Kelly Rossiter
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This has been a big travel year for me, first to Kenya and then off to Paris and Dublin. I'm a bit of a home-body and I don't go away very often, so when I do I think a lot about how other people live their lives. Many of my observations are on topics that have been covered in both Planet Green and TreeHugger, but it's my own personal take on the little green things that happen (or not) in daily life.
Trains:
Toronto is ridiculously inadequate when it comes to getting to the airport. There are a few buses, but their points of departure are in such far flung places that it never makes any sense to take them if you live downtown as we do. There is no train to the airport, so that leaves airport limousines. My husband and I left on our vacation together, but after Paris, he went to London and I went to Dublin. That meant three car trips to and from the airport at a cost of $144.00, just to transport 2 people. Landing in Paris, we headed for the trains, which depart every fifteen minutes or so and take you through the city at a cost of 8 Euro. We had a train stop which was about six blocks from our hotel. Leaving the Dublin airport there were buses to my destination every hour and it dropped me off (outside of a pub, it being Ireland), three blocks from my friend's home, at a cost of 14 Euro return.
More Trains:
On my way from Paris to Dublin I was sitting in the departure lounge waiting for my flight and eavesdropping on the people around me. An American family heading to Ireland was chatting with an Irishman returning home. They asked where they could rent a car for the week to tour around. The Irishman was horrified. No, no, he said, you take the train for any distance and then you take the local bus. Chances are you won't feel the need of a car.
Other Transport:
My husband and I spent our entire trip to Paris on our feet. Like flaneurs, we wandered the streets, just to drink in the experience. We took the Metro only once, when we went to Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, and then we walked all the way back to the 6th Arrondisment to our hotel. Paris, like New York, is a city for walkers, and you see Parisians walking through their city at a leisurely pace. You also see them on bikes. An amazing number of people avail themselves of the Velib, the bikes that you can rent from stations all across the city. There was a stand of about forty bikes that I could see from my hotel window and there were always people there renting or returning them. There certainly were lots of cars in Paris, but we saw more Smart Cars in an afternoon than I would see in Toronto in a year.
Food and Drink:
One of the things that drives me nuts about North American culture is the obsession with carrying around food and coffee or bottled water and the seeming necessity of constantly consuming these things in the street, or on public transit. Earlier this year I was at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the woman in front of me at the coat check balked when she was told she couldn't taker her water bottle into the gallery. How will I stay hydrated? she whined. I wanted to lean over and say you are in a temperature controlled art gallery, not the Sahara Desert and if constantly sucking on a bottle is so important to your well being why are you using a disposable plastic bottle and not a refillable one. I didn't, but I should have. The Parisians have it right. If you want a coffee, you go to a cafe and sit and drink your coffee and then go about your business. The only Starbucks cups I saw were in the hands of tourists.
Littering:
I was impressed at how clean Paris was and there are garbage receptacles everywhere which are frequently emptied. Toronto used to be an exceptionally clean city, but alas, is no longer. Part of the reason, no doubt, is the shocking number of disposable coffee cups and food wrappers that you see dropped in the street or on the bus. At the Louvre, my husband and I saw a woman toss an empty water bottle over her shoulder. Instantly a young man picked it up and shamed her by politely returning the bottle to her. Good for him.
Time:
Time certainly seems to be a flexible thing when you are on vacation. With no commitments, and no need to rush we quickly fell into the Parisian schedule. After our croissant and morning coffee we would wander around waiting for museums and shops to open. Then a lunch at around 2:00, more wandering and then back to the hotel at around 5:00 for a little rest and then out to dinner at 7 or 8:00. My husband marveled at the Parisians who filled the bistros during the afternoons and ate and drank wine at a leisurely pace. Don't they work? he kept asking me. Well, yes, they probably do, but they understand the importance of a meal as a social and communal thing and treat it as more than a quick fuel stop.
In Ireland asking directions can take a bit of time, because the polite thing to do is to inquire after the health and well being of the person doing the directing, and then some comments on the fineness of the evening are also in order. My friends Barb and Mark and I had a delightful dinner in the garden of a rural pub at the suggestion of a gentleman walking down the road, complete with traditional Irish music. After a bit we were the only patrons left and felt we should be on our way. The publican could see that we were enjoying ourselves and wouldn't hear of us rushing off. He joined us at our table and had a bit of a chin wag before letting us go.
Parks:
Our hotel was blocks from the Luxembourg Gardens and we walked through it every chance we got. Aside from the thousands of chairs placed around the fountains, there was lawn bowling, tennis, ping pong tables, a playground and acres of grass for people to play and picnic on. The night we arrived there was an open air performance of Rigoletto in front of the palace. Europeans understand public spaces in a way that North Americans just don't get.
Historically, our cities aren't so densely populated and we tend to desire the single family dwelling with a private lawn and garden, all but eliminating the need for public green space. When you look at that magnificent expanse of park, or at the enormous square at the Louvre, you understand, as my husband said, that you were born in the colonies.
Refrigerators:
Visiting Barb in Ireland proved the point of small refrigerators making good neighbourhoods. You are forced to shop locally and frequently, and you use your refrigerator space wisely. Or you go out to the pub for a bowl of homemade soup.
Foraging:
Somehow stinging nettles came into the conversation and Barb asked where I got them in Toronto. She was shocked when I said I got them at the farmers' market, because stinging nettles are everywhere in Ireland and no one in their right mind would pay for them. I offered to cook dinner using nettles so Barb's friend Mark gamely went and collected some for us, getting some nasty welts on his hands in the process. I made stinging nettle risotto and it was pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself.
Cooking:
Barb doesn't cook, so I was surprised on my first night there that she said she had dinner for us. Turns out she had bought dinner at Marks and Spencer. Anyone who reads my food columns knows that I don't buy pre-packaged food, but I was amazed at this stuff. The sell-by date was days, not weeks or months away because the food was all fresh, with no preservatives of additives. We had roasted vegetables and the ingredients were potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, garlic and olive oil some herbs and nothing else. The chicken was fresh chicken breasts with mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes and fresh Irish strawberries for dessert. Marks and Spencer has a special series called 2 Can Dine and you get dinner, dessert and a bottle of wine for 12.99 Euro. This is obviously a loss leader for the store, but the point is you can get real food with real ingredients from local sources. Dinner was delicious, and looked like something that I would have cooked in my own kitchen.
My husband and I are pretty mindful of living in a green way, but it is always an eye opener to go somewhere and see how people in other places live their lives. It makes you reflect on things and try to incorporate the best things you learned into your own daily existence.
Read more about eco-friendly travel:
Are You a Green Globetrotter?
Quickly Calculate The Carbon of Your Flights
What is the Cheapest and Greenest Way to Travel?
Don't be Like Gov. Mark Sanford—Travel Local
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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