I've been writing lots about what we've been doing because we've been doing a lot. And that's okay. It's kind of the idea. This was supposed to be a basics tour for our daughter's graduation present so that she could get a sense for what a few parts of Italy were like and decide if she would like to return and maybe spend some real time somewhere. I think that was accomplished.
This has been nice in its own way. It's also been a little frenetic. How many tours can you take? I mean that literally. I've been here since Saturday, today's Wednesday, and I've already been on 3 tours, ranging from 3 1/2 to 7 hours. Tomorrow we have another one, when we visit Pompeii, and then yet another one the next day for a visit to Capri. The nature of a visit somewhere is necessarily affected by the guide. Obviously, you hope that all of the guides will be wonderful, but that's never then case. If you can hit 80% you're doing very well.
Since the beginning of my visit We've had one excellent one, one good one and and one maybe not so good one, though even she had her merits. Today, the whole mood of our visit to the Vatican Museum was colored by this guide, who, at least by her account today, hates the Vatican, hates the pope (though not as much as she hated the previous pope) and isn't so fond of the people who work in the museum. Just the thing to put us in an upbeat, spiritual mood to fully experience the Sistine Chapel (or sixteenth chapel, as Justin Bieber would say).
Look, this woman really knew her stuff, so I can't really complain. She had tremendous historical knowledge and understanding of the context of what we were seeing, which is a gift. But on many levels she was an awful guide. She never made any attempt to relate to us or find out what we were interested in. She just imparted information. If we asked about things, she was very informative in response and had really interesting things to say, but I never had the sense that she was with us.
I guess that isn't really necessary. It doubt our guide from yesterday will remember us in month as anything more than a pleasant small group who were fine to spend the day with. And we thought she was great. But at least we felt like we were with a person. Today we felt like we had a teacher for a while and then she left after imparting her knowledge.
But back to the larger point, doing a survey trip like this almost has to sell a place short. Usually I try to short circuit that for myself by getting up early and going for long walks around wherever we're staying, which lets me get a sense of place. But because of my weird sort of non-jet lag let lag, that hasn't been possible. I'm getting up just in time for breakfast, just like everyone else, which never happens. So I'm left experiencing places for a couple of days at a time, highly influenced by guides. And I don't know where the nearest supermarket or drug store is and it really bothers me.
As someone who really loves to travel and has traveled a decent amount under a variety of circumstances, I always want to know where I am. In Chianti that wasn't such a huge deal because I knew we were in the middle of nowhere and there was a town a couple of kilometers up the road. But in a city I'm used to knowing the area- I just feel more at home that way. And though we've done a fair amount of walking, it's all been either south or west, and I have no real idea what's north or east. That bothers me. Rome is a huge city, the size of Chicago, and if you don't know your immediate area, you're just a visitor. So I guess I'm just a visitor. I can dress like a local and get a kick out of people thinking I am a local (even though I can't help it, I do enjoy it when people think I'm Italian and ask directions) but when it comes down to it I'm just a tourist- a properly dressed, respectful tourist, but a tourist just the same. Oh well, can't be helped this go round. We'll do better next time.
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