Witness to pickpocketing

Old May 16th, 2006, 08:07 AM
  #61  
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CubFan - I responded to your post last night, but it isn't showing up today. So, anyway - I sure hope someone like your brother is around if we're ever about to become victims. Good for him.
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Old May 16th, 2006, 08:42 AM
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Last summer, on my three week Honeymoon in Italy and Greece, witnessed three robberies - all in Italy - one in each city we visited!

1) Venice - late July, Venice is packed! We got off the train and were waiting for a Vaporetto. Friends we had met on the train, standing behind us, had their suitcases pulled away from them. Luckily they pulled them back in time and yelled. The train station is FULL of theives! So are the Vaparettos - hold on tight!

2) Florence - I am carrying a bag diagionally over my chest, with my hand always on it. I see a man run around a corner and towards me. I know he's coming at me. I give the look of death, in his eye (My Italian father taught me this!). He runs away. Hubby and I are a bit shaken up.

3) Bus in Rome. Read about the con in Fodors before my trip. Big fight btw. girlfriend and boyfriend on bus. I hold onto belongings with dear life. Too bad the ppl. next to us didn't.

Thank Goodness Greece was relatively crime free...I couldn't handle anymore scares!
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Old May 16th, 2006, 08:57 AM
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Wow.
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Old May 16th, 2006, 09:23 AM
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"Minutes later the police car came and asked if my husband had yellow hair and shorts"

See!?!? See!?!?! There *is* a good reason to wear shorts on vacation!

What a horror story. In fact, a whole thread of them. Any one of these situations would rattle me, even as a witness, let alone a victim.

Maybe because I'm relatively big, or maybe it's because I typically carry a "don't you dare mess with me" look on my face (a complete scam, as I am in reality a total pussycat..), but I've never been close to such events in my life, despite having travelled to some fairly dicey places.

May none of us on this board ever have to deal with this at all, either.

Fritzl
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Old May 16th, 2006, 10:06 AM
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A more positive spin on the stolen wallet abroad is my experience in England many years ago. I was hitchhiking (not a mode of transportation that my adult-self endorses) and disembarked from an enormous lorry after a ride, only to discover that I'd lost my wallet/passport, presumably aboard the lorry.

I was just marching into the constable's building to report the missing item when the lorry driver arrived, beaming, my wallet extended in his hand! We went off to his favorite pub and raised several pints in honor of his noble soul.

The offsetting tale occurred back in New Haven around the same time in my life. My college roommate and I were held up by knife point by a squad of thieves late one night. We somehow eluded them and then spent the rest of the night drinking bad coffee and reviewing mug shots in the police station. Amazing how many people one recognized from the streets of the city who had had their portraits taken by the local authorities!
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Old May 19th, 2006, 01:43 PM
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Don't you wish everyone was like that lorry driver?

>> was just marching into the constable's building to report the missing item when the lorry driver arrived, beaming, my wallet extended in his hand! We went off to his favorite pub and raised several pints in honor of his noble soul.<<
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Old May 19th, 2006, 07:32 PM
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Hello Maire. At a metro station in Paris - in the 5th - a young boy, probably ten years old at the most, wanted to pick the pocket of my companion but it was too funny. His fingers were waving about the pocket and he wanted to lift the wallet but just couldn't make it happen. I told him to go away in French and he shrugged and walked off. That was five years ago. I hope he's taken up another occupation because he just wasn't any good picking pockets.
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Old May 19th, 2006, 07:52 PM
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I backpacked all over Europe for 4 months and the only problem I had was in Florence-very similar to the first post. A pack of young girls, whom I presume were gypsies, surrounded my friend and I on the street, under the guise of selling newspapers. One pushed a newspaper toward me and as she did I felt her hand go in my pocket. I was shocked! I grabbed her arm and screamed and she looked so blase....like, big deal, this happens all day long. I think had I been warned to be weary of this it wouldn't have happened....just use common sense, keep your valuables near to you and you'll be fine.
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