Mannequins come in a variety of fashions: cheerful, sexy, haughty, and even thoughtful. Some don’t have faces to make their clothes stand out, while others are missing limbs: if you don’t sell shoes, feet are irrelevant. We may remember statues, but our mind never safekeeps human-form hangers: they are less important than the clothes they were given to wear.
Revolution begins here, in the cliff-hanging medieval town of Orvieto.
It starts from a boutique window on its shop-packed high street, which is the main conduit for visitors trudging to Orvieto’s main cathedral:
People freeze in front of it. They plunge into contemplation. Anyone with a modicum of commercial savvy should put a chair in front of this window and charge Rodin’s Thinker fee for ten minutes of reflection.
A depressed, disheveled, lost and almost suicidal dummy looking away from the other, very usual type of plastic women, offers customers a rare opportunity to ask themselves if the tens of thousands of photos they’ve taken on their tour of Italy made them happier.
“Get off the bus – Walk to the cathedral – Listen to the local version of art history – Have a ten-minute hygienic break – Walk back to the bus – Hop back on it – Ride off to another cliff-hanging medieval town.”
Yes, that’s the usual 1.5-hour touristic mission in Orvieto.
Does it make people happier?
Or, perhaps, it is better to roam the streets, try a dozen varieties of local wines, meet new people, learn more about the artist who had painted the frescoes that sent a slight shudder up your spine?
I like my travels cooked slow.
What about you?
Standing Ovation, Seated 
Reblogged this on Black Holes and Honey.
Well, I forced my mom to to apply the second way of touring DURING an organized bus tour, some years ago. One of our best experiences together (since you may ask… yes, for both, absolutely!).
By the way… doesn’t the model with the neck chain and the blank stare look like a modern martyr?
Well, she does, certainly. She can be seen as a fashion victim who’s been wasting away her life in the fashion race, and now she comes to realilse the futility of it all ) That’s why having a chair in front of her might be a good idea )) Thanks for your story! It is a great example of changing a pattern )
🙂
You are so right. I’ve only done a couple of organized trips with a busload of tourists, a tour guide, and an hour or so allotted to a site. I don’t much care for them. I would much rather wander around and soak up the atmosphere of a place and even–gasp–get to know some people who live in the place.
A busload of tourists even sounds somewhat pejorative )))