It's hard to get an accurate picture of what a country is like when you're travelling through it as a tourist. You only really see what people want you to, the picture painted for tourists.
I loved Italy. I only saw a tiny fraction of it, and most of what I saw was packed with non-Italians. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic experience. Particularly Rome. Rome was probably my favourite part of the six days we spent there! When we went to collect our Omnia passes from the office in Rome, I remember thinking that the fellow explaining them to us was so very Italian (stereotyping, I know...). He spoke very energetically, repeating words and phrases until we were suitably excited. And, of course, gesticulating enthusiastically throughout. My favourite moment was when he was explaining the skip-the-line element. "When you go to these places, like St Peter's, or the Colosseum, there will be long lines. Two-hour long lines, with impatient people. But you don't need to wait, you just walk past them. You can hold out your pass and wave at them! Just like Mr Bean." (He then performed an excellent Mr Bean impression). As we laughed, he then said, "Don't really do that. You'll make people angry." That laid back sense of humour was our first taste of what I think might be the general tone of Italy. If you are an impatient person, or someone who always feels the need to rush, Italy probably isn't for you. Italians take their time. They're not lazy, by any means. Nor were they exactly slow. They were just...unhurried.
We missed our train to Verona when we were in Florence because I read our ticket wrong. But when we spoke to the attendant at the station, he had a quick look at the tickets and said, "Okay, no problem. We'll swap these for you." He then handed them to another bored-looking attendant who immediately started typing on his computer. The first man wondered off and Isabelle and I stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. Wait for the young man to finish swapping our tickets? Was that what he was doing? He didn't say anything, so we couldn't tell... It probably took him about five or ten minutes to sort it, and he handed us our new tickets and muttered something in English.
"Grazie," I said to him, which is Italian for 'thank you' and he broke into the biggest grin I'd seen that day. He looked like a completely different guy with that smile! "Prego! Have a lovely day!" He replied as Isabelle and I went to catch our new train, Isabelle laughing about how much he'd smiled when I spoke Italian to him. I think that can probably be said of most countries though; if you are willing to at least try speaking to them in their own language, the locals will be much more friendly and willing to help. (Except perhaps France, where they'd rather you not butcher their beloved language with your awful accent. BIG TIP: If you learned French in Canada this is doubly true.) Overall the locals were really good about offering us directions and advice when we paused to ask, but there were definitely moments where we also got the "ugh, tourists" eye-roll.
What else do I have to say about Italy that hasn't been said better by someone else? It's incredible. The ocean, the history, the food, the weather...loved every minute. Next time I go back to Italy though, I think a beach day (or week) is in order.
Tags
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Follow me on Instagram for frequent peeks at what I'm up to.
top Tripsdestination
|