a million times a trillion more (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dolorosa_12) wrote2023-02-03 11:47 am
dolorosa_12) wrote2023-02-03 11:47 am
Entry tags:
Friday open thread: a tourist in your own home town
I'm not likely to get to your responses to this open thread until Sunday, as my in-laws are visiting for the weekend and I'll be flat out looking after them and showing them around.
This is in fact what sparked today's prompt: do you find it easy to think of touristy things to do for visitors?
(For those of you new to this journal — e.g. the people who subscribed through the recent![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge friending meme, these 'Friday open threads' are a semi-weekly feature. I ask a prompting question, and people can chat about it in the comments.)
Depending on how you define 'home town,' mine could be New York, Sydney, Canberra or Cambridge. The town in which I live now is really only my 'home town' insofar as it is the town where my home is, but it's not where I was born, it's not where I spent my childhood, it's not where my family is from, and it's not really somewhere where I had particularly formative moments. In any case, all of my previous 'home towns' have ample things to do to suit various tourist-y tastes — museums, art galleries, historic buildings, nice places to walk, shows and cultural performances, good food, etc etc. That being said, I was starting to run out of things to do with repeat visitors in Cambridge, particularly if they weren't very mobile or keen on walking.
Where I live now has ... a massive cathedral, a tiny art gallery, and a couple of pretty parks along the river. If you like walking or bike riding, there are lots of routes on which to do so — all through flat fields and fens (the landscape here is very much like that of the Netherlands). It's got a handful of nice restaurants, cafes and tearooms, but basically it's the sort of place that a tour group is bused into for the day from London, they're shown around the cathedral and given a scone and a cup of tea, and then taken back to London on the bus at 4 or 5pm. So I really struggle to know what to do with people who have a) seen the cathedral before and b) have limited mobility. The whole thing is, of course, more complicated when you are an immigrant and any visit from relatives will last for longer than a few hours, and things to do need to be found to fill the time.
In general, I find cities easier to see through the eyes of a tourist and find things to do to suit all interests and needs. Small towns (this town's population is just over 20,000, and by my standards that is tiny) are difficult if the visitors in question can't or don't enjoy going for long walks.
Do you get the idea that I'm a little bit stressed about the whole thing?
This is in fact what sparked today's prompt: do you find it easy to think of touristy things to do for visitors?
(For those of you new to this journal — e.g. the people who subscribed through the recent
snowflake_challenge friending meme, these 'Friday open threads' are a semi-weekly feature. I ask a prompting question, and people can chat about it in the comments.) Depending on how you define 'home town,' mine could be New York, Sydney, Canberra or Cambridge. The town in which I live now is really only my 'home town' insofar as it is the town where my home is, but it's not where I was born, it's not where I spent my childhood, it's not where my family is from, and it's not really somewhere where I had particularly formative moments. In any case, all of my previous 'home towns' have ample things to do to suit various tourist-y tastes — museums, art galleries, historic buildings, nice places to walk, shows and cultural performances, good food, etc etc. That being said, I was starting to run out of things to do with repeat visitors in Cambridge, particularly if they weren't very mobile or keen on walking.
Where I live now has ... a massive cathedral, a tiny art gallery, and a couple of pretty parks along the river. If you like walking or bike riding, there are lots of routes on which to do so — all through flat fields and fens (the landscape here is very much like that of the Netherlands). It's got a handful of nice restaurants, cafes and tearooms, but basically it's the sort of place that a tour group is bused into for the day from London, they're shown around the cathedral and given a scone and a cup of tea, and then taken back to London on the bus at 4 or 5pm. So I really struggle to know what to do with people who have a) seen the cathedral before and b) have limited mobility. The whole thing is, of course, more complicated when you are an immigrant and any visit from relatives will last for longer than a few hours, and things to do need to be found to fill the time.
In general, I find cities easier to see through the eyes of a tourist and find things to do to suit all interests and needs. Small towns (this town's population is just over 20,000, and by my standards that is tiny) are difficult if the visitors in question can't or don't enjoy going for long walks.
Do you get the idea that I'm a little bit stressed about the whole thing?
no subject
I resemble this remark. And being another immigrant I'm sure you understand without me needing to explain it, but I don't think I have a home town. The place I was born isn't somewhere I ever felt at home, and while I love it here, everyone sees me as an immigrant first and foremost, so it's hard to feel like this is a place that's part of me. I never felt like I belonged in the place I left, so I came somewhere I thought I'd belong better, and everyone here just sees me as a representative of everything I ran away from.
On the lighter side, though! Touristy things! We have actually quite a good variety of touristy things to do here. Because I am, at heart, a mercreature trying to drag everyone into the sea with me, I'm always suggesting the beach. We have some lovely ruins and a nice lighthouse nearby, and on weekends there's a local market (which tragically we haven't been to since the pandemic began, but in the Before Times it was a staple of showing people around). If you go into town there's a plethora of galleries and museums, and a delightful historic haunted pub that has a very fun gin menu. I've taken a few visitors to the castle but I try to temper expectations because ours is very puny. Fantastic view from the top, though. It's a chain so I do feel a bit shameful for not recommending somewhere more local, but I do love our Botanist; and, in my defence, everyone I've brought has been just as entranced by the interior aesthetics as I am, so at least we're all having a good time overpaying for our fancy cocktails.
Best of luck with your in-laws this weekend! I hope you're able to find suitable things to fill the time.
no subject
Ooof, I relate to nearly all of this. The city where I was born has never been my hometown, because my parents were immigrants there at the time of my birth, we left when I was two months old and I grew up in my parents' country of origin. I think in total I've been back four times to the city of my birth and culmulatively have spent maybe six week there during those visits, so I am very much a tourist myself when I go there.
The city in which I grew up and the city where my family is from and now (mostly) live are a bit different. There were periods when both were home, but they definitely haven't been that for a long time and I feel very complicated emotions about them. The city and country to which I immigrated felt like home for a long time, but not since 24 June, 2016 (which, ironically, was the day I received my first-ever UK passport).
Home is other people, for me, I guess.
However, on another note, you sound like an absolutely amazing host and it sounds as if you've got hosting visitors in the town in which you live down to a fine art! There's something for everyone, and to be honest I would personally enjoy every single thing you've listed!
Best of luck with your in-laws this weekend! I hope you're able to find suitable things to fill the time.
Thank you. The challenging thing is that they have been coming to this part of the world for years because my husband has lived here for over 20 years (he first moved from Germany to the UK to do his undergrad studies, and has never left), so they've already done most of the big touristy things, and my mother-in-law has very limited mobility but we don't drive and don't own a car. Normally they've driven here themselves but for various reasons they're flying this time, so we can only do stuff that's in very easy walking distance and doesn't require people being on their feet for long.
no subject
I just wanted to say how much this resonates with me. I've always lived in the same city, but what makes it my home town is my family and friends being here. If for some reason they all picked up and moved elsewhere, it would start to feel hollow calling it my "home town".
no subject