Traveling to Europe to me means encountering locals and ending up in conversations with them and these chance encounters - often in my case at the breakfast tables in hotels or B&Bs - are more memorable than the mega sights.

do you have any memorable discussions or conversations from your trips?

I'll start when one from my recent European jaunt.

I was staying in a B&B in London in remote Eltham - a classic oldtime B&B with three rooms and an elderly lady tending the place.

When i went down to breakfast one morning the lady, seemingly apologetically, told me there was 'a Black man who came in last night.'

I sat down opposite a very Black man about 40 and after the usualy Good morning munched my Wheat-a-Bix in silence.

I figured the guy was British and theorized that he was a bus driver or something. Curiously i asked him where he was from.

"Nigeria" he said, in a typical Nigerian accented English. Obviously extrememly fluent in English we got talking about things such as what do you do, why are you here, etc.

And far from being a bus driver the Nigerian explained that he was a financier back home - working for Nigerian banks trying to attract investment. His analysis of the Nigerian investment circles proved that this was indeed a very educated person, belying the sterotype in my mind about totally corrupt Nigerians, etc.

He made no bones about corruption in his country and how it was a stumbling block to attracting, along with stability, foreign investors. But he thought the tide had turned and that the military would never stage coups again but let the democractic process flourish - in spite of indemic vote buying, etc. that he said was there.

He then claimed that foreign banks or investors now were getting routinely 100% returns on their loans or whatever - sounded incredulous to me but i had no reason not to believe this gentlemen.

He explained how everyone practically speaks English in Nigeria and the schools are indeed conducted all in English.

Talk popped up about the U.S. Presidential elections - i said something about Barack - thinking he would show support for a fellow Black and African heritage-wise

But the Nigerian replied "that's a very interesting question" because Bill Clinton is a Saint to us and explained the affinity of Africans to Bill - he liked Obama as well but not as much as Bill.

He explained that every year he escaped the chaos, heat, etc. of Nigeria and takes a few weeks holiday in the States, where he had relatives and was heading in a few days - to New Jersey near NYC.

A memorable comment he made about Americans was that "man they love their country" - lamenting that Nigerians were not so loving of theirs - he said even Nigerians who have become citizens love America as well.

I was curious as to how and why this well off no doubt Nigerian made his way to this low-budget (but nice) $24 pound/nt B&B with unlimited breakfast in this rather non-descript part of London.

He explained how his brother and his family lived in the neighborhood and he was staying here rather than in their cramped flat - he was off to Newark in a few days

I said good bye and 'have fun in New Joy-sy"

At a Bed and Breakfast in Ireland we met a couple from Germany who said they usually vacation in Egypt. I asked them to tell me about the Pyramids and they replied they had never seen them...they go to Egypt to scuba dive.

I've posted this before on my trip report.

Last Sept (Sept 07) I went to London by myself for about 6 days. One night I went to dinner at Belgo Centraal in Soho. Soon after I was seated, a solo diner was seated right across from me (seating was communal style benches).

I initially thought he was British and started chatting with him. Later on I found out he's American in the movie industry. He bought a round of schnapps and insisted me to drink a few. We talked about traveling in Europe.

30 minutes into our meal, I finally realized he was Brendan Fraser, the actor!

Hello PalenQ, probably the most interesting conversation I had was at the airport in Amsterdam. I had gotten a sandwich and glass of wine at a cafe and managed to find an empty table. I sat down and took a sip of wine and saw a pleasant looking Asian man with a tray of food looking for a table. There was not a vacant table. We made eye contact and I nodded to the chair across from me. He shyly came over to my table and I told him he was welcome to share the table if he would like to (I don't make a habit of picking up unknown men, lol). Anyway long story short he was a businessman from Tawaiin. He had travelled to Europe on business. We had the most interesting hour and a half conversation. I am sure other patrons of the cafe could have wrung our necks as we did overstay our time at the table. I will always remember that incident..thank you for your thread PalenQ..it brings back beautiful and interesting memories.

Old ladies are one thing, but Good Lord PalenQ, you assume that a black man must work as a bus driver or similar? And that black people would automatically support a black political candidate (even ignoring the fact that it's in a completely different country/culture to his own - why would you even think that about black Americans)?

That's one hell of an admission to make.

Not to mention that you were surprised to discover that Nigerians are not usually uneducated or corrupt.

As a partner of a Nigerian man (an accountant, gosh, another educated one, that makes two) who also works with several Nigerians and has a lot of Nigerian friends, I found your post really offensive.

Nona

I wasn't going to say anything, but it's possible that there is an American attitude here (of course you may be American ;-)).

My first thought on seeing a really black man in a B&B would be African and probably a student.
If he were older, I'd assume that he was a doctor or a solicitor.

<i>&quot;but it's possible that there is an <b>American</b> attitude here&quot;</i>

Isn't that a typical stereotype here on Fodor's by non-Americans?

&quot;but it's possible that there is an American attitude here&quot;

Isn't that a typical stereotype here on Fodor's by non-Americans?


It's a fair cop guv ;-(

However, if it's any excuse, one of my American friends said that an African-American man game to their workplace recently for a job interview and they all assumed that he had come to fix the heating.
They were horribly embarrassed.

To be fair about some of the other things PQ said (they speak English?... actually it's the official language because there are over 250 different languages there), before I got to know some Nigerians a few years ago I could have told you absolutely zilch about their country ...but I still wouldn't have seen a black person (British or Nigerian, as PQ originally thought he was British black and made the bus driver assumption) and thought 'bus driver' and 'uneducated'.

Mind you, that's being offensive to bus drivers now. Nothing wrong with driving a bus. Just odd that someone sees it as an automatic 'black' job. Maybe it comes from thinking about the Windrush generation arriving, many of whom did indeed work on various forms of transport. However, that was in 1948.

My wife and I were on a Rome to London tour. One of the guests was an elderly Canadian woman who had migrated from Austria. In Baden, near Vienna, my wife and I took a stroll in a lovely park. Later I spoke to the woman thus:

Me: &quot;We had a lovely stroll in the park, the one down the road. Do you know the one I mean&quot;?
Her: &quot;Oh, yes I was married in it 60 years ago&quot;.

She told me she had lost her husband a few years ago. I couldn't help feeling a little misty eyed...

Nona- you're right

but a Black guy at a dumpy B&amp;B in Eltham who looked dishevelled like bus drivers do even in their uniforms would more likely be a bus driver than international financier.

i realize it's a sterotype and i was guilt of stereotyping but that was my 'educated' guess

Race aside, I would not have expected to meet a Financiar or banket in a &pound;12 B&amp;B -a far more like ly to meet a poorly paid person, like a Bus Driver.

As far as conversations are concerned, I recall an elderly man explaining, in halting English, about the last time that Vesuvius erupted, when he was a child in 1944.

I regret that it was such a short bus trip from the Aiport in Naples into town because he was facinating.

Each time I travel to Greece I have chance encounters, memorable for different reasons.

On my first trip, wandering around the sacred isle of Delos, I was approached by a couple who wanted a look at my map. Having the gift of &quot;teacher-radar&quot; (there are 17 teachers in my immediate family) I asked where they taught! Amazed at my insight, they told me they'd just retired from an Austrian &quot;academy&quot; and Ilse, Ekkehardt and I spent the rest of our morning together.

Sitting on Zeus' shrine, looking down at the acres of marble rubble, Ilse quietly told me why she felt blessed in her life -- She had grown up in during WW II, Her father had been a Russian POW for years, and barely lived through the ordeal. Then as the Russians took over East Germany, the family fled in the night with only the clothes on their back -- and found freedom and a new life. Her gentle gratitude stays with me.

Another &quot;map meeting&quot; one early morning a beach cafe on the island of Sifnos, was an inquiry from a young blond man with Swedish-accented English.

When I remarked on it, he asked (I guess since I'm blonde too) if I had Swedish relatives and where they lived.

Oh, you'd never know the place I said -- my grandparents came to the USA 120 years ago from the teensiest town way way north, at the top of the Baltic sea, can't even find it on a map. And the whole family emigrated except for one brother.

Try me, he insisted, so i told him the town, and my (very unusual) maternal family name.

He stared. But I live only 20 Km from there! I was in that village only 2 weeks ago. And at the gymnasium [high school] in the area, I sat next to a guy with that very same name... he must have been your cousin.

We sat in silence, drinking coffee, each of us far from home, thinking how small the world can be.

It wasn't a &pound;12 B&amp;B it was a &pound;24 B&amp;B. So yes, on the cheap side, but not exactly skid row

ah never mind, just got my hackles up this morning...

One very memorable conversation (in a bad way)was on Crete when a cafe owner took a rather worryining interest in my then 10 year old son! He started off gazing at my and telling him that he had beautiful eyes (ok, they are a striking blue). It was when he started stroking his arm and saying 'and your skin is so soft' that we made our excuses and left, as the journalists say.

One good encounter was in Amsterdam many years ago. We were in a group of older teens/early 20s, briefly stopping off for about 4 hours. About 6 of us wanted to go to a museum while the rest of the coach went straight to the red light district.
Unfortunately it was the day when all the museums etc were shut (Monday?). Standing disconsolately outside yet another closed door, we were approached by two young male students. 'What a shame!' they said 'We;ll show you around&quot;. We went with them, half convinced we were about to be mugged/sold into white slavery but it was a wonderful afternoon. They gave us a student's eye tour round the streets and canals, we stopped off for a coffee (they wouldn't even let us buy theirs), and we all enjoyed swapping stories and learning about each others' lives. Over 20 years ago and it still makes an impression on me.

Several years ago we were on the train from Frankfurt airport to Bamberg. We changed trains in Wurzburg, and my wife ended up sitting by a German lady in her 70s. I gave out with my &quot;Guten Tag&quot; and &quot;Wie geht es ihnen?&quot; She returned the favor with &quot;Hallo, how are you?&quot; That turned out to be pretty much the extent of her English.

However, my wife (who speaks no German) noticed that she had what looked like homemade dolls in her bag. My wife is heavily into arts and crafts stuff. For the next hour or so I watched and listened, fascinated as they conversed in sign language, body language, pointing at words and phrases in our English/German phrase book, and repeated English and French and German words thrown in here and there.

By the time we reached Bamberg, my spouse was able to fill me in on such topics as: the lady's craft interests and how she made the dolls; her family history, what life was like in Coburg before, during, and after WWII; and the purpose of her visit to Wurzburg (visiting her son and daughter-in-law and grand son).

I'm sure that upon her return to Coburg, she was able to inform her hubbie all about our family history, German itinerary, my wife's craft club, and Montessori teaching theory and practice.

As a teenager backpacking through Europe, I was reading a book in a Munich park when an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me. He told me how much he liked the U.S. and Americans. It came out that he was brought to the States as a WWII POW. It was very strange to think that he was (or had been) &quot;the enemy&quot; when he reminded me of my own grandfather.

I was pleased that he was treated well as a prisoner by our government and how it made him a life-long fan of our country. I think that's often more effective than a place like &quot;Gitmo.&quot;