Meeting Locals in Europe (just for fun)

On our family Englad trip I purposefully picked a hotel that was reviewed as "popular with families from London". Sure enough, we met another family with 2 kids same age as our two. They suggested that we try surfing lessons in the area and so we packed up the next morning for Sennen Cove (Cornwall). Didn't realize that the lessons only took cash and no ATM close by. We paid for the kids to have lessons and then went to find a spot on the beach. We ran into the same family who insisted on lending us cash so that the whole family could surf! We returned to the hotel, the kids played in the pool and we all had dinner together.

That was 2001. We got back last weekend from having visited the same family at their vacation home in Zurich. We have met several times in different places over the past 7 years. This last time they even entertained 3 of our daughter's friends - taking the girls skiing, etc. We're sure glad that we went surfing in England!

Well, there is nothing like meeting the locals who are also your cousins! My favorite family story is of the time in 1980 when my parents and grandparents (mother's side) went to Switzerland. While there, they decided to see if they could find the family farm that a previous family member had found and painted back in the 1930's just prior to WWII. They found it (from the road overlooking the farmhouse)and then they LOST my grandpa! They looked down the hill at the farmhouse and there he was, at the front door. Actually introducing themselves to the occupants was NOT on the agenda, but Grandpa had other ideas. As luck would have it, they chanced to be there the ONE day the lone English-speaking member of the family was there. Ever since, if anyone in our family is going to be in Switzerland long enough, we make arrangements ahead of time to visit the family farm. cont.

cont. I got to meet them in 2001 and also got to see two of the boys competing with their jodelklubs at a festival that happened to be held in the town where we had our apartment. We didn't know about this beforehand. We learned of the festival after we got to town and learned of their planned participation when we visited the farm. One club even had a CD that I purchased from one of the festival vendors. Needless to say, it is a favorite souvenir.

Nearly 15 years ago, I went to Civita armed with Rick's Italy book. I stayed at a place which is now delisted (Does "trinka, trinka, trinka" ring any bells?). I did the whole Civita experience and then one of the locals (very nice looking young Italian man) offered me a lift on his motorcycle. Being young and foolish, I accepted. He dropped me off at the hotel and then asked me out for gelato and to the lago. Being young and foolish, I accepted but had to eat my included dinner. I told the hotelier where I was going and with whom . . . just in case. The young man picked me up in his sister's car off to the lake we went. I learned the hard way that "panna" is whipped cream -- on top of gelato (yuck!) and then we drove out to the countryside. Yes, there was a kiss -- very stupid. I panicked and told him I had a boyfriend and he very kindly drove me back to the hotel. We corresponded a couple of times. Ah, to be young and foolish!

I was staying in Cap d-Ail in the south of France and my friend and I decided to go swimming off a cliff in front of our villa. We walked down to the water and climed through the rocks to find two locals snorkeling. They began talking to us in broken English. They ended up taking us snorkeling and we spent the rest of the hot afternoon learning about their culture.

Well, it was 1985, I was young and single. Met a nice guy at a club in Cannes, danced all night and he and his friend walked my friend and I back to our hotel.. yup, definately some kissing involved,, funny thing was as we were kissing we were chatting ,, and I kept saying " vous " instead of " toi" ,, which if you know french is actully pretty funny, I was using the formal address while behaving most informally,, LOL

Next day he and his friend came to pick us up at hotel, I had ( believe it or not) no swimming suit and they wanted to go to the beach, I thought I would buy one but was on a budget and couldn't bring myself to spend 100 dollars( in 1985) on a swimsuit( this was Cannes after all ) , so when Bernard arrived I told him I couldn't go to the beach as I had no suit,, he looked at me like I was speaking Martian,, he really did not see the problem as I could just wear my underpants and no top.. WAS HE INSANE!!!!???? LOL Needless to say I did NOT go to the beach!

Ow, ow, twist my arm on this one.....
While on the train from Amsterdam to Bruges a couple weeks ago, two young women and their sons got on at Antwerp. Ladies sat down across the aisle from me, sons smack in front of me (seats were facing each other). Being a teacher, I love to talk with kids, so I was instantly in hog heaven. During the train ride, the boys (ages 12 and 7, cousins) tried to teach me how to count from 1-10 in their language...Flemish...plus some basic words and phrases, and we all had many a laugh over my attempts to speak it!
(Of course I asked the moms if it was okay to talk with the boys.)
Older boy knew a little English 'from video games' !!! but younger one didn't know a word of it yet. They get English in school in about the 7th grade.
On an Amsterdam tram, there was a mom with a boy about 3-4 who had a plastic dinosaur. He took one look at me, then pretended to have the dino bite my thumb! We had a good time after that, and Mom didn't seem to mind.

Waiting at Cefalu station for the train to Palermo, I had the lovliest conversation in stilted Italian with a gentleman - a retired postal worker. He was just so delighted that I was trying to converse in his language, that I loved his island sufficiently to have returned so quickly and had fallen in love with Sicily all over again. When he left on his train, another gentleman, definitely in need of a visit from the tooth fairy (no front teeth) must have thought that my Italian was rather good, because away he chattered.
What totally amazes me though is being asked how (I travel solo) my husband had given me permission to travel. Hey!!