Visit a Small Private Museum in VS .NET

Make ANSI/AIM Code 128 in VS .NET Visit a Small Private Museum

You wouldn t believe the places you can find where wealthy collectors left behind dusty old mansions jumbled with valuable bric-a-brac ranging from Ming vases and Roman reliefs to medieval suits of armor and occasional paintings by Renaissance masters Although few of the individual pieces, or the collections as a whole, tend to be first-rate, they offer fascinating insights into one man or family s tastes and styles and often as not these places are preserved exactly as the collector left them in 1754 or 1892 or whatever, and as such offer a glimpse into the lives and times of a different era

And before you pooh-pooh the idea of a private collection, remember the names of a few larger ones installed in the personal residences of Europe s richest past collectors: the Louvre (the French monarchs collection in their city palace), the Uffizi (the Medicis artwork installed in their old office building), and the Vatican (the Pope s best heirlooms in his private digs)

Europeans may not be as health-nutty or exercise-driven as your modern American, but the concept of a good cardio workout seems to be catching on Find out where the locals jog, and join them for a morning (or evening) run You can clear your head, explore a city park or two, and perhaps make some new friends

Leave the crowds of the big city behind, and explore the country on foot Buy the best, most detailed small-scale map you can find that shows all the unpaved roads and trails (if any) The tourist office of most smaller towns can help you out with maps, and sometimes even itineraries, or can point you toward the local trekking group A few cities are so small (Florence comes to mind) that you can start many country walks right outside your doorstep or from the end of a local bus line

In Europe, soccer is like packing all the cheers, joys, agonies, and devoted fandom of American baseball, football, basketball, and hockey into one sport and one season Except for a few oddball games cricket in England, or hurling in Ireland this is the only sport that most Europeans follow, making it a close second to Christianity as the national religion in each country Find out when the big game takes place (often Sunday) and where the die-hard fans of the home team sit in the stadium Then get a seat near them and root, root, root for the home team (unless you seem to be seated amidst fans of the opposing team, in which case scream your bloody lungs out for the visitors) Just avoid any obvious hooligans and any sign that a brawl s about to break out

During harvest seasons, you re bound to see people out working their fields or small plots Often, they re more than happy to accept any help you offer, and you can spend a day picking grapes or olives both of

which are a lot harder on your fingers and, in the case of grapes, your back, than you may imagine But the experience can be fun, and you may even get to pass around the wine bottle with the farmers during breaks

Watching TV in Europe doesn t make you a couch potato Tell your friends that you re having a cultural experience! You may be amazed by what they put on TV in other countries a whole lot more nudity, for one thing Plus, you get awful slapstick comedies (which are pretty easy to follow in any language), oddball game shows, and commercials for chewing gum or spring water You can discover that the Germans love Star Trek, the Italians have an unhealthy fixation on the (poorly dubbed) Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Bart Simpson is a beloved bad boy in every country