The answer may surprise you. So far, we've made two stops in Portugal, two stops in Spain and yesterday was our third stop in Italy, Florence. We've wandered around, talked to locals who are far better at English than we are at attempting even simple dialog in their languages ("Me beer good, please!"), and taken some tours, some with small groups and some not so much.
What we've seen is a reoccurring theme. We pass the same stores in each city, whether it's H&M, Foot Locker, Cartier, Bulgari or Chanel. The locals and the tour guides point them out with pride that they have such high-end shops adorning their city. They also point out the five-star eateries and bars to stop and sip prosecco, sangria, eat sardines or whatever the local choice is for an afternoon refreshment or snack. But then, when they are honest, they admit something that's kind of disturbing. "We don't shop there." "We don't eat there." "We don't drink there."
Southern Europe is in a massive economic crisis. While I've seen that on CNN back home, it really doesn't hit you until you are here and a local tells you that she used to shop on the street that she's showing you, but can no longer afford to go there. She used to have coffee at that coffee bar, but can no longer afford the 5 Euro it takes to sit down. If she goes in now, then she can get a quick coffee up at the counter for 1 Euro, but only if she keeps standing and doesn't take a seat.
So who are taking those seats? Well, it's mainly Germans, English and a smattering of Australians and Americans. Even the Asian tour groups that used to be so prevalent in Europe in the '90s are hard to find, because much of Asia, Japanese tourists in particular, are dealing with their own economic problems. Sit in a Southern European coffee bar or restaurant and you are more likely to hear German than any other language these days. After all, the German economy is the rock in Europe that other nations are turning to for help.
Southern Europe, at least during tourist season, is not really for Southern Europeans.
But, what about Florence? Can we get away from the economic blah, blah, blah and actually talk about where you went?
Fair enough! Yesterday we took a day trip to Florence and it was almost Renaissance Overload. Everywhere you turn you go, "Wait, didn't I see a picture of that in high school humanities?" In just a few square blocks, you are immersed in the heart of the Renaissance.
If you are traveling with teenagers, this is the spot to go. This is what they are studying in middle school and high school. My daughter, a high school junior, was thrilled to be rereading parts of Dante's Inferno in Dante's house. She was literally taking pictures of the drawings inside the house with her phone. Who would have thought someone could be downright giddy about standing where Dante once stood? She was and it was awesome to see.
My son, an eighth grader, has been studying Michelangelo, Da Vinci and the Renaissance. And there he was, pointing out the statue of David. Walking around the piazza filled with original statues, he knew more about them than I could conjure up from memories of high school and college courses.
One of the funniest things we saw was a piazza with a sculpture of the mayor of Florence placed next to a sculpture of Neptune, God of the Sea. The egomaniacal mayor had his face carved as the face of Neptune so visitors could see that the mayor looked amazingly like a god and could in fact be Neptune. Apparently, Florentines still find this to be offensive and refuse to call the statute that of Neptune. They can't imagine a city mayor being that much of an egomaniac.
Well, coming form the city that has had both Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom as mayors, it's not really that much of a stretch for me to imagine a mayor with such a large ego. That's pretty much par for the course in San Francisco.
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