“A traveller who looks at things with an impartial eye may see what the oldest inhabitant has not observed.”
HDT 20/8/1851
One of the reasons why travel is so good and I’m looking forward to seeing Paris and Venice through a child’s eyes next year. However, I always enjoyed showing my friends around the area I grew up. It was nice to be a tour guide, especially for my foreign pals, in one’s own home town. It is true that they see things a little differently than I would. Where we would see danger or idiots, they saw tranquillity and a Scottish wholesomeness we missed until we were older. One of them of course returned the favour ten times over as he became a tourist in his area of Italy for me, and I hope he enjoyed it as well. The care-freeness of it all remains some of my favourite memories. Our time in Florence my best.
This was an age of course when we didn’t care and we made a mess of ourselves, (well at least I did), almost every night. My excuse; it helped me understand Italian, which was obviously not true, it just gave me the confidence to understand them. Good guys and gals, all of them. He had a good bunch of pals there and they were all very loyal to each other. I wonder if there is a story in that adventure.