Oh well, why not get in on this. I have travelled extensively around the world, and the one generalization that I can make is that people travelling in groups tend to behave appallingly and like the worst of their national stereotypes. Why this is is mysterious to me, but it seems to be true. I once spent a very amusing week in the Netherlands going to the tulip fields 7 times on the same tour bus (I was having an affair with the lady running the tour, but I also loved the tulip fields in April, May, right now, why am I not there????). Every day there was a different national group, and each one was more appalling than the previous one -- Japanese, French, Germans, Americans, English (twice). Thank God there weren't any Canadian tours that week, or I would be a man without a country. The Japanese paid no attention to anything that wasn't within their camera frames; the French were only concerned about lunch and where to buy accessories; the Germans were bossy and unbelievably rude; the Americans were loud, pushy, and complained at lunch because there weren't any hamburgers; and the English were completely vicious derogatory about everything that wasn't English, which, since we were in the Netherlands, was everything. It was totally hilarious. All it lacked was them dressing up in their official national costumes. I am sure that individually they might have been O.K., but maybe there are national pheromenes that odorise groups -- or is it people who take bus tours? yours, Peter T.