I spent two weeks of July with Ruby in Europe. Paris, Brussels and London. And it was a great trip, as I presume most such trips are, and they are probably all quite alike. So instead of talking about all the fun we had and places we visited, there are some things I wanted to mention.
In Paris, we were stopped numerous times by beggars of a dozen different nationalities, speaking more languages than I recall. And most times we really had no change at all with us – which must sound absurd to anyone living in Europe, where coins are so abundant. No, we only had our cards, and explaining that in whatever language we had been asked in was rather difficult. It was easier to say “I don’t understand” with a strong accent, to discourage further attempts, or to simply ignore it.
And I hold the firm belief London is where the British go on vacation, because there was not a single one working there – everyone performing a paid task was from India, China, Italy, (a country in) Africa or (a country in) Eastern Europe. Except the maid and the police officer in the Sherlock Holmes Museum; friendliest people I saw in the city, too.
A lot less beggars in London than in Paris, but there was this other thing keeping us in check: quite often, women fully covered, save for face and hands, would stop us in the street and ask “Do you speak English?”; “noh”, I would reply, trying to sound as strange as possible, but they carried on with the script: “Arabi?”. How likely would it be for a tourist in London to not speak a word of English but know Arabic? While their insistence did make me curious about their intentions, I decided it was best to assume they were Allah’s Witnesses and would stop me for a couple of hours to talk about the Koran. My favorite thing in the extremely hot European Summer we faced for those few days was the equally extreme shortness of the skirts, it would be a waste of time for all parties involved to talk to me about a deity who wants women to be nearly completely covered.
London gave me the impression it was barely tolerating my presence there. Perhaps they all sensed the star-and-stripes in my ki. “You have been touched by The-Continent-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, your soul is tainted; do what you must and leave us”. Or they knew I had been in Paris first. Still, it is absolutely not my fault that all their randomly sized and named coins have no or tiny indication of value! Big deal that your money is the most valuable in the world, if it just forces me to walk around with a ton of metal in my pockets! (Not that it mattered much, anyway, as Ruby only let me carry the two £0.01 coins I found. I am probably marked as a Level 1 challenge in the Thieves’ Guild.)
On the other hand, Paris seemed to be trying to make us feel welcome. (Note: here it is “we”; before it was “I” because Ruby was fully at home in London, as the Fource is very strong in her.) People tried to make an effort to understand what little French we could conjure. We soon found out most of them speak English, but with a twist: they understand you much better if you simulate a French accent (which puts you in the right frame of mind to better understand them as well).
I know you stated so in the first paragraph, but are you really going to do nothing but complain for this whole post?
Well, yes. You will also notice it is relatively short, I had very little to complain about this trip. But let me talk a little bit about Brussels before I wrap this up.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Monday morning. That weekend was the World Cup’s finals. I very strongly want to believe said games were the reason for what we encountered there. There were two days of near nothingness: we would walk for an hour and not see a single person in the streets; other than a shady Chinese supermarket and the McDonald’s, all stores and restaurants were closed for most of our time there. It felt like Tokyo-3! “Main” tourist attractions were open (until 6pm), fortunately. (“Main” because hardly anybody seems to know Brussels is home to the Atomium, Mini-Europe and Comic Books Museum, everybody only knows about the Grand Place and the Manneken Pis.) But all chocolate stores, the other thing the city is known for, we passed by were closed – not that any chocolate would survive the heat. I hope to go back there someday; as it stands, Brussels felt like those areas in RPGs that are annoying at first because most doors are locked until you complete some quest.
All in all, aside from what I mention here, we had a great time on our trip to Europe. Me, Ruby and our friend Bob.
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Well, it is true that the last thing you should expect to find in London is an actual Englishman. The very few all seem to work as tour guides in historical sites.
Oh, and I must say our friend Bob had a great time in Japan. He felt quite at home.