Favourite European Encounters

We were on the metro in Paris and started a conversation with a young German who had been on our plane from London to Paris. When he found out we were from California, he said he had spent a year at Cal State Long Beach. Well, I was travelling with my sister and we both graduated from CS Long Beach! I also told him I'm from Huntington Beach and he had a huge grin when he told us about "good times" at the beach and the bars of Main Street in downtown Huntington. What a small world!

For me, it was a train ride from Stuttgart to Athens back in the 70's. I was a student and had miscalculated the length of the trip (thought it was 22 hours when it was 46!) My compartment companions were Greek Guestworkers returning to Greece. The place was packed with boxes[INVALID]our compartment, the passageway and the overhead racks! They did not speak any English, so we all struggled with our less than fluent German. Two were men who were returning home. They mostly just smiled and nodded. The other two were a couple. We chatted away with them mostly asking me about America. They wanted to know if I knew Jackie Onasis. We spoke about Nixon and Watergate and Viet Nam. They shared their food with me and I shared my wine. The biggest shock came when we shared our passports and I found that the woman who I had figured to be at least ten years older than me, was my age- 19 - and had been married for five years. It was a culture shock. That young woman is probably one of those protesting the changes in Greek's retirement plans! Pam

The woman who owned the gasthof where I was staying in Rabenstein, in Ostbayern,who, upon learning that I was hoping to brush up on my German language skills, sat with me every morning over breakfast so we could converse. She was so nice, about my age, who had recently lost her husband, and she really made my visit special. She was finding it difficult running the gasthof by herself, she told me, and appreciated the help her sons gave her. One night she scolded me for wanting bread with my dinner, indicating gently that that was too many calories. I felt so at home with her, and the language barrier just fell away.

In the 1970s I was with two other young 20-year-old Americans on a train traveling from Brussels to Strasbourg. We were the only ones in the train compartment when a 50-something German woman boarded and asked if there was a free seat in the compartment. She settled down in a seat and we proceeded to ignore her for the entire trip, assuming she couldn't understand our English conversation (note to self: this is a bad assumption in Europe). I did notice that she smiled to herself at times, however,,,,,,,,, when we got to Stuttgart we all got off the train and the woman came up to us and in English she invited us to travel with her to her home just outside of Stuttgart,,,,,she explained that she had seven vagabond children of her own and she hoped that other people would take her children in,,,,,,,,,we didn't hesitate to accept,,,,,,, while we waited for the next train to Stuttgart she proceeded to give us a personal tour of the art and architecture of the Strasbourg Cathedral,,,,,,long story short, we all three spent three wonderful days at her home, met her family, had many wonderful conversations, home cooked meals and German beds to sleep in,,,,,,the following year I went back to Europe on my own and spent another entire week with her and her family,,,,,,,she will always be a special person to me!!

Great stories...it was a different time traveling in the 1970s, when I compare it to now.

Andrea, I've had many memorable "encounters" while travelling, both with people that live in Europe and other travellers. One example would be a couple that own a small Bar in the Lago di Como area. I try to stop by there whenever I'm in the area, and always end up staying for a visit (and of course some wine). My visit usually includes a short Italian language lesson, which I quite enjoy. Cheers!

One year in Friuli, we stayed overnight at a small hotel before visiting friends of friends the next day in a small town near Perdenone. In the morning I was trying to phone them and had trouble using the payphone in the small lobby-cum-bar of the hotel. A young employee offerred to help so I handed her the slip of paper with the name & telephone number & she got the connection for me. Later that day, while having lunch at our hosts' house, there was a telephone call from the hotel to say that I had left my passport there. That young woman had remembered the name of the family we would be visiting and took the trouble to find me.

We met some great families during a farmhouse stay a few years ago. Our kids played together, the adults drank beer and played cards together. We've stayed in touch with 2 of the families, one of their daughters is hoping to get an internship over here, we're working on that for them.

My friend and I had taken a Czech bus from Prague to Cesky Krumlov for an overnight visit. On the return trip, we got on the wrong bus and ended up across the street from a transportation center in the suburbs miles from the center of Prague (at dusk and in an area where no one seemed to speak English). Collecting our luggage (and my friend's cane), we trudged over to the transportation center but couldn't find anyone to help us. We were at the end of a Rick Steves tour and remembered that our guide had taught us how to use the subway/metro system. So, we managed to find the metro but couldn't figure out how to buy tickets. We approached two police (one man, one woman) and asked for assistance. The male police officer gave us a disdainful look and gazed off into the distance. The female officer smiled and walked us over to the kiosk and mimed how to use it. I will never forget her kindness and willingness to help.

We stayed in a lovely b&b outside San Gimingnano. The owners of the b&b were lovely and friendly. They were also very interested in the US and their upcoming trip to NYC. We seemed to have really connected. We met up with our new friends in NYC during their visit. It was wonderful to be their hosts. We have become friends and look forward to our continued contact. The world is really a much smaller place than people realize.

My husband had wanted a celtic ring with diamonds set in it for several years. Every time we were in the UK we'd wander all the towns looking at jewelery stores. Never could find just the right thing, though. One summer we were in Inverness. We stopped at a jeweler's and I noticed the sign that said they had an in-house jewlery designer. I talked hubby into going in to just check on how much it would cost. We got to work with the deisgner and the cost was no more than the "stock" rings we had looked at elsewhere. Hubby wound up getting a ring for himself and a mathcing one for me- for our 25th wedding anniversary. The next trip, we stopped by agian and Michael(the deisgner) designed some simple modern celtic earrings for me. We started communicating by email. Soon Michael told us he was going to start his own design business. For my birthday hubby let me work with him to design some special earrings and had him make a matching necklace as a surprize. Eventually we wound up spending several days with Michael & Maggie at their house on one of our winter trips. It was wonderful. They took us to their local pub and we got to do a whisky tasting. We still correspond and share news of our families. They are special people.

I was on a banana boat (yes, literally) on my way to Jamaica. I noticed the first language of wife of the gentleman I was talking to was not English and I asked him where she was from - he said, "The Faroe Islands". I told him that my father had been there during the war. He replied that he had too, and that was how he had met his wife. It turned out he had been my father's Commanding Officer. Coincidentally my father met him in Glasgow. They had not met for about 25 years since they had been demobbed after the war.

Nice topic. Thanks. When my wife goes to get her haircut, she calls it her "German lesson." Tina, the hair stylist, happily chats with my wife in German on any and all topics. Similarly, the Turkish guy working at the newspaper kiosk has gotten to know us and always has time for some friendly chit chat. The proprietor of a nearby wine garden always takes the time to come over and shake hands and his wife asks about our kids. I guess none of these stories are exceptional, but it is these little things that make us feel welcome in our neighborhood.

For several years now I have been fortunate and participated in the www.vaughantown.com program [INVALID] This brings together Anglos (native English speakers from around the world) and Spanish who are studing English for a week of a total English only experience. During these programs I have met many people whom I stay in contac, and have visited with them on return trips. One couple, David and Patricia, invited me to their house for dinner. Another, Jose Maria, drove me to the airport on my last trip, and even carried my luggage to the ticket counter. I am returning again in the fall, and will see these, and several others prior to the program as well. Each of these individuals, and the other participants have given me many fond memories and we have lasting friendships.

About two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, when the airports reopened, my wife and I decided to proceed with our anniversary trip to Italy since it was already paid for and we had taken a six-week quick course in Italian. I remember one train conductor finding us on the train, having been told by his fellow conductor that there was an American couple who spoke a little Italian. Tears in his eyes, he hugged us, kissed us, telling us in some Italian, some broken English, that we were the first Americans he had found who could understand enough for him to explain how heartbroken he was about the attacks and how much he loved our country. Our three weeks in Italy were filled with similar stories of warmth and friendship by Italians up and down the country, but I'll never forget the solidarity we felt on that train. And I'll never travel to another foreign country without taking the time to learn at least a few words and phrases of its language: you just never know what it can do for you.

I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful stories! I have enjoyed meeting Europeans in my travels, and I find that those times are the most memorable. I have not yet developed a long friendship with anyone from my travels, but I hope to do so in the future. Thanks again, and keep on travelling :)

For own of our student trips, my wife and I formed a great relationship with the bus driver. So much so that he picked up his fiance along the way on our tour and she joined us for the rest of the tour. Also a wonderful person. We spent most meals together and he took us to most wonderful places that the students fondly remembered. Private wine tour on the Rhine, a mountain meadow high above Lucerne for our picnic, out of the way wood carver for great souvenirs. We got along so well on this particular trip that we were able to get him for our next trip where we not only collected money for his usual trip but also collected money for a wedding gift for him and his new wife who also was asked to join us on the second trip. Sadly we have lost touch Dany and Adele, but we wrote back and forth for many years (before email).

One day in Kardimyli, Greece I was waiting at a bus stop and this couple joins me. They are from England. We hit it off, exchanged info and when I got home, I wrote via snail mail. After 2-3 years, when I went on another trip to England, I stayed with them in their little village of Devizes. It was WONDERFUL. I still keep in touch but Vic just passed away, sadly.