We’re in Northern Italy eating pasta, fresh vegetables, and pizza. This is working out.

We’re in this part of Italy for The Floating Piers. The Christo art installation opens on Saturday. Christo describes it better than I could:

From June 18 to July 3, 2016, Christo will reimagine Italy’s Lake Iseo. The Floating Piers will consist of 70,000 square meters of shimmering yellow fabric, carried by a modular dock system of 200,000 high-density polyethylene cubes floating on the surface of the water.

It’s a 90-minute drive from here, but it was dramatically less expensive to stay in Verona and drive over to the lake for the day. Apparently, Christo fans will pay whatever they’re asked for hotel rooms.

We flew from Istanbul to Vienna (again, cheaper than flying direct—see a theme here?), spent the day wandering in Vienna, and then took the train over to Verona. We’re loving the city. It’s small, it’s got lots of really old stuff to look at, and it has great food. What’s not to love?

Venice was, as you’d expect, packed with tourists—lots and lots of tourists. I’ve become a keen observer of tourist behavior. It’s noteworthy that tourists tend to congregate in particular spaces in a destination. For instance, in Venice, the square at Saint Mark’s Basilica is crawling with tourists. It’s difficult to walk through the square because of the crowd density.

But, if you walk 1oo steps away from the edge of the crowd, down a side street, it’s empty, quiet, and peaceful, and there’s still plenty to see. The short walk away from the crowd takes you to an open space where you can calm down, step away from the panic, and see things you wouldn’t have seen if you’d gone along with the pack. I’ve observed the same phenomenon in nearly every destination. If they turn left, it’s worth turning right to see what you find. There’s plenty of opportunity for a positive experience when you step off the path and walk away from the masses.

The same is true with marketing your practice. There’s lots of clear space out there for marketing. There are places the crowd won’t go. There are strategies and tactics they avoid because they’re not in the “guidebook” or on the “tour.” Be willing to turn right when they turn left. Be willing to walk 100 steps away from the crowd.