[tomwed]

Originally Posted by PennBF

I have worked both in Manhattan and Paris and there is little difference between the two. You are just as safe, if you follow good saftety rules in both cities. Of course if you run a paper that blasts the Muslim's (not that it is wrong to express free speech) you will have a greater risk than a person working in a shop. I have often heard people say they don't want to go to one city or another because of risk, crime, etc. In reality one city is not different than the other. In some cases one city may have a different kind of crime than another, As an example in Europe there are more non violent crimes like pick pockets than in the US where there is more violent crimes. Spain is quite known for pick pockets as is Rome. It is interesting that of all the time I have spent in Europe the on City I would never have suspected of being a risk, was. I am speaking of Luzern, Switzerland. We had a pickpocket follow us through the city until I frightened him away. Net of all of this is that no one should be afraid to visit a city BUT and it's a big BUT that does not mean that in any ciity somone should drop their awareness of what is around them and if there is any kind of a risk. One last point. In each city there is a section that would probably not be safe to go into. This includes NY City, Paris, Rome, London, etc.etc. As the old time Comic use to say, "If it hurts to do it, don't do it" same applies to these sections. "If it hurts to go there don't go there".

When we went to Europe 3 years ago I wore a money belt because Rick Steves told me to. I followed all his rules. We had fun as a couple but I was constantly surveying the area and the crowd, probably unnecessarily. Now I think I need to travel with a group. I don't like getting old.