<<Several years ago on an organised bus tour, a Canadia filming the Eiffel Tower on her video camera asked other passengers 'So what country are we in?'>>

:O Sad.

What was the answer?

LOL A fair bit of snickering I confess. Not very kind.

Perhaps not PC, but - In Stratford upon Avon at Mary Arden's farm there are several period exhibits and demonstrations. In the kitchen exhibit, the costumed woman doing a demonstration of cooking in Shakespeare's day asked the woodcutter to bring her some fagots. An older American woman called out "what's a fagot?" To her credit, the docent gave the straight answer (sorry, I couldn't help that). I was tempted to call out "a bassoon" -fagott in most languages).

Been on this forum for 3 months planning lifetime dream trip of studying Italian in Florence. Been insulted and made to feel stupid more times than I can count. I'll sew a maple leaf on my jacket and tell the locals I'm from Ontario---perhaps in person I can avoid being the target of sarcasm and snarkiness. Really, People!! What's your point??

"Really, People!! What's your point??"

I completely agree annettafly. Americans surely do not have the market on obnoxious tourist behavior. If you want a thread like this then fine. But don't make it about Americans or any specific nationality. Geez.

I was tempted to call out "a bassoon" -fagott in most languages

basingstoke; I'm confused where has a Bassoon come from?? Do you call meat balls "bassoon" in most languages?

Not CRAZY American tourists, but GREAT American tourists, here's my story: A few years ago, on one of my many trips to Sardinia, where my wife's sister owns a condo on the beach, I was in the habit of going downstairs to the beach early in the morning,and planting our umbrellas in a good spot near the water. The sand there is very dense, so I had to struggle to make a nice hole in which to place the umbrella. I actually had to use a kitchen spoon to make a nice tight hole. A few hours later, when it was time to leave the beach, one elderly lady, who had made an aquaintance with my wife, came onto the beach and was struggling to put her umbrella into the sand. I went over to her and told her to give me her umbrella. I removed my umbrella from the sand, and quickly jammed her umbrella into the hole. She now had a perfect resting place for her umbrella. She then loudly said, "L'Americane sono molto gentile!" Meaning the Americans are so very kind! Naturally, since we were the only Americans there, and stood out like a sore thumb, we were very pleased with the reception we received.

The reason this thread is about crazy American tourists is because Fodor's is an American site, and most of the people who post here are Americans.

A thread about crazy Czechs would be very short.

bilboburgler - an excellent point. I am familiar with the fagott= meatball connection and must research how the bundle of sticks - I mean bassoon - fits in.

More interesting is the origin of the piccolo. As you must know, flutes were originaly made of wood. There was one town in Italy that was famous for the quality of its wooden flutes - all hand made in small shops. These workshops were very small and were actually part of the owners overall living space. One day, a flute maker had just finished fashioning a new flute while at the same time his wife was heating up the olive oil to make dinner. The flute maker accidently dropped the just finished flute in the pan of oil and the heat and oil caused the wood to shrink. He fished it out, tried it and was delighted with the result - the first piccolo was created. The flute maker made many more like this and became rich and famous for his new process - a process that became known worldwide as "The Mediterranean Flute Fry."

Most crazy thing I have seen yanks do?

There clothes in Venice.

Most of them presumed they were on the 14 th fariway on Kiawah Island. I presume non of them posted here or read the "what to wear in Venice thread".

basingstoke2: LOL! You are so funny!

"The reason this thread is about crazy American tourists is because Fodor's is an American site, and most of the people who post here are Americans."

Yep - and I think that as Americans, we are most likely to notice what others of "our kind" are doing :)

My story is about an Austrailian though - no cringing, just fun. DH and I went on a brewery tour in Munich. We met an Austrialian and his New Zealander girlfriend on the tour. They were there for a wedding of a school friend and there were a couple Russians also in town for the same wedding, also on our tour. After the tour, they wanted to go drink some more, and since they were fun, we went too. We wandered from bar to bar most of the night, the Austrialian collecting various English-speaking people along the way, the group growing as the night wore on. This guy was big and loud and friendly - you know, like every good Austrialian should be. If he heard someone speaking English, he talked to them. DH and I left the group at about 3 am, by this time the Austrailian had collected a couple of Scots, a couple more Americans, and a guy from South Africa - oh and another New Zealander. It was a funny evening.

And that is how Basingstoke2 became known worldwide as Blowingsmoke too.

Okay maybe because this is an American site I can see a little more of the humor and some of the stories are very funny......but Americans are the target and I have a bit of a problem with that.

The "tourists" who are the most troublesome in our little part of Italy are not Americans and I will not talk about their nationality. The Americans are very respected and loved in Italy because we liberated them at the end of WW2.

Americans are also an amazing unique group of people and we are also very outspoken and maybe sometimes naive about travel.... but far nicer generally than some other nationalities.

jnjfraz, I think you had a little help in the liberation of Italy.

"......but Americans are the target and I have a bit of a problem with that."

Take it up with the American who started the thread.

"The Americans are very respected and loved in Italy because we liberated them at the end of WW2."

Yep, on your own - no assistance whatsoever from any other nationality.

"but far nicer generally than some other nationalities." - Really?? I cannot see that one nation is better or worse than another. People are people - just because they don't conform to your view of nice/nasty/good/evil doesn't mean it is they who are wrong.

Fodor's being an American site. Possibly - but Fodor's is, as far as I am aware part of Randonhouse who are a subsidery of Bertelsmann AG, so German.

OK I agree this should not be restricted to Yanks - my fault - and here is an event with a pretty young Dutch gal on a K-d Rhine boat who was being hit on by some Italian gigolo type and did not like and told him "Why don't you put your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-bye!"

The Dutch are really crude in my experience.