Re: [Harp-L] Going to Italy ( some harp related)

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This'll be my last post on the subject: Whether in Europe or the U.S. or wherever, shifty people will go after the most vulnerable people and nobody is more vulnerable than a tourist who doesn't speak the language. 
  Few people traveling will probably have the exposure to pickpockets I did, because I was there so long, spent most of it traveling in trains and was there when there weren't so many tourists in the winter and traveled alone. I went there for a semester, we had a bed and breakfast we stayed in, had classed four days a week, with a couple weeks off here and there to travel. In the off time, I did not buy hotel rooms, I had a free train pass, so if I were in Berlin, I'd hop a train to Dusseldorf or Bonn or someplace, sleep, arrive there in the wee hours, get on a train East, sleep some more, arrive in Berlin the next morning. I spent 90 percent of my time in Germany and Austria, and only had about 5 percent of the pickpocket, etc. experience. Most of my problems were in France and Hungary, Italy was third. If anybody thinks I'm holding my numerous experiences with theives against Europe, that's certainly not the case, I've been plotting for 10 years how to get back.
   
  One thing a traveler might consider is busking with the harp. There's a lot of buskers around, there's a lot of opportunity there.  Even if you don't have a hat out, you can sit on a park bench and play and nobody will look at you like you're an idiot. Check the flea markets. You'd be amazed what kind of stuff you can find, like World War I gas masks, old mandolins, old harps whatever, although I don't remember seeing any harps in Italy.
  If you're in Tuscany, drink the house wines (usually made by some guy up the street) and you can take a train up through the Brenner Pass where Hannibal went through and visit either the Seydel factory in Klingenthal or the Hohner factory in Trossingen. I'm trying to remember train times from 10 years ago, but I think you could do it on an overnight train ride in a sleeping car.  I think Hohner would be closer to Tuscany, Seydel would be closer to Venice. 

dennis moriarty <dmoriarty@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  I traveled around the world for a year with my new wife in 1991 
without getting ripped off once except for a smelly pair of my wife's 
sneakers at a poolside in Queensland Australia. I've been to Europe a 
half dozen times since too and no rip offs. That isn't to say there 
aren't pickpockets! One tested me on a train in Barcelona and a group 
of kids tested me in Milan or Rome. And I'm not advocating naivete. I 
grew up in the Bronx and know Martial Arts. I'm just empathic to those 
that are offended by the exploitation of the negative. The world I 
traveled in (From Raratonga to Kathmandu) left me incredulous at times 
with it's generosity. And each time i've gone overseas since I've had 
an imbalanced experience in the favor generosity. I also (as a result 
of such generosity) always stop to give directions to visitors 
negotiating Manhattan. I usually make it concise and affable in 
deference to their suspicions....... My only intention in this post is 
balance: All the good earthy tourist guides, e.g., Time-Out, Rough- 
Guide, etc, have a few paragraphs on indigenous crime but the rest of 
the guide exploits the joy of the destination. p.s. (And this is harp 
content) One of my favorite harp players is the guy from the 
Headhunters out of Italy. Damn he does a good job building up his 
version of Christo Redemptor. My best. d
http://www.myspace.com/blowintheblues





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