The summer of 2013 in France for me was both good and bad: good because I finished what I was supposed to do there and EXTREMELY BAD AND TRAUMATISING because I got pickpocketed in the Parisian Metro on Line 1 from the way back to my hotel from the Beaubourg...a first and definitely put a big blotch on my souvenirs of France, especially the police which was not at all helpful in trying to help anyone in distress - they made me go on a wild goose chase from one station to the other because I think they do not want to increase the crime statistics on their record (the one at the Gare de Lyon) and sent me to another nearby station, only to be made to return to the same station and yet, the officer reluctantly want to serve me, saying that these kind of things should be dealt with by the Malaysian Embassy, on a Sunday, on French soil!!! I can't imagine the difficulties that a foreign tourist who can't speak French would have to endure minus credit cards, cash money, bank cards and their embassy closed on a terrible weekend. The greatest saviour came in the shape of a hotel receptionist (Thank you Samia of Mercure Gare de Lyon) who managed to help me call my sister in France and arranged for a credit transfer to help me in times of distress.
Caution to anyone in the Parisian Metro:
1. DO NOT go up the train when there is a rush of people.
2. DO NOT be distracted by people pushing you in the jam-packed train.
3. DO NOT have pockets that can be easily reached, especially those of trousers and shorts.
4. DO NOT carry all your cash, IDs or cards in a single carrier - safer to lock them in your hotel safe.
5. There is no such thing as stereotype when you are being pickpocketed: I remembered I was being distracted by a blonde man trying to jam a place beside me in the train
Well, who could have imagined these horrors when just earlier in the morning, I was strolling calmly down Champs Elysées looking at these...a visit up the Arc de Triomphe with a 360 degree view at the top:
laurel in all its manifestations...
