He was slowly walking up the hill with the help of a cane. I was limping down the sloping street, both eying the same bench.
Reaching it at the same time, we gestured we’d share.
After a minute of silence, I introduced myself. Hello I’m Ron. He stared at me with a blank look on his face. I asked if he spoke English. Again, he stared, shook his head and drifted back into silence.
After a few failed attempts to communicate we resorted to sign language and hand gestures.
I eventually got out of him; the 86-year-old man has lived his entire life in Zakopane. (A small mountain town on the Poland- Slovakian border.)
When I told him I was from the USA all he could muster was Cha- cago ? No, I told him Florida.
Bruuk-line? No Tampa, Florida, I said.
He just nodded with a confused but gentle smile.
Needless to say, the conversation was not going to build beyond the basics.
A few minutes later a pretty girl walked by, I smiled at him and pointed at her with a wink.
With a huge smile on his face he says, ya ya ya. “Dats Nice”.
Then he mumbled something in Polish. I think it was along the lines, Ohhhh, to be young again!
Some things are just universally recognized and understood. We sat with sun in our face and pleasant silence for a bit longer.
It was a nice moment.
A moment from my 4 months traveling through Northern Europe, France and Spain. More to come
Ron Laker