Americans who are welcomed in Europe

Old Jul 26th, 2001, 06:36 PM
  #1  
mimi taylor
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Americans who are welcomed in Europe

So new travellers know that everyone's experience is different. I stopped at the post office in Mollages, Provence to ask directions to a chambre d'hote. What little french I know was a mess to them. A young women overhearing my attempt at conversation invited us to follow her, she would take us there.We were invited later to he home for some pastis and we have seen eachother every year since. One year we were in staying at a farm in the southwest. A couple from Belguim had problems starting his car. My husband volunteered to take the man to a gas station for help. We see this couple every year now, And in Normandy, We always stay our last night at a chambre d'hote that we like so much because that couple have become our friends.My husband and I are not fluent in French but we like nice people.
 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 06:39 PM
  #2  
Book Chick
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Mimi,
Thank you so much for sharing this story. I met an older gentlemen on a train from Nice to Milan & we exchanged Christmas letters every year for some time until he passed away. I still regularly keep in touch with a number of the great people I was lucky enough to meet in Europe. Kindness is an international language that will transcend any barrier of communication that would otherwise be there.
BC
 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 07:07 PM
  #3  
StCirq
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Mimi:

I think this is the deep-down reason most of us frequent travelers to Europe keep going back - it's the "touch" of the people, the contact with individuals who make us realize that the way to forge diplomatic alliances is through individual contact. We can spout nationalistic preferences galore on any forum, but sitting in a café with someone from another country forces us to be personal about our politics. It's the meetings with the "locals" that really gels our views on politics and the world because we have to and want to be "real."
 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 07:14 PM
  #4  
Book Chick
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StCirq,
Yes, I agree, but it is amazing, I often think, how very much our priorities as people are always so similar. For example, I'm sure one of your top concerns is the health & safety of your children & loved ones, good education, reliable health care, etc. These concerns are really so universal, they are truly what compels us toward others who feel the same way. When people who travel live by the golden rule & either assist or are assisted by those who feel the same way, it actually does bind those folks.
BC
 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 07:22 PM
  #5  
StCirq
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<<These concerns are really so universal, they are truly what compels us toward others who feel the same way. When people who travel live by the golden rule & either assist or are assisted by those who feel the same way, it actually does bind those folks>>

Definitely - and by the way, Italian and French healthcare systems are So much better than any in the USA - ranked 1st and 2nd compared to 37th, if you can imagine....



 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 08:08 PM
  #6  
Capo
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I've always felt welcome pretty much everywhere I've gone in Europe. I've stayed in same hotel in Nice four times because I adore the woman and her son who run it...very kind people.

I also recall hitchhiking in Germany in 1987. My girlfriend & I were picked up by a German man who enthusiastically explained (I could understand most of what he said) how he remembered when the Americans came to his town in WWII. He was so happy to be giving a ride to two Americans that he took us to his house to meet his wife. Later that day we got another ride, from a much younger guy who had just returned from Greece with his girlfriend. He invited us to their apartment to share some ouzo (sp?). I hated the taste, but loved their hospitality.

 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 08:17 PM
  #7  
Mel
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I think one of the reasons I keep going back to the UK is because I've met only wonderful, friendly people there. Snapshots:
My first morning in London--first morning overseas!--had to find a chemist for my sister, who was ill. Wondered one block away and met up with a woman who was taking a walk. Asked her where the chemist was and she walked me right to it then back to my hotel again!
Two elderly ladies waiting at a bus stop heard our accents and started a lovely conversation about how they spent the war years shipped out of town to Windsor (as children) and how wonderful that America had fought with them.
B&B owners in Edinburgh who became instant friends the first night we booked with them. We've been back to see them three times and they've come here to see us. They shut down their B&B to show us Scotland for three days! Traveling to France with them next March.
The old man at the bar in a pub who taught me all about single malt whiskey.
In fact, all the friendly people in all the pubs.
The young woman who worked in the post office in Paris who, when I showed her a map and asked her how to get to Fouchets (sp), left her post, came out onto the street and pointed me in the right direction.
I could go on and on...I've seldom felt frightened or foreign when I travel because I always assume the people I meet will be nice. I'm seldom disappointed. Thanks for asking!
 
Old Jul 26th, 2001, 09:42 PM
  #8  
scott
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Thank God for a positive script!!!! My wife and I have been to several european countries over the last 6 years. Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Germany and Spain and like any other place in the world we are all not friendly. What I don't understand about many American tourists just because someone was rude to them or they were pickpocketed the whole country is bad! I guess we should all remember no place is perfect, but we should always try to reciprocate the gestures of goodwill. I absolutely love travelling in europe. The people are real and enjoy the true meaning of life. Maybe that's why they will take the time that others wont!! Where I live ? people are more concerned about time, money, material worth. Everyone should travel and to see there is a lot more to life than just making money.
 
Old Jul 27th, 2001, 12:53 AM
  #9  
sylvia
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You obviously have a positive attitude. You tend to get what you expect. If you go with the expectation that you are going to be ripped off, robbed or treated in an unfriendly way your attitude will come across and people will be coldly polite at best. If you are friendly and polite, you will make good friends.
One little hint, people have said before that a request should start with a polite good morning etc.
That applies in the UK too. Living in a city where we have lots of tourists, I prefer "excuse me, please could you...? to a brusque, "where's the...."
Another thing I'd add is please show respect when you visit a place of worship. Yesterday, an elderly American gentleman must have wondered why I gave him a beaming smile. It was because he removed his hat as he entered the Cathedral.
 

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