We were walking over the Pont Des Arts bridge yeaterday afternoon and stopped to watch a boat. A woman appears next to me, bends down and picks up a "gold ring" is this yours she asks, I answer no, so she starts to examine it closely and points out the markings inside, tries it on, lo and behold it's too big, this is a heavy wedding band looking ring, hands it to me and says you keep it it's lucky. I say thats ok you keep it, she refuses and starts to walk away, then she comes back and asks if I could give her some money for a cafe, ok, I know its a scam..I smelled the ring and it smells brass but I guess I'm a soft touch and I give her 3 Euros, well, this isn't enough she says, so I tell her to give me back the euros and take the ring...no..can you give me more...at that point I just said no and held out the ring...she walked away....I guess it wasn't enough. We had just had a really good dinner and a bottle of wine and I was feeling good had she just asked for some money I'd probably have given her more.... Anyone want to buy a nice heavy "gold" wedding band...cheap..the story alone is worth 10 euros
Daniel and Priscilla in Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 634 | Location: South Florida | Registered: 25 July 2001
It may be mine! Really. Ions ago, friends of mine always planned a spring picnic near the Pont des Arts, on the western tip of the Ile de la Cité. One year an artist friend decreed that we all should make "boats" and should put something that we had always meant to get rid of on the boat and set it free on the Seine - our regatta picnic.
Just divorced, I put my wedding ring on a paper boat that I had made. It's the kind that kids make, that I remember from my childhood, and it turned out to be the most Seine-worthy of the whole regatta.
Seeing that paper boat solidly sailing toward the Channel, with my ring on it, I felt as free as the bateau ivre. One incredulous friend wanted to dive in to get it...
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pauline,
Americana in Parigi, wow, your ring jumped up onto the bridge...all these years later, I must say, incredible.. However if the ring fits, its yours...or was that shoe Cinderella (ah that's another whole story)
daka and Priscilla on the left bank, a stones throw from the Dame....
Daniel and Priscilla in Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 634 | Location: South Florida | Registered: 25 July 2001
Originally posted by daka: Americana in Parigi, wow, your ring jumped up onto the bridge...all these years later..
All these years and about 10 feet later ! However it does not sound as though it would fit this Cinderella. My finger size is so pathologically small that even rings that I WANT to keep do fall off.
But yours is a good story. I have heard lots of good scam stories, but this one is novel.
She forces you to take the ring and then comes back, asks for money and starts negations after you give her some money for something you did not want in the first place.
I glad daka was not intimated by the women's scam, but I have a gut feeling it has work on other tourists that were intimated by this method of intimidation.
Guess what? We were crossing the Alexander bridge this afternoon and I see a woman heading toward me, kind of gypsy looking, (not that I have anything against gypsys), but as she bends down near me I see her come up with a "gold ring" ..... I said to Priscilla "here we go again"...This time I just smiled and said no thanks...thinking to myself I really don't need another "gold" wedding band....
Daniel and Priscilla in Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 634 | Location: South Florida | Registered: 25 July 2001
This is an old Ponzi scheme. The "prize" differs from jewelry, a wallet full of "money" (counterfeit), a winning lottery ticket. Check out "The Grifters" very dark movie but it teaches you a lot about life on "the grift".
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