02/13/2007
Tourists
When my friend was over last week and we went out and about, I once again noticed the amount of tourists that flock to Ireland. I love this, it makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in a country that many people pay good money for to visit.
However, what get's me sometimes is the sheer sillyness of some people.
I have had German people start asking me something IN GERMAN. Now, I happen to speak German. But I was sitting on a train, had not spoken a word when they asked me where the stop for such and such a town was. How were they to know I could understand them?
I was standing in a pharmacy on Henry Street once, looking at eye make-up when two Dutch "ladies" starting talking about me in Dutch. Saying that no amount of make-up was going to fix that mug.
I told them they were being ignorant and that that kind of stupidity would get them in trouble some day, in Dutch. They apologized but I knew they were sorry for being caught, not for what they said. And told them that, too.
When I lived in my MiL's village, I heard a story of an American lady asking a cab driver if he knew if a lady called Mrs Murphy (can't recall the exact name used) had lived there at the beginning of the 1900's! Like the cabbie was going to know!
When we were in Glendalouch, we met a group of American ladies who stood in a ruin, holding hands in a circle. (which is fine, I am all for connecting the the surroundings, centering yourself) expressing their gratitude of being back in the land of their ancestors and then proceeding to sing a SCOTTISH song together....
It makes me laugh sometimes... So go on, tell me, what's the silliest thing you have ever seen/heard a tourist do?
Do your fellow countrymen/women ever make you cringe?
00:05 Posted in Ireland | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
Comments
It reminds me of when I visited Germany for the first time. My German cousins took me to Heidelberg to all the touristy areas. They live in a very small town and thought I'd enjoy seeing the sights of a big city. I hated it! There were so many Americans (yeah, I'm american too) running around screaching loudly about this or that. I was mortified. I finally confessed to my cousins that I would rather see something a little less touristy. I think they were a bit relieved too.
My favorite tourists are the Japanese. Whenever my husband and I go back to Oslo, we sit in the park and watch them. They run off their bus, snap a hundred photos and get back on the bus again. They aren't intrusive - just efficient. At first I wondered how they managed to enjoy their trip since they constantly are looking through the viewfinder of their camera. Then someone explained that they have so little vacation that they use ever minute of it capturing images as they quickly go from place to place so they can relive the experience at a more relaxed pace when they are back home again.
Posted by: Lynanne | 02/14/2007
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