Oh Paris...

Another bad experience in Paris happened! Well, not to me personally, but I was there as a witness, and man, it sucked... This sounds bad no matter how I say it, but I do thank God that it wasn't me again. To have had it happen twice to me just seems a bit cruel, doesn't it?

Anyway, my friend and I were walking out of the Chanel Boutique on rue Cambon. Before you start imagining us with a dozen shopping bags and wasting all our money on Chanel stuff, we actually just had one bag each, and the items inside were small. I just bought like a pair of sunglasses, and my friend only rubber sandals. So, no, we didn't shop like crazy.

So as we walked out, a small group of 3 Italian girls (or so they say) asked us to help them find where rue Cambon was on their map because they were heading to Opera and said they didn't know where they were. Honestly, these three girls just looked like lost backpackers, so unsuspectingly, my friend helped them point out to the street name on the map to the two girls, while the third girl was talking to me and I just pointed to the direction. After all it was super easy, they just needed to walk straight up rue Cambon on to Boulevard des Capucines and turn left at rue Scribe.

A nice gesture on our part - really. But this nice gesture was then repaid by the fact that after we parted ways and turned to rue Duphot where the office entrance was (we left the office for like half an hour to go buy the stuff!), my friend noticed that her hundred euro bills went missing from her wallet! I swear to you, they were in her wallet when we left the Chanel Boutique, and they were gone ten minutes later!

The crazy thing was, the wallet was not taken, so it was purely only the cash. Someone we told this story to even said it wasn't a pick pocket, it was a magician! And to top it all off, when my friend went to the police station at Place du Marche (I think), they were very unhelpful, and even accused her of lying! I couldn't believe it! I mean, their city is full of crime left and right, the very least the police could do was be nice to tourists!!!! (I hope some of you out there reading this actually know some policemen/women in Paris so you could tell them to be niceer!)

At least when it happened to me, the guys at the police station were really nice about it and were really concerned about me. They kept asking if I was OK and if I needed anything, and they called the embassy for me... They were just really nice. After thinking about it however, it could be because they were suburban, not in the city centre. Maybe things are just a lot harsher in the city...

So anyway, long story short, please, please keep safe when traveling to Paris! And for Parisians that are reading, c'mon, do something about this. You get like (according to Wiki) nearly 15 billion visitors a year, and your economy could greatly benefit from them... Make us all feel welcomed so we don't think twice about coming back..!

Ok, that's my rant for the day.
On a happier note, I am leaving Paris today to go home and see my kids and husband. Miss them so much, and I can't wait to hug them! :)