travel tips from the flying kiwi - walking Europe

Note: although this article was written in 2006 it is still relevant today….

TRAVEL TIPS

- The Do's and Don't's of dressing on the Continent

Every seasoned traveller’s dilemma must be how to dress to blend in with the local scene. How does one know what to pack? What is currently “in”? Getting it wrong is announcing to the world that you are a TOURIST or, even worse, a FOREIGNER.

This summer I went through three countries in two weeks - an easy thing to do on the Continent.

Starting off from Brussels, people were wilting in the “canicule” and desperately searching for the shady side of the street. Here the fashion looked chaotic with what seemed “anything goes” but a careful look at the young (and not so young but still pretending to be) revealed a pattern in the chaos- long tunic tops- or were they little dresses ?- over jeans in colours that didn’t match. Men’s trousers, or should I say long shorts, also seemed to shrink as the temperature rose. A stroll down Rue Neuve confirmed that “if that was what the shops were selling –that was all they had to wear!”

If the current fashion really isn’t your “scene” then the rule seems to be “blend in” - with the landscape, of course. Not a surprising notion in a country where cars are camouflaged - favourite car colours being various shades of grey – sorry, silver - or black, for the wealthy who need to show it, with the occasional really bold car owners who choose something as bright as blue. As for the few who choose red, they must be really insane or “are they foreigners?”….

The same goes for clothing – either wear the same clothes everyone else is wearing so you don’t stand out in a crowd or wear clothes the same shade as the footpath. In this country of people who are masters of hiding- a behaviour no doubt inherited from the tumultuous history of – a “flat” country being swept over by successive invading armies- you cannot go wrong if you follow this rule of blending in.

Moving on to rural France, it is obvious that the pace of life there is governed by the stomach. People are happy to spend their entire morning queuing for food. The Saturday morning queue at the village butcher’s was so long it extended into the street and people were waiting in their cars.….taking the opportunity to gossip to long lost friends and make a social occasion out of it.

In France, dressing is the next important thing to food. Clothes must be “correct” – the right clothes for the right occasion and your hair so neatly combed that not a hair is out of place – or so artistically wild, that – not a hair is out of place.

In the mornings, middle-aged women can be seen chatting to neighbours in the village street in their dressing gowns, or doing their housework – shaking mats out of their windows, in their dressing gowns. All this before they get down to the serious business of their “toilette” – a very careful preparation of dressing for the day – or rather what’s left of the day – as it could be afternoon before they finally emerge from their houses impeccably dressed and ready to afront the world.

The same day may see several changes of attire depending on the activity, or rather the impression one wants to make. Even for cycling, it is unthinkable to be astride your “velo” without the latest skin tight shiny gear, not forgetting silk or leather gloves, aerodynamic helmet and trendy goggles.

Switzerland is the country of the obsessive cleaner. Homeowners are on duty all week-end wielding the latest models of lawnmowers, hedge clippers, or vacuum cleaners - oops... this does not usually include Sundays.... Footpaths are so clean there is no longer the need to be walking with eyes down looking for dogs’ messes. Houses are continuously giving out smells of clothes detergent as the basement machines are furiously working around the clock.

This is also the country of the bionic lawnmower- whoops, I mean “cow”. Here meat is on display, on four legs in manicured pastures, but too expensive to eat! Cows are actually on supplementary feed in the middle of summer, in the middle of lush pastures saturated with fertilizer – yes, you can smell it. This led me to visions of cows as some kind of giant, household pet – ready to “moooo!” or clang their bells at the press of a button. Nowhere else in Europe do you see cow farms in the middle of urban areas with the sweet smell of cow dung being gently wafted over the roofs of suburban houses – a potent real time reminder of the upright Swiss citizens’ rural origins.

A sightseeing Sunday in Bern turned into my favourite game of “spot the nationality” watching passers-by while sitting on a park bench munching my lunchtime sandwiches.

Whole groups of tourists from various buses ambled by- Americans, Poles, Scandinavians, Italians, French, British….mostly regimented groups, straggly groups, families, couples or very rarely, the lone individual.

What stood out from this motley crowd was the way the Swiss dressed this sunny Sunday afternoon. Whole hordes of Swiss families descended on the town for the family open day at the museum. Almost without exception, the young parents were dressed in freshly washed faded blue jeans and navy blue pullovers. A “down on the farm” look - not surprising coming from a conservative society with strong traditional values where cleanliness and industriousness – did you whisper “money?”- are next to godliness.

Summing up - what should one pack when visiting several countries on holiday on the Continent?

A lamp post for Belgium, a comb for France and clean, faded blue jeans for Switzerland.

Bon Voyage!

Flying Kiwi 2006

more travel articles on this blog: http://flyingkiwi.over-blog.com/travel