Bag Riviera

Bag Riviera

French Riviera Travel - Nice Carnival

NICE CARNIVAL

green light. This junior version of Mardi Gras rocks the town for ten days in January. Yer basic excuse for a street party. With all the usual trimmins – music, food, booze, outrageous behaviour by otherwise normal people.

red flag. It's the street thieves Christmas. Not the bold-you-saw-it-on-tv-and-could'nt-believe-it ones who pull yer arm of out it's socket grabbing your bag at the traffic light, then zoom off on their scooter.

No dear reader,these are the ‘crème de la crème" of the breed. Smoother than a baby's bottom. Slicker than an oiled lap dancer. Europe's premier pickpockets. Artistes of the illegal. To see them in action,is truly to observe "poetry in motion."

Here's one of their many "cool moves." Working in pairs, P.P. one bumps into you, cutting your camera strap at the same moment. Even before you turn,before his "excuse me", your camera has dropped into the shopping bag of P.P two, who is, at the moment of the "excuse me", twenty paces gone in the opposite direction. Slick. Definitely. But wait – there's more!

After the excuses, P.P. one will walk in the opposite direction from P.P. two. So that, if you do notice immediately that you are suddenly camera-less, and if, you can actually find and confront him, you'll feel like a total dork. Because P.P. one, in addition to being cool, polite, and not(more probably pretending not) speaking English is carrying nothing! No shoulder bag. No backpack. No briefcase. Nada. And what are you gonna say now? You guessed it. "Uh……Excuse me….I've made a mistake."

About the Author

Christopher Strong(The BICYCLE GOURMET) is the Creator/Director/Host of the Multi-Media Lifestyle/Adventure series - "Bicycle >Gourmert's Treausres of France", and the Author of "Gliding to ther Bonheur." His behind the scenes story of that filling.

 

His French Adventures continue HERE.

Marina El Cid Riviera Maya