Action and Excitement

Friday, April 18th

The day. We were heading to Piazza del Popolo, and decided to take the subway, since this was further out in the direction we ended up yesterday. We went into the station, and found the ticket selling area, and while Rob was buying the tickets, three girls, or short women, came up to me and grabbed on to me. I had my video camera in my right hand, and my left hand was in my front pocket, where my wallet was located. I said "Go Away", but that had no effect. (I assume they didn't understand anyway). Then I pulled my left hand out of my pocket, and used it to wave them away. That is when, I assume, they removed it - and there were two on the left side. Less than a minute later I felt for my wallet and it was not there. We went straight back to the hotel, just to check that I had not left it there. I wrote down the credit card numbers, and the phone number to call to report stolen cards. So I called them all within an hour of the theft. I also called the US Embassy, because they had my green card, which I need to return to the US. They told me to report it to the police, and to take the police receipt to the US Embassy in London, where they would give me the necessary paper work to return.

Fortunately, American Express have an office in Rome, and they gave me a new card, within a couple hours of the theft. This card is also linked to my bank account, so I could use it to get cash. This proved to be a life saver, since all my cash, about $AUS 600, went with the wallet.

This took all morning, so we didn't have much time left for touring. We walked to Piazza del Popolo, another place to be seen, and had a nice day. Walked back to the hotel, via the Castel S. Angelo, the Castle of Saint Angelo. From there we walked back to the hotel, to prepare for dinner with some friends of Rob - Anna and Franco. This was in a hard to find restaurant, but was very enjoyable. Actually, it is the sort of restaurants the locals know about, but tourists would never find. Well worth the effort. We also arranged to see Franco the next day - Franco works in a university, and they have some new facilities which could be of some use for Rob's project.


St. Peter's Basilica
A Quiet Day

Updated at 17:19 EST on Mon Apr 24, 2006
Copyright (C) 2001 - 2006, Lindsay Harris