Tour Guide as Tourist
When sweetie was in college at Exeter he appeared in a performance of Princess Ida, and became close friends with the director, Paul. Paul (the director, not the sweetie) provided us free loding in London, and played tour guide for us much of our time there (when not working).
Frequently the sweetie and I would ask the host what some particular building was, or some similar question, and he wouldn't have a clue. But he was able to point out the Gherkin to us (as well as some other, bizarre, modern architecture), we ALWAYS made it out of the tube station at the correct exit, and he made sure we saw the coolest rooms and the Victoria and Albert museum.
We got to see a replica of David. Dang is that one big statue! And there's a fig leaf, which was used when they were afraid that ladies might be offended. It reminded me of The Simpsons episode in which Marge gets Itchy and Scratchy censored to some long-lasting effects.
We also traveled 8,000 miles across the globe to see a work by Dale Chihuly, who is a local glass artist. I'd never seen one of his larger works before, just small things which I thought were ugly. He definitely needs to do his art on a grand scale.
Anyhow, I came to appreciate the local, personalized flavor that the non-professional tour guide provided. I may not know the purpose of every building in town, but I defnitely have a taste of the local flavor I wouldn't have otherwise received.
Frequently the sweetie and I would ask the host what some particular building was, or some similar question, and he wouldn't have a clue. But he was able to point out the Gherkin to us (as well as some other, bizarre, modern architecture), we ALWAYS made it out of the tube station at the correct exit, and he made sure we saw the coolest rooms and the Victoria and Albert museum.
We got to see a replica of David. Dang is that one big statue! And there's a fig leaf, which was used when they were afraid that ladies might be offended. It reminded me of The Simpsons episode in which Marge gets Itchy and Scratchy censored to some long-lasting effects.
We also traveled 8,000 miles across the globe to see a work by Dale Chihuly, who is a local glass artist. I'd never seen one of his larger works before, just small things which I thought were ugly. He definitely needs to do his art on a grand scale.
Anyhow, I came to appreciate the local, personalized flavor that the non-professional tour guide provided. I may not know the purpose of every building in town, but I defnitely have a taste of the local flavor I wouldn't have otherwise received.
posted by Swankette at 11:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home