People Watching

"People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home"   Dagobert D. Runes



The tree people in Florence, Italy

One of my favorite things to do is people-watch. Whenever we travel we like to take time to just sit down for awhile and watch the people around us. You learn more about a country watching the people, and sometimes you see some really strange things. For example: In 1992 we were in Italy for 3 weeks. While walking around a square in Florence we noticed some people who were dressed in very bright colored material and adorned with tree branches. We sat down and watched them for awhile. They were chanting something in Italian, so we assumed it might be some kind of demonstration or protest. They danced around some, they were quite entertaining, and they drew a crowd. We never found out what they were trying to do, but we did enjoy watching them.



Romans in Paris

Another interesting group we came upon in Paris in 2003. We were near the Eiffel Tower, and we had been walking for awhile, so we decided to sit down on a bench in a park and rest. We saw a group of teenagers coming towards us. They were dressed as ancient Romans, with capes, helmets, some had breastplates, and all had swords and shields made from cardboard. As we sat there watching them a business man, looking very dignified with his suit and briefcase, was headed in their direction. The business man held his briefcase in front of him like a shield and drew and imaginary sword and had an imaginary sword fight with one of the Roman kids. It was funny to watch. Everyone in the park was enjoying it. We asked the Romans if we could take their picture, so they gathered for a photo shoot.


Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain

 Most times our people watching is just ordinary everyday stuff, and it is interesting how alike we all are, no matter what country we are from. We all do the same things, and have the same kinds of interaction with people. I loved Spain in the evenings, the squares become neighborhoods.  They set up tables for outdoor restaurants and everyone in the neighborhood comes out to mingle. They all greet each other, the kids play together, people have their dogs with them. It's a neighborhood, in the best sense.

So, when you travel, (either foreign or here at home), sit down, relax and take in the scenery around you, it's fascinating. 



Our anniversary trip to Italy

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep permanent, in the the ides of living." 
 Miriam Beard

Besides travel information, I thought I would occassionally throw in a story from my travels.  This story is about the best Christmas present I ever received and goes back to the start of my travel days.

When my husband first proposed to me, I actually turned him down. I loved him, but felt I was too young to get married, and besides, there were so many places in the world I wanted to go, and if I got married I wouldn't be able to just go.  However, he was persistent, and he finally wore me down. I said yes, and he said “I promise to take you to Italy someday.” That was the number one thing on my list of places to go. The years went by, we had a daughter. He was in the Navy, so I was seeing some new places, in the states and then for 2 years in the Philippines. There wasn't enough money for trips to Italy.  In 1989, I was able to take a trip to London, our daughter was going to school there. George stayed home, we didn't really have enough money for 2 of us to go. Kim and I spent 3 weeks exploring England, Scotland and even got over to Paris for a few days. It was fun, but Italy was still the number one place on my list.

 

The Forum in Rome, Italy

So on Christmas 1991, I was surprised when my gift from George was a new set of luggage, and inside the luggage was an anniversary card and brochures of Italy. He told me he had been secretly saving money, so that on our 25^th anniversary we would be in Italy. I had 9 months to plan the trip I wanted.  George's only request was that we do a tour. He felt that since we didn't know the language and neither of us had been to Italy before, that we should do a tour. Now I'm not really a tour person, I'd rather go it on our own, but I was willing to compromise. I found a tour through Perillo Tours – they specialize in Italy. It was a 10 day tour and it covered Rome, Venice and Florence, with stops in Sienna, Assisi, Perugia and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Of all the tours I looked at, it had the most free time. I booked that one, and then talked George into adding a week on our own at the end of the tour, by then we'd be seasoned travelers of Italy.

 

Venice, Italy

Our 25^th anniversary was September 17^th, 1992. We were in Italy for our anniversary. We started our trip in Rome, then to Venice (which is where we were on the 17^th), made the stops in Sienna, Assisi, Perugia (for some chocolates), spent a few nights in Florence, saw the leaning tower of Pisa, and then ended back in Rome. It was actually a good group of people, and we loved our guide Nilo. When the group departed, we got on a train south to the city of Sorrento, which is just across the bay from Naples. I had researched and found a cute little family owned hotel perched on the cliff overlooking the bay of Naples. From our balcony we had a fantastic view. The town of Sorrento was delightful and famous for its lemons and an alcoholic version of lemonade – lemoncello. We visited the isle of Capri while there, and went over and spent and afternoon at the ruins of Pompeii. We swam in the sea, and we wandered around the town. It was a delightful week.

Taken from our hotel in Sorrento, Italy

We spent 2 more days back in Rome on our own before flying home. George got more comfortable with going on our own, but we had the best of both, the tour was good, and the week on our own was also.

George kept his promise when he said that “someday he'd take me to Italy.” And since then we have made it a point to travel somewhere on our major (every 5 year) anniversary. This year will be 45 years and we plan to take a cruise from Boston to Montreal – down the St. Lawrence River. And I have never regretted saying yes all those years ago. For anyone out there that wants to surprise their spouse with a great present, I can tell you that this was the best one I ever had.