France used to require that all people carry their original identification documents with them at all times--for foreign visitors this was the passport.

Has this changed? It's been a while since we visited France.

Woody I did not need to show my passport while shopping in Florence and receiving the de-taxe forms. I usually leave my passport in the hotel room.
Good thing I left it in my room last May. I was in the lobby of the hotel in Palermo just after checking in and I was robbed, along with the hotel safe! Right at the reception desk of our hotel!

<< I was in the lobby of the hotel in Palermo just after checking in and I was robbed, along with the hotel safe! Right at the reception desk of our hotel! >>

Oh, my! What an awful experience. I hope you were not hurt, and that it did not ruin your vacation.

You should always carry some sort of identification with you. A passport is the most universally accepted identification, but it isn't always essential. You should keep the passport wherever you think it is safest.

When I am travelling abroad as a tourist, I usually have my passport with me at all times. At home, I leave the passport at home and use some other form of ID when going out.

I'm pretty well traveled and I never carry my passport with me - I either lock it in the hotel room safe, bury it deep in my locked suitcase, or have the hotel keep it in their safe.

I don't carry a copy either, but I do keep one in my carry on bag just in case.

Reminds me of a scary incident we had in the Middle East - we'd just arrived in Bahrain and were driving from the airport to our hotel when we found ourselves right in the middle of an anti-American demonstration. As hundreds of angry men walked by our car carrying "down with America" banners and chanting, "death to America" we really, really wished we didn't have our passports on us.

The next day the US Embassy in Bahrain was firebombed.