FireStryker Living History Forum : Your dream vacation to Europe

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Topic: Your dream vacation to Europe

Anne-Marie
Member
Member # 8

posted 06-05-2001 02:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Gen d'Arme:
I have met numerous people who have never travelled to Europe, but think the French hate anyone other than temselves. Hogwash the French are wonderfull people! Even the Parisians!

I must second this...I spent three glorious weeks in France and Italy. A week was in paris, and I found everyone extremely helpful and gracious as long as I understood that they werent there to wait on me. Good manners went a long way when my pigeon French failed. I managed to buy used books and have the shipped, do complicated transactions at the post office, buy groceries, function in a pharmacy (what an adventure that was...my travel companion wanted a laxitive and alas my french was not up to it the techs were seriously giggling by the time we were done, but then so were we....), have botanical discussions with lockkeepers in the wilds of burgundy, hear the tales of the loves of Giepetto the Goat from the Ma Kettle like character at one lock, debate whether or not women were allowed into the order of the Golden Fleece with a shopkeep outside the Dukes Palace in Dijon...

in Italy I spoke NO italian and even got an impromptu lesson from an old lady on how to tell a waiter I'm allergic to something. half the time I spoke French with an Italian lilt and still managed to get what I wanted...

in short, everyone was very nice and gracious and extremely patient with me!

decide where you want to go based on where you want to go....dont let the language deter you! (Rick Steves talks about this alot in his books. Check 'em out!)

--AM, who's dream vacation in two years or so will be a week in paris, then a week somewhere else, probably in France, with a trip to Brugges for good measure

--------------------

"Let Good Come of It"

Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

Gwen
Member
Member # 126

posted 06-05-2001 10:47 AM

J.K. Vernier and I were discussing this and he said he had much better luck in museums when he left the Tshirt and home and opted for a sport jacket and collared shirt.

Apparently, Europeans in general are more formal, and especially the museum keeps think Americans are being nearly sacreligious when they enter the precincts of a museum in their tennies and a T shirt.

It is my understanding that one also gets a much better table in a restaurant or cafe if "properly" attired.

Just my 2¢

Gwen

Registered: Feb 2001 | IP: Logged

J.K. Vernier
Member
Member # 123

posted 06-05-2001 08:04 PM

Yes, that was my experience. I found it easier to be given the time of day, and easier to be left on my own when I wanted, if I made some effort not to look like a slob. It may be truer on the continent than in England, but I think it is generally useful (i.e., more versatile) to dress respectfully so that no-one is inclined to see you as a potential freeloader. My girlfriend and I had to spend a night at the airport in Rome, and since we were dressed for churchgoing the police left us alone. The unshaven American guy with his gut bulging out of his teeshirt, who kept trying to cadge cigarettes, had a harder time. He might have been a perfectly decent fellow, but he didn't inspire confidence.
I was also amused to discover that airline people in Amsterdam automatically assumed I was European because I was wearing a sport coat. I'm not sure that's a major advantage, but I was hoping the pickpockets in Rome would give me the same courtesy.

Registered: Feb 2001 | IP: Logged

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