Spring is in the air

We've had some lovely weather the last few days. After class, Brian and I decided to walk to the u-bahn station so we could walk by Votivkirche and through the nearby park. There were a lot of people sitting out enjoying the sunlight and warmth.


While trying to take that photo, a young boy approached us to try to sell us flowers. You see this fairly often around Vienna. Young girls and boys walk around touristy areas holding out a flower. If you take it, they insist that you pay for it. Sometimes they will thrust the flower into your hand and then refuse to take it back. I suppose this works for tourists who may be confused and not want to cause a scene, but I think it's also a front for pickpockets.

This boy was waving his flower in front of my camera and when I turned my camera directly on him, he gave me a big smile.


After I took the photo and a few others of the park, he wanted to see the photo of himself. As I showed it to him, I wondered if this was a ruse to pick my pocket. The sad fact is that many of these children are trained by their parents or other adults to become thieves. This was one of the topics (the trafficking of children) that was discussed in a recent forum hosted by the UN in conjunction with UN.GIFT -- the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. I hope to write more on this topic in a few weeks.