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| typical Amsterdam street |
I can’t
imagine two cultures more diametrically opposed in the way they handle life.
The Dutch are organized, clean, polite and very friendly in a formal way.
Everyone looked healthy and prosperous. Ninety percent spoke English with an
American accent. I never saw one beggar. Everything was right on schedule. Even
the gentrifying neighborhood I slept in was clean and unthreatening. The
weather was pleasant and cool, around 65 degrees at the high, and the sky often
gray. And when my pocket was picked, it was in the Dutch manner—unobtrusive,
quiet, elegant and thorough.
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| The "chicken-tickle" mosaic from Pompeii |
Italians
are laid-back, always a little later than scheduled (though everyone is held to
the same loose strictures). The trains were mostly on time (I believe Mussolini
had something to do with that). Helpful, yes, and very informal (I met Maria,
one of my pedicureists on the street having a cigarette; she proceeded to tell
me about her home and two young children). In Sorrento and other Amalfi coast
cities, I got by easily with a mix of pidgin Italian and gesture—the result of
plenty of English tourists. In Naples, it was a lot more difficult. Italy was mostly
sunny, 75 degrees or more during the day. No pocket-picking, messy Italian
style or any other way. The only poor I saw in Sorrento were foreigners,
looking for work—and that was true of Naples, too—but Naples was in a bad way,
and it was evident.
In spite of
the Metrocart incident, I had to come home to really get robbed: a gift card I
had set down with my purse and shopping bag next to me on the floor was stolen
in my local CVS pharmacy. Interesting that the two most prosperous places I’ve
been in lately—Amsterdam and Marin County—are the two places that host theives.
I suppose Willie Sutton’s statement still holds true. When he was asked why he
robbed banks, he replied, “That’s where the money is.”
See more images of Sorrento, Pompeii and Herculaneum on my website gallery page
Next: Southern Spain in July...
