Howdi, am back from Prague and it was delightful, beautiful amazing place, wonderful people, I%26#39;m in awe,
even tho my purse was stolen, right out of a pub , I had been on a pub crawl with Prauge Experience, tour guide named Andy, orange umbrella,
we had visited the 3rd pub, there wasn%26#39;t a place really to set my purse, so I put it on one empty chair next to me, than put my long winter coat over that, there was about six of us at the table, I got up to go to the bathroom, I was gone 2-3 mintues, my husband and table was approached by an Asian looking girl selling flowers, she leaned very near the table, put these flowers down, they didn%26#39;t really know what was going on, than they got that she was selling them, they all told her no and she took them back, she apparently was used as a distraction so while all eyes were on her, someone carefully snatched my purse from under the coat on the empty chair, with my passport , drivers license, credit card, $500 and my digital camera, and 3 sentimental items that were charms I never leave home without, ( virgin mary, small gold anchor, etc.) they have no $$ value but meant alot to me, the little charm of Mary had been blessed by the pope, gift from my best friend since childhood, we looked all over , could not find it, we had the pub call the police, a pub called something with %26quot;rabbit%26quot; ?? the police came, and i have to tell u something that I thought was strange, the bartender/waiters were asked by us, %26quot;who are these people u let in here? u don%26#39;t know who comes in to your customers? do u know this girl? they got kind of huffy, said no english or something like that, but not nice ??
if I owned a restaurant, I know I would be sure that if some stranger comes in, ( not to eat or drink) I would certainly know who they are , or what they are about, because if they harm my customers, it would drive my business away,
but back to the story........ the police took us for a bit of a ride, to see if we could spot this girl, we didn%26#39;t, than they took us to the police station, we had to wait for an interpretor, a very very nice woman finally came, we told her everthing , a formal report was written up, which she translated , I dont%26#39; know if it will do any good but we followed procedure, these police and interpretor were very good to us, they got the American Embassy on the phone for me, I was very concerned because I was due to leave Prague the next day for Berlin at 1 p.m. and had no identification at all !
Got to the American Embassy the next morning first thing !! They were wondeful, God Bless them ! I had a new temporary passport in 1- 1/2 hours, I asked them have you ever seen this before where an item gets stolen right out of a restaurant?? and they said yes, EVERY DAY ! I told them that on the street, I had guarded that purse with my life , held it tight and in front of me, with my hand over the zipper, but in the pub with a group I truly thought my purse was safe , they stole it right in front a table of six and no one even saw it happen, not even my husband,
so lesson learned for me, I consider it my fault.
#1 , dont%26#39; carry a purse and if I do, only essentials in there, the rest will go in a hotel safe, or in a belt under my clothes, I just want to warn you ladies, please don%26#39;t sit your purse down , not even for a second, even if it is in a very nice pub and sitting 12 inches from you, somehow these thieves are watching and they are good, like magicians the embassy told me,
I will always love Prague and I would go back tomorrow if I could,
( this time a bit wiser ) it%26#39;s a beautiful place and wonderful people and has much to offer, I%26#39;ll be back ! :)
|||
What an awful experience, thanks for the warning.
|||
hi, sorry about your experience
same thing happened to us new years day in the castle grounds watching the changing of the guard, my wife lifted her arm to take a photo and the purse was gone, she is sure it was a little girl standing alongside her that done it, in the police station all nationalities were there reporing thefts, really upset us, and the added inconvenience of sorting out money,credit cards and driving licence. left a horrid taste in the mouth, but still love prague
lot has been said on these pages about pickpockets and people think it will never happen to them but it can so be careful
|||
worse part is that I usually don%26#39;t travel carrying a pocketbook but so many ladies had them, my own fault tho all the way, go with your gut feeling, it%26#39;s always right,
do u think the pub ? tour ? had something to do with this? am I being to suspicious ??? one%26#39;s mind can really start thinking crazy things, I just can%26#39;t get over the fact that they let people in --- going up to all their customers tables and they don%26#39;t know who they are?
or that they are thieves? and were they the ones who did it?
life%26#39;s big mystery !
|||
know how you feel, what if i had done this different or what if i had done that different, they say prague and other cities are full of opportunist thieves and pickpockets. weird thing is wife blamed herself for leting it happen and lots of people write in with good advice , but if you are targeted in metro etc, have heard tales of groups surrounding people, it is very scary, advice i think is take out only the money you need for the day, do not take credit cards etc unless you need them, notebooks etc only if you need them
dave
|||
It is quite common in European cities for flower sellers and other people like that to come into cafes and restaurants to try and sell their wares. Some will be honest, others not. Whilst in Salzburg we had a whole troupe of singers come into a restaurant and my first instinct was to grab my bag and keep it on my lap. I think the only advice to follow is take the least amount of stuff out with you, say some cash and 1 credit card only, and use the hotel safe if there is one for passports, however they are not always thief proof.
A friend of mine had her bag stolen whilst it was lodged between her feet under a cafe table in Amsterdam, she didn%26#39;t feel a thing. When you are on holiday you get caught up with the sightseeing, having fun etc. and you are not always sufficiently on your guard.
Thanks for your timely reminder on all this. I think someone saw you put your bag under your coat and came to take it a short while after when you went to the bathroom ...just a thought
|||
I would say guard ALL of your bags. I had a camera bag over my shoulder and a guy came to ask me for directions. Now, I%26#39;m obviously not a Czech person (very American looking black man) so I knew something was up. As I began to look away, I saw him glance at my camera and pocket. I spun and saw his accomplice behind me and then the man cut the strap and tried to run with the camera bag. I was hot on his heels and tripped him then dove on him. He banged his face on the sidewalk and was smashed and bleeding but I got my camera. THe police were there within one minute but people saw what happened and told the police. The guy got arrested. Bad experience. I was glad I got my camera and a nice group of older Czech ladies helped me calm down. One of their husbands bought me a beer and absinth. (Absinth. LOL. Never will I try THAT again!! LOL).
I wouldn%26#39;t recommend what I did to all and before I realized it, I was on top of the guy. I don%26#39;t have alot of money so what I have I will fight for, not just give away.
|||
you were really brave, but would not advise any one else to do that as the police do not always fall on the side of the tourist, and if you have no witnesses there could be trouble
|||
Very true. But then again, are you supposed to just let someone take off when you see them 5 feet away from you as they try to gain speed? I think, if the lady who started this thread saw the woman lift her bag, she would%26#39;ve pulverized her if she had to, or at least ran over and snatched it back. Next time, I might approach it differently but no one stopped to help me. It was my camera and I%26#39;ve heard of horror stories that the police barely helped some who have been robbed.
I think alot of us here would likely protect our belongings, even if it meant running someone down to get it back, if we could. I%26#39;m sure not too many people who have been robbed have gotten their stuff back. And again, I don%26#39;t condone what I did.
|||
In response to your thoughts are the pub in on the theft.
I was in Barcelona a couple of years ago. My friends and I were in a back street pub just off Las Ramblas watching a football match there was about 8 of us. Whilst watching the match one of the women noticed her bag had been stolen. When we remonstrated to the bar owner about how much we had spent in his bar and the fact that we were practically the only ones in there he got a bit agitated.
After some more proding from ourselves he sent one of his staff out and about half an hour later he returned with the bag. The only thing missing was about £200 cash. We obviously had our suspicions but were glad her passport and credit cards were intact.
Cheers
Dave
|||
Ive recently visited Prague with 3 lady friends we were pleasantly surprised how safe we felt . I think you have to use your commmon sense when going in tourist areas, e.g. every one was so intent on watching the Clock in the old town square it was a pick pockets dream. As I had seen it numerous times I did not watch it but watched the people instead, ther e was a bunch of very well dress men not interested in the clock but eying the crowd to me it was obvious they were up to no good.
Last year when I went with my husband who thinks he is street wise we went shopping in the large local market north of the river, he came out of a shop put his small purse in his buttoned knee/leg pocket then we got on a tram. We had to stand when we got off at the other end his purse was gone and he had not felt a thing even though it was buttoned up only had £50 in it but it learnt him a lesson.
I love Prague and would not be out off by all this talk of pickpockets etc its what you expect to find in any large city in the world.
