art Delacroix France Paris

Louvre and pick pockets

Posted on by L H Watson
Reading time 4 minutes

We went to the Louvre and spent over three hours and still saw only a small part of the museum.

The Louvre Palace is an almost rectangular structure, composed of the square Cour Carrée and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon to the north and south. In the heart of the complex is the Louvre Pyramid, above the visitor’s center. The museum is divided into three wings: the Sully Wing to the east, which contains the Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; the Richelieu Wing to the north; and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south. We didn’t even try to go into each of the wings. We mainly looked at European paintings in the Richelieu and Denon wings.

Nike of Samothrace
J L David paintings in the large format French paintings room

Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People

Of course, we had to see the Mona Lisa

L’Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel in background

After a snack at a restaurant, Cafe Ruc, on Rue St Honore,
we went to Galleries Lafayette to do some Christmas shopping.
After shopping, we wanted to go to Place de la Concorde. As we were reading our map, some guy pointed out we could catch the Metro. Getting onto the Metro, one hand on Sidney, one holding a bag of shopping, we were crowded as we tried to get through the train door by a group of girls about 11 or 12 years of age. On the train, Scott told us one of them was trying to unzip his pocket where he kept his wallet.

We got off at Place de la Concorde and I looked at my purse and saw the zipper was open and my wallet was gone even though I was wearing it slung diagonally across my body and inside my coat, although the buttons weren’t done up. Sidney started crying. She later told us that she thought it meant we weren’t going to be able to get home because my wallet was gone.

Scott was later convinced the guy who directed us to the Metro was working with the gang of girls. In any event, it was clear they were pretty talented group of pick pockets.

We decided to return to the flat instead of looking for a restaurant near Place de la Concorde. Some guy helped me squeeze through the entry gate because I no longer had my Metro card and trying to use Scott’s didn’t work after he’d already gone through. Back at the flat, over the next few days, I reported my credit cards stolen. We never learned of any attempted us of my credit cards or bank cards. We chalked it up to a lesson in not carrying all your cash and cards in one place.
We ended up at a nearby Italian restaurant, Bistro Romain, for dinner although our appetites were dampened. People had their dogs in the restaurant.

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