We get off the boat and go on walking tours or bus tours. Each day we get in one of three groups.
Day 1 we were in the group with people who had graduate degrees from Harvard asking, shall we say, questionable questions. We thought it a cause of jet lag or drunkenness.
Day 2 we switched groups and now we’re are mingling with Silicone Valley types. But we got more stupid questions. Was this a phenomenon?
Day 3, amongst ourselves, “Are these questions the stupidest stupid questions ever?”
Day 4, lounge time after tour, the four of us summarize stupid questions we’ve heard. And here they are (Note: Those with asterisks* were only stupid after asked and answered 74 or more times):
- Were the Nazis here?*
- Did this town get bombed in the war?*
- Do people in Belgium have cats as pets?
- Is the tour over? (it had literally just begun)
- How long were the Nazis here?*
- What kind of tree is this?*
- Do the branches of this tree break?
- How many Nazis were here?*
- If you ride a bike to work but you get sick, do you still go to work?
- If I walk backwards, will my Fitbit subtract steps?
- Does the miller still work the windmill?*
- (In a sea of 4,216 tourists following respective guides) Is tourism a business here?
- I’m just looking at that french fry on the road (Not a question but directed at the guide so it made the list).
- And my personal favorite, What do you call people from Belgium? (I snuck a pic of the two idiots who came up with that one):
Here are highlights from our garden tour at Keukenhof Gardens and the Kinderdijk windmills tour from a very sunny yesterday. (Let’s hear it for spring!!)
I like that Fitbit question actually. Very existential. And ‘Is the tour over?’ sounds like me after 5 minutes of any organized activity. Enjoy your tulips! 🙂
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So you’re saying there are no stupid questions? Thanks for popping in!
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I thought it was rhetorical — but yes!
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Same here: the Fitbit question is bordering the philosophical. So is the last one, actually.
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Oh, I wish I thought so. But this was a conversation on the bus when a group was checking their Fitbits and some results were different than others and that was one theory they advanced for why. Good to hear from you!
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Great pics, and yes sometimes you wondered where people been in our world. cheers
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Our tour guides were so patient. I would have strangled someone!
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Well, those questions are at a par with what we heard in Alicante back in the summer from an American lady exclaiming: “Oh, Look, a Ferris wheel!”, when it was an old fashioned Carrousel. Let’s put it down to jet lag, shall we?
I am dead jealous of the tulips, as that is what I want to see when we go to Holland at the end of this month or early May. I do hope they are still out and haven’t all withered by then. And I love your clogs: very fetching!
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Fatima, the tulips haven’t bloomed yet! Those were in a greenhouse garden at Keukenhof. There are fields and fields of tulips that have not yet bloomed. You might be just in time due to their late spring! But my oh my were the ones we saw gorgeous!
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That’s great to hear. I am so much looking forward to it! Fingers crossed!
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Can’t wait to read about your travels here. 🤞
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Thank you. Hopefully I will get a chance to write all about it very soon.
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Oh Alison…this is one reason to avoid organized tours when travelling! No one does their research prior to the trip, or listens or, gosh forbid, tries to adapt to cultural norms…There is no end to the (embarrassing) stupidity…
But that is what makes us ‘charming’ to the rest of the world, non? 😉
Enjoy the rest of your adventure!
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I have already decided that we can’t do this again. Already one half day off the boat after the tour is over and we’ve had our best day yet!
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Proof positive that indeed there are stupid questions. I’d love to have heard the answers and picture the restraint that went into formulating those answers. And there has to be a some back story to the cat question.
By the way, love your shoes!
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The guides will be sainted someday. No back story on the cat. Just a lot of people walking dogs and a person from our group said, “I see a lot of dogs here. Do people also have cats?” This woman was the originator of many stupid questions and on reflection I think she was trying hard to have a conversation.
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I really smiled at some of these questions and the french fry comment, too. 😀
You two are really attractive guides to the beauty you see! ❤️ 💐
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That’s a nice compliment. Blogging does help us keep our eyes open, yes? Like your door photos. How many of us just walk by those places you capture and name so wonderfully?
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Oh, I tend to only read other posts over the weekend, so I just went back a ways to read a few of your delightful posts, Alison. 💐
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Same here. I’ve been in the dead zone for internet so I’m just resurfacing to catch up on yours as well.
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What DO the ‘natives’ call people from Belgium? Probably the same thing they call you: tourists! 🙂
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I don’t know why we couldn’t think of Belgians. We might’ve been thinking in French. Anyway, I got my stupid crown now.
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Yay – so happy you finally got some sunshine! Looks beautiful, tulips are some of my favorites!
Great stupid questions – Americans are truly top notch 👌🏼
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I got tired of typing…so many more stupid questions came. Glorious sun!
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Hilarious!
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Beautiful pictures.
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It was such a unique experience for me. Thank you.
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When touring, most questions are sensible…if not then why tour or have a guide or docent. That’s my take Alison .
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I am usually more tolerant. Two women, I am sure, were trying to come up with questions rather than let them be organic in nature. Plus there were usually 35 in a group so that meant people asked the same questions over and over because they weren’t paying attention and I find that rude to the tour guide and the others who are touring.
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I see your point. Redundancy is a wear on one’s tolerance. Such beautiful tour shares. Enjoy and continue to keep us abreast!
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Love the clogs!
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So sad. I once taught Camus’ L’étranger to a class of UNIVERSITY freshman…when I explained the French Resistance as a point of context, no one had heard of it. No one. Sigh.
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It is sad. We aren’t doing a very good job teaching history in this country, particularly that of the Allied Forces.
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Ha! “I’m just looking at that French fry on the road.”
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Absolutely happened. Thanks for stopping by!
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Thanks for the morning laugh!
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Lovely photographs. Amazing write up. Keep Glittering, love TGA by Misha
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Thank you!
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I hope they weren’t asking those Nazi questions at the Anne Frank house.
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It’s possible we’re the “silence please” signs not up there might have been a similar Q & A. Have you been to the Anne Frank House? I felt a little disappointed at first but a few months later I still see the house and picture those poor people living there. It has really left a mark on my soul.
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I just wonder what kind of questions they would make concerning my Finland.
Let me quess: Do polar bears walk on the streets in Helsinki? I could answer, no but You could participate in Samba Carnival:
Samba dancers
Have a good day!
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I wonder as well! I would love to see Finland someday. Thanks for stopping by.
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