Paris: Bridge of Scams

There's a pedestrian bridge between the Musee d'Orsay (the wonderful museum of impressionist paintings) and the Tuilleries Gardens right next to the Louvre. We were bemused by the dozens of padlocks on the wire mesh of the bridge's railings. Evidently they are "love padlocks," and we obviously missed our chance to leave a permanent (or semi-permanent) marker of our visit to Paris. The bridge was memorable for more than the padlocks: twice people attempted to scam us on that bridge, and in the second attempt two young women succeeded. Twenty euros later we were shaking our heads. How did they do that so well? I won't describe the scam because someone might get ideas -- it worked so well. Three days later, as I write this, we are still analyzing what they did. In my better, light-hearted moments, I think 20 euros isn't too much to pay to see two effective actors at work.