Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Pickpockets Are Back in Business in Paris

Monday, June 29th, 2020
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by Tom Reeves

The first time
Usually I do not pay much attention when someone stops me on the street to ask for directions: I offer what information I can muster and then I continue on my way.  But on this particular day, as I was making my way up Avenue des Gobelins toward Place d’Italie, someone approached me from behind and tapped me on the left forearm.  I turned to look, and a young man asked me where the metro was located.  I replied that it was back in the direction from which we were walking.  He turned to walk in that direction and at that moment I was aware that another young man had been on my right during the encounter.  I realized that the second man had probably tried to unzip the bag that I carry, bandolier-style, over my right hip.  I thought that he probably failed, and, when I inspected the bag, I was right.

I put the incident out of my mind.

The second time
The second time occurred a day or two later as I was making my way up Passage des Postes, a walkway that links two parallel streets.  Just as I reached the end of the passageway, a man approached me from behind on my left and asked me where the metro was.  I turned to him and replied that it was in the direction from which he came.  He thanked me and turned to walk in that direction.  This time, there was no one with him, so I imagined that his inquiry was sincere, although I began wondering if there was some new phenomenon occurring that was inciting people to begin asking for directions so frequently.

The third time
The third time occurred just one or two days later when my wife and I were making our way up a narrow stairway that leads from one platform to another in the Ecole Militaire metro station.  This time a young man tapped me on the left forearm and asked me if I could tell him the time.  I thought that it should have been obvious to him that I was not wearing a watch, and replied that I did not know.  When my wife and I arrived at the upper platform, I realized that another young man, who was associated with the one who asked the question, had been behind us and to our right.  For some reason I did not attribute any malicious intent to this encounter.

The fourth time
The fourth time occurred the same day as we were making our way up Passage des Postes.  Just as we got to the end of the walkway, a young man, approaching from behind, tapped me on the left forearm and asked me where the metro was located.  I turned to him and indicated that it was in the direction from which he was walking.  Then he asked again, and my wife repeated what I had said.  At that point I saw that there was a second young man who had been following us on our right.  We watched them walk away.

Just five minutes later, arriving in our apartment, my wife realized that her wallet was missing from her small, zipped purse, which she was carrying over her shoulder along with a second, larger bag.  We concluded that it must have been the man on the right who stole the wallet while we were distracted by the first man in the Passage des Postes. 

My wife quickly called all her credit card companies to alert them to the theft. 

About an hour later, a woman who lives in the Passage des Postes contacted my wife to tell her that she found the wallet in front of her door.  My wife rushed to retrieve it and found that the small amount of cash in the wallet had been stolen as well as two local credit cards.

The conclusions that I draw from this
I think that a group of thieves has swept into Paris and will pull this stunt for as long as they can get away with it.  And then they will move on to another town.

Whether I am right or not, I write this to alert people about what is happening on the streets of Paris.  It is not sufficient to carry a zipped purse or zipped bag to prevent pick pocketing.  The bag that I carry also has a clasp, which, until now, I never used, because it requires so much fumbling to secure it to the pull of the zipper.  But that is now the point:  if is difficult for me to secure, then it will be difficult for a pickpocket to open quickly while his partner tries to engage me in brief conversation. 

Be aware and alert!

Our Walk – Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden

Thursday, October 5th, 2017
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Jacqueline Morgan and Craig Craft
Photograph by Discover Paris!

Jacqueline Morgan and Craig Craft from Evergreen Park, Illinois joined me today for our “Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden” walk.

Are you coming to Paris soon? Click here to learn about the walk: http://discoverparis.net/black-history-in-and-around-the-luxembourg-garden.

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Our Walk – Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden

Sunday, September 3rd, 2017
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Loretta Jefferson
Photograph by Discover Paris!

Loretta Jefferson joined me for our “Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden” walk this morning. She came to Paris to see Toni Morrison’s “Bench by the Side of the Road,” located in the 20th arrondissement.

Are you coming to Paris soon? Click here to view our schedule: http://discoverparis.net/scheduled-walking-tours.

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Raymond and Tamella Trapp Celebrate Their 10th Wedding Anniversary in Paris

Friday, July 21st, 2017
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Raymond and Tamella Trapp with Monique Y. Wells
Photograph by Discover Paris!

Raymond and Tamella Trapp pose with our own Monique Y. Wells in front of the obelisk at place de la Concorde. Monique led the Trapps and their friends (not pictured) on our black history tour called “On the Grandest of Avenues” yesterday. Mr. and Mrs Trapp came to Paris to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.

A good time was had by all!

Click here for information about our black history in Paris tours and our gourmet activities: discoverparis.net.

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Best Blog Posts for 2014

Wednesday, December 31st, 2014
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We published blogs on a wide variety of topics in 2014. Here is a list of some of our best:

Book Reviews
Le Guide Hachette des Bières
Are We There Yet? – 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French
Angels of Paris

Wine
Tasting Greek Wines at Mavrommatis
Thierry Givone Opens New Wine-tasting Room
Neige – An Apple Ice Wine from Quebec

Chocolate
Santiago Peralta Talks about His Chocolates at Mococha
Whisky and Chocolate Paring at Maison Claudel
Chocolat Elot from Martinique
Champagne and Chocolate at Mococha

Food Festivals
Noël Gourmand
I Love Italian Food – The Furoi Show
Les Delices d’Haïti at the Foire de Paris
Paris Street Food Festival
A Visit to the French Overseas Departments at the Paris International Agriculture Show

Miscellaneous Fun
Cocktail Party at Nose
52 Martinis Paris Cocktails Meet-up at Club Rayé
CitizenM’s Launch Party
How to Find a Party in Paris
Tropical Stars Shine over Paris
A Hands-on Pastry Workshop in the Town of Saint-Ouen

Bonne lecture et Bonne Année!

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Tom’s Close Shave

Thursday, November 13th, 2014
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Alain Explains the Procedure

Alain Explains the Procedure
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In the last blog (about the cocktail party at Nose, a perfume shop for men and women), we left Tom in the hands of master barber Alain for a shave with a straight-edge razor. In the photograph above, Tom listens to his reassuring words such as, “This won’t hurt a bit.” Spoken in French, they sounded much more comforting than they do in English.

Alain Prepares His Paraphernalia

Alain Prepares His Paraphernalia
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Alain then stepped over to the sink where he prepared a blaireau (shaving brush).

Lathering the Face

Lathering the Face
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

He began carefully lathering Tom’s face. As the old saying goes, Une barbe bien savonnée est une barbe à moitié rasée. (A good soapy beard is a beard half shaved.)

Alain Prepares to Shave

Alain Prepares to Shave
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Then Alain stepped back to admire his work, holding the straight-edge razor in a fighter’s stance. This pose might have sent chills down the spine of lesser men, but Tom put on a brave face!

Alain Begins the Shave

Alain Begins the Shave
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Alain began carefully shaving the three-day old beard. In French, the word for straight edge is “coupe-chou”, which means “cabbage cutter.” It’s not very reassuring!

Tap Dancing in the Front Room

Tap Dancing in the Front Room
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

While this drama was playing out in the back room, a man was gaily tap dancing in the front of the store.

Monique at Nose

Monique at Nose
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Monique was in the front room, too, getting her photograph taken. What were her thoughts about the dangers that her husband might be facing alone in the back room? She doesn’t seem to be showing much concern in this photo.

Alain Applying Alum

Alain Applying Alum
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In the back room, following the shave, Alain passed an alum block over Tom’s face to sooth skin irritation. He then applied a hydrating lotion.

Final Massage

Final Massage
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

A final massage to the face, and the shave was over. Tom was looking good!

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Cocktail Party at Nose

Sunday, November 9th, 2014
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Nose

Nose
20, rue Bachaumont 75002 Paris

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Two weeks ago, Monique and I attended a cocktail party at Nose, a perfume shop for men and women.

Made in Movember

The event had been organized to raise money for Movember, a men’s health organization.

A Hip Crowd

A Hip Crowd
Photograph by www.ParisInsights.com

We got there a bit early, just before the hip crowd arrived, and were able to make our way up to the bar almost unimpeded.

Bartender Serving a Souviens-toi d'Acapulco

Bartender Serving a Souviens-toi d’Acapulco?
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I ordered a beverage called Souviens-toi d’Acapulco? (Do You Remember Acapulco?), a cocktail made with Monkey Shoulder whiskey, for each of us. It was a refreshing drink, and although I couldn’t recall having ever been to Acapulco, I returned to the bar to order another. Might a second one jog my memory?

Monique Sniffing Dr. Vranjes Perfume

Monique Sniffing Dr. Vranjes Perfume
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Then we strolled about sniffing perfume. I had already purchased a bottle of D.R. Harris Arlington Cologne from Nose a few weeks before. That’s how I got an invitation to the event.

Margot from the Marketing Department

Margot from the Marketing Department
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

We met Margot, who works in the Nose marketing department.

Reporter Taking Notes

Man in a Top Hat Taking Notes
Reporter or Poet?

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

We saw a man who I thought might be portraying a journalist because he was taking notes. I learned later that he was there to recite poetry. We didn’t stay long enough to hear him.

Brice and Régis Abby

Brice and Régis Abby
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

We met Brice and Régis Abby, a pair of twins who seemed to be enjoying life as lookalikes.

Oysters

Oysters
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

A man circulated through the store selling fresh oysters at 2€ each. Proceeds went to the Movember cancer research fund.

Tap Dancing

Tap Dancing
Photograph by DiscoverParis.net

And while Monique went to the front of the store to watch a man tap dancing to the music of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington…

Preparing for a Shave

Preparing for a Shave
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

…I was in the back, preparing for a shave.

Coming up next: a blog in which I recount my close encounter with a straight-edge razor. (Caution: not for the timid!)

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Paris Has Become a Den of Thieves

Saturday, October 25th, 2014
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Paris Metro on Pont Bir Hakeim

Paris Metro on Pont Bir Hakeim
©Paris Tourist Office – Photographer: Marc Bertrand

Entering onto the platform for eastbound trains of metro line 7 at the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre station, one can often see groups of girls of slight stature – young teenagers – milling about. Their behavior is strangely childlike for girls of their ages. They move about playfully and noisily, and roughhouse as they grab each other by the necks as if to whisper secrets. They move in circles or move erratically making it difficult for passersby to walk through the group. Sometimes one of them freezes in her tracks when a person tries to pass by, forming a temporary impediment to the traveler’s forward motion.

I encountered such a group just a few days ago when my wife and I entered onto the platform to take the metro. I recognized the girls, not individually, but by their comportment and appearance. I said to my wife, “Here are the thieves.” We passed through the group and my wife later told me that one of the girls froze in front of her, hindering her passage.

As we moved mid-way down the platform, I thought that that would be the last I would see of them. However, when the train came into the station, the girls moved toward us and made a movement as if to board the car behind the car that we were about to board. Then, they collectively changed their minds and rushed to the door that we were about to step through, boarding ahead of us. A man who accompanied them boarded, too.

I sensed trouble, but my wife had already stepped aboard, so I followed. She walked to the other side of the car and stood with her back to the far door, a vigilant posture when riding the train. I followed to fill up the space next to her, but as I tried to enter the space, the man who accompanied the girls stood in the middle of the car, partially blocking my way. He stiffened his body as I tried to pass by. It was an obvious attempt to force me to stand in the middle of the car in front of him where, as soon as the train doors closed, I would be an easy target for the girls.

I forcefully pushed by the man and took the space between him and my wife. He seemed interested in the bag and camera that I was carrying, both of which were slung over my shoulder and which I gripped tightly with my right hand. I looked like a tourist with my baseball cap, my camera, and my bag, and I suspected that he and his gang of girls had targeted me for robbery.

The girls entered into a nearby space at the back of the car and made a lot of giggling noises. Whether they robbed anyone there, I don’t know, but when they emerged from the space one of them was carrying a purse that she passed to one of her cohorts. No one in the space protested, so I suppose that the purse belonged to one of the girls.

The girls and the man exited the train at Pont Neuf, the next station down the line.

I was lucky to have been able to squeeze into the space between my wife and the man, because this is what I believe would have happened if I had stayed in the middle of the car: the girls would have emerged from the back of the car and surrounded me, playing their “innocent” games, running around me, bumping into me, distracting me, and finally robbing me. I would not have been able to retreat from them, because the man or one of the girls would surely have blocked me.

Although I have never seen this technique of thievery in action, I have heard about it. I remember the words of a dazed man who stepped from a train at the Pyramides station with his companion saying, “They cleaned me out!” At the time, I remember hoping that that would never happen to me.

I’ve also encountered the following over the years:

• A girl with another group once tried to pick my pocket on the same metro line at the same station.
• A distraught American man in the Pont Neuf metro station cried out to some girls, whose cohort apparently had stolen a camera from his young son. He tried to elicit their support to find the culprit to get the camera back, and succeeded in getting them to follow him out of the station.
• Once, when I was riding metro line 6, a group of girls entered the train. As they entered, I wondered to which adult they belonged, and I wondered why they all had blank stares on their faces. They got off at the next station, the doors closed, and a woman shouted, “They got my passport!” She and her companion got off at the following station, but it was too late to do anything but report the incident to the police.
• Once, when riding metro line 1, a group of about ten girls got on the last car and then walked rapidly in single file to the front car. (Line 1 trains are designed to allow free access from one car to the next.) They brushed people as they walked by, and brushed me even though I had allowed sufficient space for them to pass. One of the girls feigned interest in looking out the window every few feet. At the next station, the girls got out and, laughing and giggling, ran down the platform to the last car to begin their game again.

Paris, alas, has become a den of thieves, and tourists and residents alike are victims of this scourge.

For more information on this increasingly worrisome phenomenon, consult these articles:

17 Paris Scams Gypsies and Thieves Revealed
The Art of the Scam: The ‘Artsy’ Side of Paris You Don’t Want to See
Caught on camera: Moment brazen cashpoint thieves swarm around tourist near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris

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African Women Entrepreneurs Shine at Paris Press Conference

Friday, July 11th, 2014
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Women Entrepreneurs Who Participated at the Press Conference

Women Entrepreneurs Who Participated at the Press Conference
Photographs by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last Tuesday, a French association called CECAMI organized a press conference in Paris to announce an upcoming seminar on the promotion and empowerment of African women in entrepreneurial and leadership roles. During the conference, as many as 24 women entrepreneurs came forward to give brief presentations of their plans to launch a new business or to expand an existing one.

Eric Marty - Princesse Altermath-Nyogol-Massing and Marie-Reine Hassen

Eric Marty, Co-founder of afineety
Princesse Altermath-Nyogol-Massing, President of Conseil des Mariannes de la République et d’Europe
Marie-Reine Hassen, Marriane de la JIFA

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Presiding over the press conference were Princesse Altermath-Nyogol-Massing, president of the Conseil des Mariannes de la République et d’Europe, and Marie-Reine Hassen, marriane (sponsor) of the upcoming International Day of the African Woman (JIFA). They both affirmed the importance of nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of African women who want to create companies or take on roles as leaders in their communities. Also present was Eric Marty, one of the founders of a crowd-funding platform for African entrepreneurs called afineety.

The half-day-long seminar will be held on Saturday, July 12 at the French National Assembly. (Reservations for attending the event have closed.)

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Global Day of Service

Thursday, January 30th, 2014
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Pam Pappas Stanoch

Pam Pappas Stanoch
Books for Africa
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In celebration of the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Global Day of Service, the Union of Overseas Voters sponsored a talk at the Foundation des Etats-Unis yesterday evening.  Pam Stanoch, gave a presentation on Books for Africa, an organization that collects, sorts, ships, and distributes books to students of all ages in Africa.

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