What's the differance Between "I saw the major sights" and "I got a feeling for the place"
Mar 23rd, 2006, 09:36 AM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,858
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
To me, they would be about the same thing, as if you saw the major sights, you would get a feeling for the place just by seeing the city and getting around it to the various sights.
I don't think I've ever said the latter phrase about my trips, though, it's just not the kind of thing I'd say or the way I talk.
I don't think I've ever said the latter phrase about my trips, though, it's just not the kind of thing I'd say or the way I talk.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 09:58 AM
#4
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 474
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'll take a shot at it. If you are in France, and you see, for example, Notre Dame or Pont du Gard, you have seen sights, and impressive ones at that. But I doubt that this gives most people a sense of France. But if you go to a small town or village, sit in little cafe, have a drink or meal, and keep your eyes, ears and mind open, you will indeed "get a feel" for the country.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 10:03 AM
#5
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,755
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am not sure that as a tourist one ever gets more than a vague feel for a place. To really know a city/country one has to live there..and to really really know it work there or go to school there. I think if one has friends who are 'local" and I dont mean renting a house for a month this helps. The politics, worries concerns and joys gove one a view of a place albeit a vicarious one.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 10:11 AM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
vedette, I think your answer is interesting. Many often suggest that the only way to get the real "feel" of a country is to visit the small towns. I don't really get that. Sure the feeling in a small town is different from that of a big city, but please don't tell a Parisian who has spent his whole life in Paris that he isn't really French! The feeling in any European city is different from any American city too. Actually, I'd think that those differences are even greater than the differences between life in a small town in Iowa and a small town in Tuscany -- language aside.
I think sometimes people who live in big cities at home feel they must experience small town life in Europe to see any real difference. But for those of us who live in small towns, I think we feel the real differences with our own lifestyle is experienced best by visiting big European cities.
I think sometimes people who live in big cities at home feel they must experience small town life in Europe to see any real difference. But for those of us who live in small towns, I think we feel the real differences with our own lifestyle is experienced best by visiting big European cities.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 10:49 AM
#8
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,313
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Most larger cities have a rather homogoneous feel to them, though each of course has it's own flavor. Paris has its own feel, and London has its, while Miami feels different yet. However, they still have the 'city' thing in common -- roads, traffic, high-rises (except Dublin), crowds, tourists, buses, etc.
Towns and villages, on the other hand, are each unique -- and it is much easier to speak to people in the towns, IMHO. You go into a pub more than once and you're a local. You stay at a B&B more than one night and you're the hostesses new best friend
The towns are small enough that you can see much of it in a couple days/weeks, where you must take months, even years, to get the same knowledge of the ins and outs of a major city.
That's my two cents -- that and a cup of cuban cofffee will keep you up all night
Towns and villages, on the other hand, are each unique -- and it is much easier to speak to people in the towns, IMHO. You go into a pub more than once and you're a local. You stay at a B&B more than one night and you're the hostesses new best friend
The towns are small enough that you can see much of it in a couple days/weeks, where you must take months, even years, to get the same knowledge of the ins and outs of a major city.
That's my two cents -- that and a cup of cuban cofffee will keep you up all night
Mar 23rd, 2006, 11:43 AM
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
OK, GreenDragon, I'm trying hard to understand your post.
You say, "However, they still have the 'city' thing in common -- roads, traffic, high-rises (except Dublin), crowds, tourists, buses, etc."
But I say the same thing applies to small towns. They all have much in common too -- small houses and low rise buildings, lots of mom and pop stores. Neighbors stand in the street and talk, they have narrow streets that are pedestrian friendly but closed to traffic, etc."
I think all you've really said is that you like the features of small towns better. Frankly I think it's easier to tell the difference between Munich and Paris than it is between Mittenwald and Chamonix.
The idea of becoming a local in small towns? Well, in Paris the second time I entered the little bar just below our apartment in Paris, they spoke to me by name and even asked me to sign a get well card for a regular I'd never met. It can be just as easy to "become a local" in a city as in a small town, in fact perhaps easier, as often in small towns they don't welcome strangers so easily.
Again, I think you've only given reasons why you prefer small towns, and those reasons are all justified, but I maintain, the differences between cities are just as great or greater.
You say, "However, they still have the 'city' thing in common -- roads, traffic, high-rises (except Dublin), crowds, tourists, buses, etc."
But I say the same thing applies to small towns. They all have much in common too -- small houses and low rise buildings, lots of mom and pop stores. Neighbors stand in the street and talk, they have narrow streets that are pedestrian friendly but closed to traffic, etc."
I think all you've really said is that you like the features of small towns better. Frankly I think it's easier to tell the difference between Munich and Paris than it is between Mittenwald and Chamonix.
The idea of becoming a local in small towns? Well, in Paris the second time I entered the little bar just below our apartment in Paris, they spoke to me by name and even asked me to sign a get well card for a regular I'd never met. It can be just as easy to "become a local" in a city as in a small town, in fact perhaps easier, as often in small towns they don't welcome strangers so easily.
Again, I think you've only given reasons why you prefer small towns, and those reasons are all justified, but I maintain, the differences between cities are just as great or greater.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 11:46 AM
#10
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 545
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Time, for one thing. Time, and an open heart.
I learned this when I was compelled to spend an entire week (out of a 4-week holiday) in one small Czech city. Each day contained 5-6 committed hours of planned activities, enjoyable, but out of my control. The rest of each day was mine to plan and use. I spent it dawdling in cafes, exploring streets and parks away from the center of things, veggie shopping in the weekly farmer's market. And making an effort to engage as deeply as I could, given the language barrier, with the residents -- idle chatter mostly, but also sharing small details of my life with them, and listening as they shared theirs. Even had little dust-up with a cab driver, which ended amicably.
At the end of the week, I really felt as if I was able to carry a bit of that little city home with me, and felt equally that a bit of me would remain there.
If one is constantly rushing from city to city, event to event, and covering every possible 'must-do' in the shortest possible period -- I don't see how it's possible to really learn about a place. Or to learn more about oneself in the process.
Fritzrl
I learned this when I was compelled to spend an entire week (out of a 4-week holiday) in one small Czech city. Each day contained 5-6 committed hours of planned activities, enjoyable, but out of my control. The rest of each day was mine to plan and use. I spent it dawdling in cafes, exploring streets and parks away from the center of things, veggie shopping in the weekly farmer's market. And making an effort to engage as deeply as I could, given the language barrier, with the residents -- idle chatter mostly, but also sharing small details of my life with them, and listening as they shared theirs. Even had little dust-up with a cab driver, which ended amicably.
At the end of the week, I really felt as if I was able to carry a bit of that little city home with me, and felt equally that a bit of me would remain there.
If one is constantly rushing from city to city, event to event, and covering every possible 'must-do' in the shortest possible period -- I don't see how it's possible to really learn about a place. Or to learn more about oneself in the process.
Fritzrl
Mar 23rd, 2006, 11:54 AM
#11
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My extended family all gathered in New Mexico for a family event/reunion. After the event, I stayed in a cabin outside of Taos for a week, hiking and exploring the city and its many sights. My brother and wife arrived in Taos after dark one night, ate dinner, slept, and left before breakfast the next morning (and went on to do both rims of the Grand Canyon and several other sights before we all returned at the same time). Later they said they "didn't like Taos." I had no idea what they could have based their opinion on, not having seen any sights (except the road out of town)nor having by any stretch of the imagination gotten a feel for it.
Mar 23rd, 2006, 12:08 PM
#12
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 4,296
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If I enjoyed a journey, for me, this is the difference...
If I were to say to someone that "I saw the major sights" anyone who knows me would understand that I have an appreciation for what I experienced, it was time well spent.
If I were to say "I got a feeling for the place" it would mean that it spoke to my soul. It touched my heart. It will stay with me in a special way for always.
When you ask Halsar, how long does it take, I can tell you it might take days, or it could happen in the flash of a moment, only your will know when you experience the difference.
Tiff
If I were to say to someone that "I saw the major sights" anyone who knows me would understand that I have an appreciation for what I experienced, it was time well spent.
If I were to say "I got a feeling for the place" it would mean that it spoke to my soul. It touched my heart. It will stay with me in a special way for always.
When you ask Halsar, how long does it take, I can tell you it might take days, or it could happen in the flash of a moment, only your will know when you experience the difference.
Tiff
Mar 24th, 2006, 06:11 AM
#14
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,313
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Neopolitan, you have a fair point -- I definitely like the small towns better, perhaps because I grew up in big cities.
However, each town has unique character, IMHO... the roads are twisted in different ways, the downtowns look different. The bigger cities just sort of meld together (in my mind!) as jungles of highrises, roads and crowds. Perhaps I'm claustrophobic?
Obviously, my bias is showing here!
However, each town has unique character, IMHO... the roads are twisted in different ways, the downtowns look different. The bigger cities just sort of meld together (in my mind!) as jungles of highrises, roads and crowds. Perhaps I'm claustrophobic?
Obviously, my bias is showing here!
Mar 24th, 2006, 06:43 AM
#17
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 4,874
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think that eating in restaurants where locals eat gives me as much of the feeling for a place as I'm going to get in the week or so I can spend in any one location. I've been on a couple of church choir tours...you know, 90 people traveling on two large motor coaches. On those tours, almost all of our meals were at the hotel with just our group, etc. I really didn't "get the feel" of any of the locations we toured.
Mar 24th, 2006, 06:55 AM
#18
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,525
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
One is a checklist, the other is no list. If I take a bus tour of Europe (as I did for my first ever visit), I saw London, Paris, Vienna, Rome...etc and I saw the sights that I, as a novice, had heard of/seen on TV that were associated with each city. It is only now, when I go to Paris and part of my day is just walking around, having a cafe creme and planning where to eat that night, maybre afterwards see a concert or go to a movie, that I feel I'm actually seeing the city and its people, more than just the 'architectural'. Do I know and understand Paris or London or XXX...no, but I think I've moved to the next level of getting to that stage (final, graduating stage... I live there). And yes, countries are more than cities, so if I am going to a country for the first time, spend time in the capital, but also try to get out into the countryside.
Mike
Mike
Mar 24th, 2006, 07:50 AM
#19
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,702
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
here's my take on the topic..
"I saw the major sites" Venice 2000 - very long line at the Basilica and was herded through like cattle. You were not allowed to stop, lest you be trampled. I did see the amazing mosaics and wonder at the beauty of the church, but quickly.
"I got a feeling for the place" Venice 2004 - The basilica was empty and I stood arm in arm with my Mom. She said she never knew anything like this existed in the world. We both cried at the magnificent surroundings.
"I saw the major sites" Venice 2000 - very long line at the Basilica and was herded through like cattle. You were not allowed to stop, lest you be trampled. I did see the amazing mosaics and wonder at the beauty of the church, but quickly.
"I got a feeling for the place" Venice 2004 - The basilica was empty and I stood arm in arm with my Mom. She said she never knew anything like this existed in the world. We both cried at the magnificent surroundings.
