Miscellaneous Forum

Yes. I had my camera confiscated at the National Museum in Rome.......It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for a couple of people brazenly taking photos and not being stopped. Ah well. Carole.

You must delete those photo's immediately Paul!

When we visited Sidney one morning woke up VERY EARLY(due to jet lag probably). We had an early breakfast and went to the Botanic Gardens. Inside the botanic garden there is the government house "http://www.sydney.com.au/govhouse.htm" and we entered to visit it. We were alone, and we salute to several people working there. When we were at teh toilets a policeman came seriously to us, and asked WHY were we there...I told him we just were pising(at that moment I was finished, waiting for my wife)...he told me something I didn´t understand well, and I took my backpack to get my bottle of water...AND HE PUT HIS HAND IN HIS GUN and told me to STOP RIGHT NOW AND leave the backpack in the floor.....I was scared to death, and right then my wife came out from her toilet and her face(I still remember that face, lol)...He checked my backpac, and my body and I tried to explain myself with my poor english...well...the problem was that it was just 8:30 a.m and the opening hour was 9:00 a.m, but nobody stop us at the entrance, or at the gardens...people just saluted us, and we replied saying "hello". Now I smile when I recall it...but when he touched his gun...it was no fun at all.

I did the same in a Polish castle, and I mention it out loud to my friend from Poland. The friend took the camera and said, "those signs are only for the tourists" and took dozens of pictures inside the castle..

ha, ha......they were both female. Carole.

I once walked out of a bar sober :)

Miguel that was really scary,Im sorry you had to go through that. I glad you saw him touch his gun Tarja haha your friend is very funny lol I can't stop laughing Carole,that was unfortunate,what happned to the other pics you had???

Jeeeeez John you nearly scared me lol

They returned my camera as I left so the photos were in tact. Carole.

Well, it was nothing official, but while in Paris I was given a tour of a large company by friends. We stopped at the coffee bar and I stepped away from our table to take their picture. You know, for my memories. When I came back to the table my friends were laughing. I asked what was so funny and they told me. The others in the coffee bar thought it was so unusual that I would be taking a photo, so my friends told them I was a journalist! Needless to say, so as not to embarrass them further, I didn't take many more photos while with my friends.

Well, there was the time at the Rotterdam post office when I sailed confidently in through the door marked "Heen Ingang." I was very proud of recognizing the word Ingang - entrance. How was I supposed to know that Heen is a negating word?? :) Luckily, the only person who caught me was Pieter Jan. He didn't fine me, but he has teased me about it ever since.

During a long stay in Calcutta, we developed an evening ritual of dinner and drinks at an outdoor restaurant under a couple of banyan trees. We expats and some local workers would gather and have a very pleasant evening talking and solving the world's problems. The restaurant had this wonderful steak "chateau au sizzling" that melted in your mouth. Served on a hot metal plate you could hear the sizzling as it came out of the kitchen. The third time I ordered it I noticed the waiter looked grief stricken as he brought it out. It dawned on me, finally, that this beef fat splattering on him was highly offensive to him and a forbidden food. Didn't taste so good and I never ordered it again.

I think most of us have inadvertently done something--and possibly still don't realize it if we weren't caught. I have taken a few pictures before I saw the signs. Also, I was busily taking photos in one museum before being approached by the guard--photos were allowed, but there was a fee and I hadn't noticed. He escorted me back to the cashier, and all was fine.