I’m writing about Sun., May 4th first since I wrote about May 3rd yesterday. Our hostess in the B&B in Torri, a little village near Rosia, was reasonably friendly when we arrived. She was surprised that we were walking in rather than driving. We followed a woman who had ridden our bus and walked to the B&B from Rosia. Looks like most people rent cars and drive to somewhat remote accommodation like this in the Tuscan region. A large group of guests were sitting under a vine/flower canopy when we walked in. Most of them sounded Italian; we learned later that they were all Italians enjoying their long Labor Day weekend except for one Australian couple. The Italians left before dinnertime, and we ended up visiting with the Aussie couple before dinner. They offered us a ride to dinner, wherever that would be, and we ended up at a nice local restaurant in Brenna, just a few km away.
Dinner was a lot fun with the two Aussies. We had not had the opportunity to communicate with anyone for that long on our trip thus far, and it was especially nice with native English-speakers. They were down-to-earth and open, making for good conversation. A lot of the dinner was spent discussing travels and comparing Australia to the US (surprise, surprise.) It sounds like the US and Australia have similar cultures in many ways. They are equally “uptight” about nudity/the body compared to Europeans; they like their space, spreading out with houses rather than apartments and a yard when they have the opportunity. They commented that they didn’t understand why Europeans lived so close together, often without yards and sometimes in apartments in the countryside where they have room to spread out. Though we came to the conclusion that a closer living situation is often what they are familiar and comfortable with; they may not want to or be able to spend money on an individual house. Aussies have the same societal trends like an affinity for large shopping centers, big box stores, personal vehicles instead of public transportation, and lots of fast food. They aren’t as affectionate as the Italians or French – like for us, girls holding hands and guys greeting with kisses are not generally accepted behaviors.
Of course there are differences between our cultures too. The Aussie guy was the first non-American to ever tell me he liked American pride in our country; all other foreigners have told me that they view our pride as unnecessary arrogance. He thought that Americans were more politically aware and more likely to speak a foreign language than the average Aussie (both scary thoughts!) Australia has less chain restaurants with more reasonable portions, though they said the portions seem to be growing, and they don’t tip in restaurants. They don’t tip in Australia because the restaurants pay their employees a full-time wage. The Australian guy commended a few things about the US, but he did not like our tipping system at all! I agree that it’s ridiculous. He pointed out that the customers are making up the balance of what the restaurant owners don’t pay their employees in tips. The customers shouldn’t have to pay the restaurant owner’s employees for him. Unfortunately though, Australia is generally following American trends of excess. Big box stores are prolific – though not as big as Wal-Mart – and fast food is popular, as well as over-development and cities of pavement.
The Aussie couple pointed out that the safety standards here in Italy on a personal level seem to be on par with Australian standards, but they are lacking in protection from other people. They gave the example of roadwork. Road workers have vests and hard hats, etc., for personal protection, but nothing marking the work zone for drivers – no fence, cones, arrows, etc. They’re exposed on the road and at the mercy of drivers. The Italians are assuming a lot more responsibility on the part of the driver/individual than in the Australia or the US. Even the Aussies are more lax than Americans regarding motorcycles (or “scooters”) though. Also, motorcycles in Europe are allowed to weave through traffic. Another Australian we met was surprised that American motorcycles can’t weave around traffic and can’t just park anywhere. She couldn’t see the point in having one then! I don’t know if they do this in Australia, but in Europe people park their motorcycles and cars in all kinds of precarious spots that you rarely see in US barring an overcrowded event.
I’ve noticed many other safety standard contrasts in Europe. There was no do-not-cross line where people were para-skiing (jumping off a cliff with skis and a parachute) at a French ski resort we skied at a few years ago. Ski boundaries are notoriously poorly marked in Europe. French and Italian drivers get dangerously close to pedestrians on the side of the road. Europeans don’t budge when they are blocking the walkways or product shelves in stores. High speed trains don’t stop or use horns at stations and sometimes don’t slow down much either!
There were construction guys later in Volterra dumping construction debris into a truck and they were wearing hard hats, at least. However, as I walked by a renovation site on a main street today, a man threw scrap metal into a truck right as I walked by – almost hitting me. There were no fences/barricades blocking the site or signifying the presence of a “construction zone” – the “zone” just blended in with the street.
To their defense, it’s got to be hard to comply with some of these American-made rules when they have such narrow streets, small spaces, and buildings that are hundreds of years old. Today a car was passing another car as our bus was in the oncoming lane – where there was no passing lane! In the US that wouldn’t even be possible, but here the cars are so small they can maneuver. That car would get pulled in the US for reckless driving!
Part of this different attitude toward safety is probably a result of Europe not having the same lawsuit problem as the US. Officially, if you burn your hand on McDonald’s coffee in the US, it’s their fault, not the individual. We think it’s ridiculous, yet lawsuits continue. C has a good hypothesis: One reason for so many US lawsuits is people using it as a last resort when they hurt themselves and can’t pay the massive medical bills!
Another Aussie we met the next morning reiterated a lot of what we had heard from the couple at dinner. Rachel’s accent was actually hard to place at first, it seemed to be mixture of British and Australian, probably since her parents were British and she was currently living in England even though she was born in Australia. Rachel was a free-spirit who had tried many professions and paths in life, the most recent being training as some kind of holistic psychotherapist. It sounded interesting, but I never got a chance to discuss it with her. She had traveled extensively, including several months in South America, and volunteered at numerous spots in her travels. The most recent of these stints was at an eco-village in northern Italy. It was fascinating to hear her take on things.
According to Rachel, the British aren’t far behind the Australians in following American trends. I heard they are starting to use larger size appliances in Britain for one thing. Not good news! Rachel said she felt embarrassed for us whenever she heard Bush speak. She also put her two cents in about Hillary Clinton: she thought it so unnecessary for Hillary to lie and exaggerate to win over voters. I saw a little graffiti on the inside of a public bathroom door in Siena that read, “F*** Bush”; another read something like: “Bush is the worst thing to happen in my country – [signed] Britain;” and in response: “I’m ashamed of my prime minister for following Bush around – [signed] Australia.” The three Aussies had mentioned their former prime minister being buddy-buddy with Bush.
One of the Australians explained to us briefly how the Australian election process works. It’s roughly like our senators being elected by the people, then the party who wins majority gets to choose the prime minister within that party. Therefore the whole government is controlled by one party, and the prime minister is not directly elected by the people. However, the prime minister is mainly just a figurehead without the veto power that the American president has. Plus no one contributes money to candidates and millions of dollars aren’t spent on many primary and general election campaigns.
All three Aussies said that Australians have a romantic view of the US. They have this idea that it’s like a fairytale land with endless affluence. I would too if all I knew of it were Hollywood movies shot in SoCal and NYC! They had all been to the US and know it’s not at all a utopia, but it’s funny to hear our image in the eyes of their society. Reminds me a lot of the Irish dream of America in the 50’s and 60’s. We talked about Monte Carlo – that is my most romantic idea of excessive wealth. They had all been there – said it’s worth a day trip 🙂
We discussed voice pitch with the Aussies among food and other random topics. We all noticed that people tend to speak in higher voices when they speak in a foreign language, probably because they aren’t as confident. I know my voice is deeper in English than it is in Spanish.
We agreed that sometimes you need something familiar when you are traveling in a foreign setting for a while. Their example was craving McDonald’s. We sought out the familiar by seeing an American movie in Sete (though we barely understood any of it since it was dubbed over in French.)
C and I were impressed that the Australian couple had a rain water collection and recycling system installed on their 10-acre property. The rain is collected in large cisterns, purified, and provides all the household water. The used water – I think all of it, not just gray water?? – then goes through the recycler and is used for garden irrigation. They live outside of Melbourne, Australia, where they’ve had a water shortage and ensuing water restrictions (like no outside watering) for years. Most Australians are probably not as aware of the problem or as willing to pay good money for such a recycling system. They had visited the US a few times between the two of them. On a trip to the CO River last year, they were flabbergasted that the river is drained so much by Las Vegas lawns. They invited us to visit them someday. I hope we can – we’d love to visit with them more and we’d love to see their home!
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This morning we got up around 0830 and had breakfast downstairs with a coupe that sounded German and another Australian woman, Rachel, who was traveling alone. She is who we followed in yesterday. I had taken a picture of the bus schedule at the bottom of the hill, so I showed her the schedule she asked about getting to Siena. Since we were going there today too, we all walked down to Rosia at about 1000. It started to drizzle along the way. We got to Rosia plenty early so we explored around for a while and then bought bus tickets at the Tobacchi shop on the main road. The bus showed up a bit late at 1210, but it came! We got off the bus near the city walls and Rachel soon parted ways with us to go into a shoe store. We pretty much made a beeline to the Duomo and got in line outside, dodging raindrops the whole time. The wait was only about 15 minutes and tickets cost a total of 20 EUR. It was money well spent because the inside of the cathedral was just as beautiful as the outside. The unusual striped columns were fascinating, and every square inch was covered in some sort of decoration, floor included. It actually held my attention for 45 minutes or so, before I was ready to move on. Next we went to the facade of the Nuovo Duomo, which was an interesting arch that you could walk across. There was going to be a whole new cathedral here but the project was canned in the 14th century and only the front facade was built. The view of Siena and environs were very impressive from up there, it looked to be the 3rd highest point in town. We could also see a line of rain coming from the west, so we retreated back to street level through the Duccia museum. Once the rain hit, we decided to hang out in a gelatoria, like many other people. This time we were smart, sharing one cup of three different flavors; walnut, kiwi, and berry mix. It was a great way to hang out, although we were crammed into the tiny store like sardines. Next, we went into an Internet lounge, which was a small circular room with a vaulted ceiling and 7 computers. It was only 3.28 EUR for 4 minutes of online time, not bad! It was about 1630 now, and the bus back was leaving at 1745, so we headed back towards Piazza Gramsci to look for some sandwiches to take back for dinner. We found some decent looking meat/cheese/tomato sandwiches right on the square after a long search of nearby streets in the rain. It was too late to go to the market too, so we just found the bus and got on. This time, the bus was going to Brenna and dropped us off right in Torri instead of Rosia but we were the last ones to get off. The three Australians were in the central room talking when we walked in, so we joined them for a while, and then broke out our food for dinner. It is wonderful to actually be able to communicate effectively with other people, it’s not something we have had much of as of late. Rachel was leaving in the morning so we said goodbye to her, and also talked briefly with a new couple from the Ukraine.
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The Song of Serendipity 