paris in April with my wife. She has been once before and she actually chased down a teenager who snatched her friend's purse on New Year's Eve, cornered the surprised and frightened youth, and got the purse back! You'd think I'd feel safe with my cute blonde bodyguard along, but let's face it, we're in our 40s now and we've both lost a step or two!
Anyway, please pardon my ignorance, but how exactly does a money belt work? Do you wear it under your clothes? Do you have to practically undress each time you want to use it?
We're from D.C., so I'm used to keeping my wallet in my front pocket and being aware of my surroundings, but it sounds as if the scoundrels in Paris are a bit more creative than their counterparts here in the states! I really appreciate you relating your incident, Danielle...I'll be grateful for any other advice.
Anyway, please pardon my ignorance, but how exactly does a money belt work? Do you wear it under your clothes? Do you have to practically undress each time you want to use it?
We're from D.C., so I'm used to keeping my wallet in my front pocket and being aware of my surroundings, but it sounds as if the scoundrels in Paris are a bit more creative than their counterparts here in the states! I really appreciate you relating your incident, Danielle...I'll be grateful for any other advice.
Feb 21st, 2007, 07:22 AM
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Hi, Danielle. I'm so sorry about your pickpocket incident! But delighted that you still love Paris.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your other petite dining adventures. I will be in Paris later this year and love to eat well while there.
Judy
I'm looking forward to hearing about your other petite dining adventures. I will be in Paris later this year and love to eat well while there.
Judy
Feb 21st, 2007, 07:32 AM
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That familhy sounds like real pros.
Just to let you know that pick pocketing happens to even the most experienced of travelers, I'll share this: I just finished a book written by the late Ismail Merchant (of Merchant/Ivory films) about making "A Room with a View" in Florence. He admits that he was pickpocketed by a gypsy woman on the stairs of Santa Croce...the old "thrusting the baby at you" scam. Mr. Merchant was raised in Bombay, got an MBA in NYC and traveled the world, and even he fell prey to pickpocketing.
Just to let you know that pick pocketing happens to even the most experienced of travelers, I'll share this: I just finished a book written by the late Ismail Merchant (of Merchant/Ivory films) about making "A Room with a View" in Florence. He admits that he was pickpocketed by a gypsy woman on the stairs of Santa Croce...the old "thrusting the baby at you" scam. Mr. Merchant was raised in Bombay, got an MBA in NYC and traveled the world, and even he fell prey to pickpocketing.
Feb 21st, 2007, 07:47 AM
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DaveBrad -
A moneybelt is worn under your clothing (I keep mine positioned inside my trousers). I usually don't have to get anything out of it during a day out, because my pocket money, transit pass, and debit card are in my cargo pants pockets.
The moneybelt is for passport, ticket home, and backup debit card. All of my travel data is in a computer I also keep in my cargo pants.
If I do have to get into my money belt, I do it where no one can observe - toilet, dressing room, or the like. Just pull out my shirt and there it is underneath.
A moneybelt is worn under your clothing (I keep mine positioned inside my trousers). I usually don't have to get anything out of it during a day out, because my pocket money, transit pass, and debit card are in my cargo pants pockets.
The moneybelt is for passport, ticket home, and backup debit card. All of my travel data is in a computer I also keep in my cargo pants.
If I do have to get into my money belt, I do it where no one can observe - toilet, dressing room, or the like. Just pull out my shirt and there it is underneath.
Feb 21st, 2007, 07:54 AM
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That's right... a moneybelt won't prevent you from being pickpocketed, but it can reduce what you might lose to a thief.
I always use some kind of moneybelt and was still 'picked' in Amsterdam. But all they got was about 30€ and nothing else.
p.s. if you wear slacks/jeans you might like the 'leg safe' variety. Very comfortable. Here's an example but you can find them for a few $ less.
http://www.eaglecreek.com/accessorie...g-Stash-40025/
I always use some kind of moneybelt and was still 'picked' in Amsterdam. But all they got was about 30€ and nothing else.
p.s. if you wear slacks/jeans you might like the 'leg safe' variety. Very comfortable. Here's an example but you can find them for a few $ less.
http://www.eaglecreek.com/accessorie...g-Stash-40025/
