This is a variation of the thread regarding strange or mistaken meals. Probably not nearly as interesting, though. Nevertheless, I wondered if any of you have bought something in Europe thinking it was one thing, but it turned out to be something completely different. My experience (which isn't too exciting) involved a carton of orange juice (or so I thought). It was a typical cardboard carton w/ oranges on the outside that I had purchased in the Netherlands for breakfast on the train to Brussels. I opened it up and took a swig and, surprise, it wasn't OJ. It was orange flavored yogurt. I'm not going to say it was awful (I took a couple more sips b/f depositing in the trash). But definitely not OJ. Does anyone have any variations on this theme?

One time my husband bought what he thought was a large plastic bottle of cola at this big super market place in Northern Wales, we got it back to our B & B and discovered upon drinking that it was cola concentrate!! YUK

Thanks for bringing this up, maybe someone can answer my question. While staying in an apt in Paris, I went to the store to find half and half for my coffee in the mornings. After staring at all of the possibilities, I chose something called "demi creme". Much to my dismay, the product I had selected was skim milk! I went back to the store the next day and tried to ask what the equivalent for half and half would be. The young lady said that there is no such thing in France. I'm returning in October, anyone know what to look for?

What on earth is half and half?

Hi Sheila - half and half is cream used in coffee - I think it's about 10% butterfat (skim is less than 1%; homo is 4%; half and half is 10%; table cream is 18% and whipping cream is 35% - I think.) <BR> <BR>

Sheila - <BR> <BR>Apparently half & half doesn't exist in the UK, either. It is half milk and half creme. Some people here in the States put it in their coffee, or use it in cooking as a slightly lighter substiute for heavy creme. I don't use it here at home, so I've never looked for it in Euope. But I'm not surprised to hear that it's not available, since most would use milk or creme, depending. <BR> <BR>Peg, I supposed you could purchase small containers of both milk and creme and "make your own," if one or the other doesn't work for you.

Ooops....got so involved in butterfat content forgot to tell my story. <BR> <BR>Not sure if this quite qualifies but years ago we were in Gronigen in Holland and went to a Pizza place. We ordered one of the suggested pizzas which had eight toppings - the usual; peppers; tomatoes; olives; sausage; etc etc. When the pizza came there were eight slices, with eight toppings - one on each slice. An olive slice, a pepper slice, a tomato slice, etc etc. To this day we don't know if they were having us on.

This is almost is the same category--Several years ago my husband and I took the train from Brussels to Bruge. We ordered coffee from the cart, and received cups with little individual drip contraptions on top. While that wonderful fresh coffee was dripping, I saw the little packets which came with it, little brown flat rectangles wrapped like a cracker. At our hotel in Brussels we had had little packets of brown sugar with our coffee, so I figured that this was the sugar. Only when I saw my husband's astonished expression did I realize I had dropped a cookie into my coffee! I drank it, too, even though the last swallow was pretty thick! <BR> <BR>

Somewhere in England I ordered a sandwich at lunch. They asked if I would like salad with that, and I said yes. The sandwich came, but no salad. I asked the waitress, "Wasn't I supposed to get a salad with this?" She pointed to the shredded lettuce on top of my sandwich and said that was it.

Elizabeth, all the pizzas I've had in Italy have had the toppings placed separately on top of the pizza, i.e. basil leaves on one quarter, mushrooms on one quarter, capsicum on one quarter and, say, onion on the last quarter.

Paper towels instead of toilet paper.

We got pizza many times in Italy with a variation of toppings and it never came as a separate topping per slice, just all together like it is here in the US

The first time my husband and I were in Italy, he went out to eat with his sister and brother-in-law. They all knew enough Italian to be friendly, but that was it. They ate in a restaurant where not one person spoke English. He ordered a pepperoni pizza. It came covered with red peppers. He tried again, and the waiter smiled and nodded and brought a pizza with twice as many red peppers! Since then, he has spent a lot of time learning some conversational Italian, and this year he ordered with salami.

At a lunch stop in Italy, I ordered a glass of milk to drink and was served hot milk like they use for the coffee. Seeing my astonishment, the waitress said, "Frio?" and, thanks to ancient Spanish classes, I was able to respond intelligently, "Si." The "frio" came lukewarm, and I learned to drink coffee with the best of them.

My friend and I like really hot (spicy) food, we have yet to find a pepper too hot. In Naplion, Greece, we found a small, charming restaurant, sat down, and saw on the menu an appetizer, "cheese, scorching, burning." We ordered it and when we took a bite, it was cold. We called over our waiter and told him we had received the wrong item. He said no, that was cheese, scorching, burning. We said, but it's cold and not spicy, he said yes. We never did figure out the scorching/burning part. We ate it, it tasted a little like cream cheese w/onions. We love foreign menus!

In Mexico at the Puerto Vallerta Sheraton there was a cucumber sandwich with cheese on the menu. I thought how cool and refreshing that would be. When it arrived there was a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles. Apparently pickles=cucumber.

Lisa <BR> <BR>The difference would be whether she said "Would you like a salad with that?" or "Would you like salad with that?" <BR> <BR>The former referring to a specific dish made of various usual salad ingredients, the latter being an enquiry into whether you wanted SOME salad with the sandwich. <BR> <BR>sigh. language! <BR> <BR> <BR>kavey

On our first day in Paris we stopped at a bakery to get something small to take away for lunch. They had "Quiche Normandaise". In my best French I asked the lady,"What is Quiche Normandaise." I was familar with quiche lorraine with ham. She told me it had onions and "pommes". I thought onions and potatoes, knowing they abbreviate pommes de terre to pommes, as in pommes frites, so we bought them. When we bit into them, surprise! It was onions and apples! Actually it was very nice, but quite a surprise at the time.

I ordered a club sandwich in Paris and got a submarine sandwich

I ordered a "tortilla con queso" in Spain one time. As a native Californian, I thought I was getting a quesadilla - tortilla (like a thick crepe) with cheese. Not quite. Apparently a "tortilla" in Spain is an omelette. It definitely made for an interesting lunch!