Barcelona pt. 1

     Everybody warned us, there were signs in all the shops, announcements over the loud speaker and warnings in all the guidebooks "Watch out for pickpockets and thieves". I said it myself many times, I even watched a young girl crying thinking "She must have been robbed."  Then, in a Starbucks, on our second day in the city, it happened to me.  I put my bag next to Dave on the bench, and returned to get our coffees.  He came up to help me, leaving my bag on the bench, with Debbie, his sister, sitting right there.  I returned less than 45 seconds later and it was gone.  My new, hot pink Vera Bradley bag was gone as if it had never existed.  I immediately checked the bathrooms, and looked for my very obvious bag, but it had vanished.  Inside were my travel Barcelona card (which the the information folks reissued when I brought the police report), an ACPL library book about Barcelona ( the very one that warned me), several maps with all our preferred stops and places to visit, a credit card and my beloved camera which I was forced to buy when the very same thing happened in Ecuador.   

Now, besides loosing the rest of the day waiting for the police (who, when they came, got to take notes on several robberies in the Starbucks which happened just while we were waiting for them to come), finding our way to the police station which is cleverly concealed inside a metro stop, and dealing with the general feeling of crappy, I had to take a good look at myself.  

I fancy myself this well traveled person who KNOWS things about traveling.  I've been around, I know what not to do, yet didn't I just get caught out doing exactly what I knew I shouldn't. Never put your bag down.  Never let it out of your sight, even for 45 seconds, even if you're in a place that really feels home-like.  It's NOT home.  I was embarrassed, actually, I felt ashamed that I was so stupid.  Now, I've come to terms with the event, and have adjusted my thinking to "What I did was thoughtless, I am not stupid."(thank you Brene Brown)  It didn't make me feel better that in the police station were more than a dozen people reporting getting robbed, several at Starbucks. It doesn't make me feel better that Dave has left his camera with me for the rest of the trip.  It doesn't make me feel better knowing that Dave and Deb both have taken hundreds of pics which will help replace the ones I took in Bardou which are now gone.  Only time will help me feel better, I think. 

Now I'm in Roma and the city definitely has the homey feeling to me.  However, you better bet that I'm FOR SURE keeping my eyes and hands on my bag at all times.