Nearly each day in my travels, I meet a charming local guide. It’s like cheating socially — I’m the only student for three hours with someone who loves their town, loves people, and loves to teach. And they are paid to answer my questions.
These local friends have a passion for speaking English and are so generous with their information, I like to gift them with little insights into the fun of our language. Checking out a great little hotel, I explained “this one’s a slam-dunk.” Working out the directions from the bus stop, I had to explain “dogleg left.” My guides lap it up.
Europe grows up with American culture, but occasionally things shift in transit. If I hum the “I Dream of Jeannie” theme, they know the program… as “My Beloved Witch.” They’ll enjoy a lifetime of movies by a great American star — artfully dubbed by the best voices in Italy. Then, when they finally hear a TV interview with George Clooney or Elizabeth Taylor actually talking, they are hugely disappointed by the weak voices.
In Bolzano, my guide, Nancy, met me under a statue. The day’s first factoid: This statue is made of Lasa marble — the same marble the USA chose after WWII for 80,000 crosses and stars of David destined for places like Normandy. She said it was hard, white, and weather-resistant. (I almost responded, “Like me.”) Nancy was young, sprightly — seemed like a ski bum who guided in the summer — and wore a costume-jeweled American flag on her lapel (the kind my grandmother wore). I told her, “I’ve never met an Italian wearing an American flag in Italy, and I’ve never met a Nancy in Italy.” She said, “Maybe I’m eunuch in Italy. My grand grand father moved to New York. I want to live there some day.” Letting “grand grand father” go, I explained to her the difference between eunuch and unique.
As I walked with Nancy through Bolzano, she lamented we had only “a pair of hours.” We passed Romina, the receptionist from my hotel. Romina is the kind of person who giddily spends an entire lifetime working for a family-run business with no hope for any advancement — as family members hold the few good spots — but is still thrilled to be there. (I see this a lot in Europe.) Romina was a human shield, standing firmly on an available parking spot wonderfully close to the hotel, waiting for travelers to show up. She said, “A family is coming who has your book. So here I am. This is a true piece of life.”
All over Italy I’ve been using two easy statements: “Complimenti,” meaning “my compliments to you,” and “Buon lavoro,” meaning “best wishes in your work.” Here in Südtirol, where 68 percent of the Italians speak German first, I asked my guide for the equivalent of “buon lavoro” in German. She said, “Gute Arbeit.” That just didn’t sound right. I shouted to Romina, “Buon lavoro!”
rick, your blog just starts my day out right!
today’s post just takes me back to Italy; this is the next best thing to being there!
rick! i love the places you travel, because i love traveling also. but i think that you should go to finland and have an entire book devoted to the wonderful country of finland. it is a gorgeous country, and i really love the country. i am half finnish and i know there are many people would benefit from learning more about finland, since many don’t even know about the beautiful country!
Where you are now sounds nice. Happy travels!
We were in Boltzano in 2000 and again in 2005; a favorite place to relax and then take the bus, chair lifts, etc up and up for great hiking!
Take the little train through the apple orchards from Bolzano the Merano for some of the best scenery and hiking in this region. Small pensions abound in the hillside orchards and vineyards. An old irrigation canal and walking path go on for miles up above Merano. Occasionally there is a Stube along the way where you can stop for cake and coffee or a fantastic beer.
hard, white, and weather-resistant, lol… Rick, you crack me up.
Rick, having been on the other side of the language faux pas, I chuckled at your unique/eunuch example from Bolzano. I hope not to do something similar with my italian when we visit there in September. By the way, when you want to compliment a German on his/her work skills, you can say, “Gut gemacht!” (Well done!)
Just want to say “hi” to Rick! I’m enjoying your blog.
Language mistakes are often amusing. When in Italy I was making really basic mistakes like mixing up “Ciao” and “Grazie”. I was constantly thinking to myself “That’s not what I meant”. I usually find that the people that I am speaking to have a better grasp of English than I do of their language.
I have to compliment you on your guides. My husband and I have been on three of your ETBD tours: Italy in 2001; Greece in 2004; and France in 2005. Brad in Italy, David, who wrote the Small Planet Guidebook on Greece; and Sabine in France, were all outstanding. So were the local guides on all the tours. You choose your guides well, and we learned so much from them. We are looking forward to our Berlin, Prague, Vienna tour in July, and we’re sure whoever our guides are will be equally outstanding. Thank you.
There was an interesting article about Bolzano last year at Washington Post: Robert V. Camuto; Apr 9, 2006
We have been reading your books for years as we travel each year to a different country. I lived in Greece for 8 years and Naples for 14. It has been 10 years since I last visited Italy. I (our ski group) use to RON (remain over night) in Bolzano on our way to Austria and northern Italy skiing. The morning market was always a rare treat and I always tell people about it. I think you have to see it to really get the full flavor of what if offers. I spoke english while there as the locals believe themselves Tiroleans rather than Italians and usually donj’t respond to Italian.
We are off to Brussels, Holland and Italy for two weeks beginning on 5/13. We will be in Milan on 5/20 and will train to La Spezia via Genova to spend 4 days visiting Cinque Terra and environs. Do you haved any suggestions on trains? Wondering if it is better to buy tickets there or online? Grazie and buon viaggio.
Gary
My daughter and I traveled to Italy last summer and your guide book was priceless. We went to Balzano also and loved it. We happened to be there when Italy won the soccer championship. What a friendly town!
The eunuch / unique story shows how funny language can be when communicating between a “native” and “non-native.”. I recall a friend whose mother asked a non-American servant to prepare some canapes and received a can of peas.
Rick – I had to laugh at your “dogleg left” description — I had my own experience with American idoms just a couple of weeks ago when my mother and I were on a late train from Florence to Lucca. We had missed our earlier train, because the Euruostar from Rome was late, and just barely were able to jump on the next train –which I think was one of the last for the day. Needless to say, it was the “milk run”…and I lamented about this to a young Italian signorina with whom I was chatting. She gave me a curious look and I had to explain how the milk man goes from house to house to deliver the milk, and that we called trains, buses, etc. that stopped at every stop, “milk runs”. She was still laughing when she got off the train at one of the last stops on the milk run before Lucca.
I first when to Italy 12yrs. ago with the help of Rick Steve’s book. I’ve been a fan for a while… but I wish he would expand to other continents. The Euro has completely changed budget travelling in Europe.
As we drove on the Autostrada in Sicily, at several places there was a concrete retaining wall with planter boxes high on the side of the highway, but if they planted anything, it has died long ago. As one man told us, “Italy is not well organized. We do a great job of designing and building, but we have yet to hear about maintenance.†Mt. Etna smoked in the distance, no maintenance needed.
As we returned from Sicily to the mainland of Italy, in front of us were two very hefty ladies with large bundles, maybe three feet in diameter — the bundles, not the ladies — but they didn’t appear to be very heavy — again the bundles, not the ladies. When we arrived at Villa San Giovanni, the ladies put the largest bundles on their heads, picked up others in each hand and gracefully waltzed off the ferry.