Tirol Update

Although sometimes it takes me a while to see the typical sights, I prefer to learn about a place much differently. Screw the tour buses; tours, tours, tours! It's all about money and taking a herd of cattle off to some view point, say a few words and shuttle you back so you can spend even more money in the tourist town. Gosh, I really HATE this. Gaudy trinket shops, expensive jewelry that was made and cut in another country, special fruit and herbal teas, scarves and your customary T-shirts. And people buy this stuff! Ok, I'm guilty of buying patches for my bag but other than that. . . Within the course of 3 days a typical tourist prolly has *seen* more than myself in 2 weeks. However, I believe I have learned more about the people, attitudes, language, culture and customs more deeply than they'll ever get from a tour.

Ok Lora, you ask, so what have you learned? In addition to some language learning (which is still weak on my part although my pronunciation takes first place in the beginner forum), I have learned some subtle things about Tirol versus the rest of the country. Tirol, I like to think of, is like a state within Austria. Nicely placed, I could travel on the north side of these mountains and be in Germany or go south and I'm in Italy. That's excellent! Tirolies are very different to the Vienesse, as I'm told. Everything from their language, pronunciation, attitude, prim and properness versus the *mountain* village of Innsbruck are major differences although I'm still learning about them. knowledge about the language in every country I venture off to has been such a history and culture lesson. It is difficult to explain; you must come here to experience it for yourself. How people feel about their language and the different dialects is actually pretty interesting. Even just learning about the various bier (beer) selection is a new chapter everywhere I go.

The other magical thing gained by my unique exploring methods is learning about various pieces of knowledge from the locals. Such as, good mountain biking trails and huts, swimming lakes, special destinations that you won't hear about on the internet, unique food dishes I would never order on my own, quiet little hang outs that don't open until after midnight and just look like every other shop you pass by in the daytime. Meeting the real people that live here or grew up here that open up themselves to tell you who they are and their feelings about the world! That is special to me. Even learning where people work and what they do with their lives - factory workers, hostel and bed & breakfast workers alike. A part of life I am unfamiliar with in America, not to say it isn't there, just not in my world.

One thing is for sure, you can count on finding the following wherever you go (in Europe):

-at least one Irish Pub in every town
-there are more The Body Shops than Starbucks!
-coffee is a learning experience und how to ask for it correctly
-smiling helps and I like to use the word, Beautiful (reciommendation) if I don't know what they said
-cars, esp. taxis are a force not to be reckoned with
-there is always some crazy drunk dude in a train station with his pants down or doing some ludicrous activity
-Ultimate Frisbee
-Guinness is my friend
-great vino
-confusing road signs
-music I've never heard before
-travel books in English
-(will add more since apparently I've forgotten some items)
-a serious lack of phones and forget finding a phone booth that is reasonably quiet

I'll get around to the sights; they'll always be here.