Rome street peddlers
Jun 28th, 2007, 08:50 AM
#21
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Travmimi...I am almost dying laughing! I guess I don't need to worry about Italian....PalenQ, I am glad to hear that they aren't as aggressive as Egypt. I guess that I better let my children know not to take anything from these guys as they will try with kids, I am sure.
Jun 28th, 2007, 09:03 AM
#22
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I visited Rome late October last year. Honestly, I have no desire to go back. While I wasn't really harrassed by peddlers (I'm from NYC and am used to it/know to just ignore them) the whole city struck me as just really..phony. While I wasn't HARRASSED by the peddlers, their presense annoyed me. And Rome is just TOO CROWDED. Way, way, way too many tourists. If I go back, it will be in December or January!
Go figure, it's the only European city I've been to that left me feeling this way. I can't wait to visit Naples this fall.
Go figure, it's the only European city I've been to that left me feeling this way. I can't wait to visit Naples this fall.
Jun 28th, 2007, 09:06 AM
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<PalenQ, I am glad to hear that they aren't as aggressive as Egypt.>
i haven't been to Egypt but was basing my comment on several travels to places like India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. where the peddlers are desperately poor and really swarm on you - suffocatingly so sometimes - and beggars - at times sticking a physical deformity in your face. Assume Egypt is similar but maybe not - so qualify my take.
i haven't been to Egypt but was basing my comment on several travels to places like India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. where the peddlers are desperately poor and really swarm on you - suffocatingly so sometimes - and beggars - at times sticking a physical deformity in your face. Assume Egypt is similar but maybe not - so qualify my take.
Jun 28th, 2007, 09:22 AM
#26
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Yes the children are heart breaking - brings up the situation in Rome as well as Paris and other tourist meccas with Romany (aka Gypsy) kids being used for begging - even babies seemingly held for hours on a street.
I wonder why child protective agencies don't step in for children's welfare - how fun spend your whole day on the street begging or being a prop for begging.
I wonder why child protective agencies don't step in for children's welfare - how fun spend your whole day on the street begging or being a prop for begging.
Jun 28th, 2007, 09:25 AM
#27
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I was in Florence last week and saw many many signs warning tourists that if they bought anything from peddlers selling wares on blankets that there would be a 1000 Euro fine and possible jail time. I thought that this possibly helped until I went over to the leather school,etc. and they were all over the square there.
When I was in Athens in March, I found that there were way more street peddlers there than in Rome.
I am usually in Rome at least once a week during the summer for work and am amused at the tenacity of these immigrants selling stuff.The best thing to do is to tell them NO and walk away- I have never had a problem with them after saying that and thats even after I might stop and look.
The beggars are another story.........just last week in Rome I was walking to a dinner spot with fellow coworkers and this guy was behind a trash can. Upon looking at him, he was a man dressed up complete with scarf and women's clothing as a beggar. This made me realized that alot of those people begging with their faces down to the sidewalk must not always be in need? Had a women begging by our hotel and the ATM last week with her cigarette hanging out of her mouth and her IPOD on her ears.......
When I was in Athens in March, I found that there were way more street peddlers there than in Rome.
I am usually in Rome at least once a week during the summer for work and am amused at the tenacity of these immigrants selling stuff.The best thing to do is to tell them NO and walk away- I have never had a problem with them after saying that and thats even after I might stop and look.
The beggars are another story.........just last week in Rome I was walking to a dinner spot with fellow coworkers and this guy was behind a trash can. Upon looking at him, he was a man dressed up complete with scarf and women's clothing as a beggar. This made me realized that alot of those people begging with their faces down to the sidewalk must not always be in need? Had a women begging by our hotel and the ATM last week with her cigarette hanging out of her mouth and her IPOD on her ears.......
Jun 28th, 2007, 09:41 AM
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One two of our trips to Rome we were making our way through Termini and there was a young girl (I'm sure at the end of a stairway holding an infant and begging for money. She would stand right in the middle of the end of the stairs and Termini gets so crowded that people were bumping against her and actually moving her out of the way to get around. I guess these girls are such a fixture here that the locals are used to them.
Tracy
Tracy
Jun 28th, 2007, 01:43 PM
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In the average American city we are so isolated by cars - and the very sprawl that creates separation of neighborhoods - that it's possible to think there are no (or few) poor around, or that though poor they are not destitute, sick or desperate.
In a city like New York, this is all more apparent. Bankers and bartenders and yes, beggers are on the subway together There are panhandlers both desperate and deceptive, con artists, and the stories the needy (or "needy" as the case may be) can be funny, unoriginal, or remarkably skillful. The most heartbreaking people are the ones who don't tell much of a story at all, except in their general state.
Not to go to far downstream from the OP - when I'm in Rome or almost anyplace, I give the so-called "must sees" only a part of my attention. The 6 or 8 top attractions in Rome draw, it seems, about 80% of the tourists and 95% of the aggressive peddlers, beggars and con artists. Rome is so much more.
But I hope with all here that this scene improves soon - along with the drunken barhopping and piazza-loitering, as described in another current thread.
In a city like New York, this is all more apparent. Bankers and bartenders and yes, beggers are on the subway together There are panhandlers both desperate and deceptive, con artists, and the stories the needy (or "needy" as the case may be) can be funny, unoriginal, or remarkably skillful. The most heartbreaking people are the ones who don't tell much of a story at all, except in their general state.
Not to go to far downstream from the OP - when I'm in Rome or almost anyplace, I give the so-called "must sees" only a part of my attention. The 6 or 8 top attractions in Rome draw, it seems, about 80% of the tourists and 95% of the aggressive peddlers, beggars and con artists. Rome is so much more.
But I hope with all here that this scene improves soon - along with the drunken barhopping and piazza-loitering, as described in another current thread.
