Flunking Tourism 101

Don't get me wrong, I love museums, especially art museums, but sometimes after several 10-hour days on the tourist trail, I just can't bear the thought of one more museum.  I climb a few steps, look up at yet another mammoth building and promptly turn around.   I want fresh air.  Music (preferably jazz).  And coffee. "Please, sir, can you tell me where the nearest cafe is?"

These are the days I flunk Tourism.   My guidebook lists the top 25 sites of the city I'm in.  I've seen eight.  Isn't that enough?  As a traveler, I have come to value quality over quantity.  I still hit a few highlights, but I make sure I have lots of time to wander aimlessly about.  More often than not, these are the days I bump into something so bizarre that no one back home would believe me if I didn't have a camera to prove its existence.

The best art, like the best fashion, is found on the streets.  This is true for art museums, as well.  There are massive sculptures outside the museums for the pragmatic reason they are to big to fit inside.  And guess what?  It costs nothing to see them!  So when I'm too tired (or too broke) to spend hours inside a museum, I just walk around its exterior.  It gives me more time to just sit at a cafe, drink coffee and people watch.  I may get an "F" in Tourism, but in Mimi's School of Travel, I get an "A" in Living.