I was in Rome a few days ago and did one of their city tours. I had taken my video camera along (of course!!!) and at each site where we stopped, I asked the tour guide if she could speak very slowly and clearly into the microphone in English so that I could record both the picture and have the commentary at the same time. She did this for a while but after a while I noticed that she was getting a little irritated. I would love to do this in other towns of course but I would not want the same reaction. Is it that this sort of thing isn't done in Italy? I hope not as the main reason i brought over my camera was to do this very thing! <BR> <BR>

It must be another troll, and a weak one at that.

Just curious, was it an English tour? Were you in her face with your microphone or was it on a long cord? Could you understand her before you asked her to speak slowly and clearly? Sounds like you were being a pain. Couldn't you record her without asking her to do anything special?

This appears to be the same person who posted on Leghorn (sp?), but the <BR>e-mail address is slightly different. As a sarcastic follow up: Don't you just hate it when the locals don't stop living their lives to pose for your pictures? Or another: I sure wish they would build some of those monuments a little smaller; It is hard to see them through my viewfinder.

I would also get irritated if someone kept pushing there cameria in my face. I also take a vidio cameria as well as my SLR with me when I travel. I take my vidio, make notes or speak into a micro cassette recorder since I have no memory anymore and then dub them together when I get home.

Just to clarify things, "I didn't push the camera into her face" all I did was to get near to her when she was about to speak.. She would say a few words about the site in English and then in other languages too. I simply asked her to speak more slowly and clearly in english. I tried to be as close to her as possible whilst she spoke in English but on one or two occasions, when I wasn't as near as I could be, gestured towards the microphone. When she had finished speaking in English I would move away.. <BR> <BR>My point is she didn't have to do anything extra than what she was supposed to do in the first place. <BR>

C_Loaf/C_Flan, please go away. This troll is nowhere close to your usual high standards.

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Fiona: You also have 5 responses on the Lonely Planet Thorntree, don't forget to respond there also. I do like the "I simply asked her to speak more slowly and clearly in English" and the gesturing towards the microphone when you couldn't get close enough. Fiona, I'm sure that you are just a troll if not you a very rude person and trollers sometimes do grow-up (probably to become rude people but rude is usually for life. --David <BR>