When you travel, you open up your senses more than normal. You are ready to see and appreciate beauty, and to take time out for it. And for a historian, Europe is a joy, full of things you know about, but only as a picture in a book...and then you stand before them in person. Wonders.
Of course, the food is great. Everywhere. And that already inspired us
to cook a really good dinner since we returned. Why not?
You have to push yourself to communicate, but it is amazing how much you can communicate with only the basics of a language if you really want to. Being honestly interested in learning about people's culture, and what they think about world events makes folks willing to put up with your awkward constructions. It seems like people actually get funnier and more poignant when you have to communicate creatively. Strange, I find it actually easier to speak meaningfully with strangers outside the country than inside it.
You have to adapt to all kinds of challenges besides language. You have
to figure how to use funny-looking toilets like this one. (Oops!
Upside-down!) And the wide range of possible faucets, doorknobs, food,
Metro systems, toll booths, the bizarre traffic signals of Spain, and,
God knows, very different roads and driving customs. The crazily
narrow, U-turn winding cobblestone roads we drove in Assisi, Carcasonne,
and Granada blew my mind. Too narrow for any car, including the
rolling phone booths Europeans drive around in, and yet we wriggled
through. And then there was my hour of driving alone around the heart
of Rome, with a malfunctioning I-phone map. Fun, fun, fun! But, people
have navigated Rome before without modern technology...and it was a
fascinating puzzle to solve.
When you travel, you walk more, eat more, laugh more, learn more, live more.
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