Noticing Little Things
 

What little things/differences have you noticed on your travels in Europe?

Here's some things we noticed in Germany last year.

Paying to use a shopping cart in grocery stores.

Middle school age students on class trips buying very realistic metal swords and toy guns at castles and museums and fighting it out while teachers looked on with no concerns. It didn't look as though the students would be disciplined and placed in counseling sessions.

The hype surrounding the Spargel (white aspargus) season. Lord, it was delicious.

The number of drunk and tipsy young teens wandering about--especially in Munich.

Clean and neat--just about everywhere.

Flower windowboxes--just about everywhere.

The willingness of Germans to try to communicate even with no or very limited English--as opposed to our experience in other countries.

The willingness of Germans everywhere we went to help me improve my German, which made the trip go much better when we were in situations where no English was spoken. Again, a contrast with our experiences in some other countries.

The difference in the predominant color of most roofs in different parts of the country.

How helpful the railroad employees were.

Manicured woods and forests--looks nice, but sort of tame.

The views of some Germans about tourists and tourist groups from various countries. I'm a talker and like to get other people talking--we had several guides, ticket takers, waiters, etc. give us the inside dope on American, British, Japanese, Korean (Mrs. Fly is Korean), Australian, etc. tourists traveling in groups or as individuals. Very interesting.

I posted this at the end of a long trip report about France earlier this month.

General observations during this trip to France.

OK, what is about cities in France and the weird tall building thing? Cities mostly have a very consistent feel of low buildings that will be jarringly interrupted by a tower. Paris (the largest city) has a couple: the Mitterand tower & the Montparnass tower. Lyon has "le crayon" the Credit Lyonnaise building. Nantes has the Tour de Bretagne, quite the ugly seventies skyscraper of the glass and steel variety.

Dressed in dark slacks and navy blue coat (what I wear at home) I was mistaken as French several times. People stopped and asked me for directions, people asked me for the time. People soliciting for a food bank in the Nante's Galleries Lafayette started their spiel with me in French. I guess not all Americans "look" as American as some people would lead you to believe.

Had that strange coincidental second encounter with a French couple. We (just the four of us) toured the Otard distillerie in Cognac. The next day I was walking to the bar car on the TGV to Paris, glanced down and there they were. We murmured a polite "bon jour" to each other as I passed by.

Only stepped in merde du chien once in La Rochelle. I'm usually good about where I step but the arcades had lighting on the ground that shined upwards to illuminate the limestone arches. It made the sidewalk rather dark and I felt a "squish" as I stepped. Yuck. Luckily a low fountain was nearby and was able to rinse off before it dried in.

I still have problems getting a decent drink in France and most of Europe as well. I prefer smooth, blended Canadian whiskey. About all I ever find is single malt Scotch, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. I've never quite figured out why Jack & Jim are so prevalent in Europe. They must have done a great marketing job. I end up drinking a lot of vodka and tonic. On the other hand my friend drinks pastis and finds France to be cocktail heaven.

Don't know if I should share my pee-pee stories or not. My (twisted) friends can't wait until I e-mail home a story about public urination. In fact they're quite *relieved* when it happens. One happened in a side street I named "Clandestine Alley" in Nantes. I was walking down the side street in order to inconspicuously pour a spot of Seagram's VO into a can of Sprite I had and thus enjoy a decent highball at a low cost. Down the same street was a gentleman busily whizzing away against a stone wall.

On the Barteaux Nantais lunch cruise, we were seated next to a couple from Wales. Had a wonderful time chatting with them. The lady mentioned several times how underdressed she felt because they were in blue jeans. But they did exactly what we did. They were walking along and saw the boat and decided to ride not knowing what to expect. There was no time to go back to the hotel and change. As an aside that's one of the reasons I almost always wear slacks and a decent shirt even at home. I'm usually overdressed and when I'm underdressed it's not by much.

I did not have any problems with waiters, store clerks or French people in general. Everyone seemed to appreciate my poor French and, for the most part, let me use it. In Paris I knew the hotel was down the street, around the corner to the left. The taxi driver was wondering aloud where the hotel was. I said, "Tournez à la gauche." He said, "Merci. Tournez à gauche." I repeated the phrase correctly and said, "merci." He replied, "de rien." I also make a special point of thanking people for using English when theirs is much better than my French and I'm unable to communicate what I want in French. They usually demur with "my English isn't very good." I reply that an example of not very good is my French which usually gets a smile.

Along those lines (we lived for about 6 months in Germany from Nov. 2002-spring 2003)

*Actually, you rent the carts, not pay for them. You get you 1 or 2 euro deposit back when you return the cart

* The "Tschuss" factor: you can assess your community standing from the Tschuss (bye-bye) you get from female shop/bakery/restaurant personnel. When you're a new customer, you get a brief, but polite "tschuss". As they get to know you better, you get a longer, higher pitched, stretched out "tschuuuusss". You've really arrived when you get a smile and the two-syllable "Tschuuu-ooosss"! With male shop/restaurant staff, you get the same brief "tschuss" whether they've known you two minutes or 20 years.

Germans are getting taller. During our time in Germany, we didn't go to many museums, but we went to a LOT of parties. Germans under 30 yo are getting taller every day! My husband is over 6 foot, but at parties with our German cousins, he was routinely overshadowed by young German guys 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5, 6 foot 6. I read somewhere that Germans are the leading buyers of beds in Europe over 2 meters long (2 meters is the standard length).

In Germany (and Belgium), it's routine to see perfectly respectable older ladies, immaculately dressed, having a mug of beer. When was the last time you went into a chic American cafe/bar and saw an elegently dressed older lady nursing a beer?

Everything shutting down by 6 pm. On my visit to my parents in Florida earlier this month, I had minor anxiety attacks if we hadn't gone to the grocery store by 5:30 pm. I keep forgetting the U.S. is a 24 hour shopping world.

Germans of all ages throw great parties and they don't tire easily.

Germans eat surprisingly well. Few follow the stereotypical meat and potatoes diet. They love salads and fresh vegetables. But they don't like coriander (cilantro) for some reason. We could find almost everything we wanted in Germany except coriander.

A few little things: The fly in the urinals in the Netherlands (and frankly, for that matter, the different types of plumbing throughout Europe). The brooms in Paris (with plastic "branch" bristles instead of straw of fake straw bristles. The flower boxes and the wonderful pushout casement windows that open without cranks and sometimes open 2 different ways. The lack of flies (in the places I've visited, compared with the midwestern US). Fashion that was ahead or behind the curve, depending. The method of eating (fork in left hand). many more will come to mind, I'm sure.

>In Germany (and Belgium), it's routine to see perfectly respectable older ladies, immaculately dressed, having a mug of beer. When was the last time you went into a chic American cafe/bar and saw an elegently dressed older lady nursing a beer?<

You are right. They drink straight from the bottle now.

I try to stay out of drinking places that have perfectly respectable older ladies, even if they are immaculately dressed. The music there tends to be too sedate.

Degas: Too funny! If I were single, I'd also be concerned that after a few drinks, they might start looking younger....

Buying flowers just to have them in the house or office, no "special" occasion. Often saw people in Amsterdam, in Vienna, in Paris, walking home from the daily market with a bouquet in among the groceries. And of course that almost too perfect Kodak moment when I espied a Yorkie pup sitting in a bike basket alongside a couple of bunches of tulips as the owner made her way down the Herengracht!

One thing I keep noticing everywhere in Europe. At markets or larger stores the cash register clerks are always seated. In the US we make them stand up all day. Why is that???

Why do men urinate against a wall? Why not just into the ground?

Patrick:

The answer to your question was originally "because the management thought it was more efficient"

Actually every piece of operational research shows that, all things being equal, you process more transactions an hour if the operator is sitting down.

But American colleagues tell me they put up with this inefficiency because US customers think sitting operators are lazy.

It took me a moment, flanneruk, to realize you weren't responding to the question about urination. :)

LOLLLLLLL Janey you deserve the "laugh of the day" award!! :))

All the "round-abouts" in France...in some cities they're so prolific they can be dizzying! But traffic did flow more smoothly.

We found the grocery carts ingenious! When did you every see a stray one??

Surprised that car radios are wired so that road information can be broadcast at the gods-that-be's will and there's nothing one can do to get the radio program/cd song back until "they" are ready for you to have it back. A little too Big Brother to suit us personally.

Years ago, salad was served after the meal, before the cheese. Now, IF it's even included, it is offered as one of the hors d'oeuvre choices.

Hors d'oeuvre "buffets" have replaced the traditional "chariot"--not terrible, but the chariot was more elegant and had a finer quality/greater selection. Same way with the cheese platter- previously presented with a huge array of tantalizing choices, now most places give you a plate with 1 to 3 cheese wedges that have been precut and sitting in the kitchen ready to go.

The lack of hard cash in France...just try to get a sum of more than $400 changed to Euros without having to jump through hoops was quite the ordeal. Most banks which used to do "change" don't really...now "change" seemed to equal ATM service only. And I honestly believe the French use credit cards more than Americans now. One car park we used only took credit cards!

Notice how many of the banks in France are like Fort Knox now? They buzz you in and keep you boxed in the entry way before again buzzing you into the actual interior supposedly after they take a look at you. When asked, they said it's because they have so many hold-ups in France (same reason given for why they don't have a lot of cash) Seemed very bizarre to us.

Sack your own groceries. Even though I had warned my husband, the look of shock on his face as he was scurrying to get his groceries packed as the next person's groceries are rocketing into his. Priceless!

Other things I've thought of. Most pertain to France because I've traveled there more in the last year.

How many people are out walking even in bad weather. We just don't walk here in Indiana and it shows. I think the CDC just rated Indiana as the fattest state in the Union. :-(

How quiet all the dogs are. Rarely do I hear a dog yapping away. Almost all the little rat dogs here in the US seem to yip endlessly. Are they bred to be quiet because so many people live in cities? (Before I get slammed I'll admit I'm not a pet person, or even a plant person.)

How hard it is to break bills. I'm not talking the 500 euro note here, I mean even a 20. I'll get the severest looks and questions about smaller bills or coins more often than not. This seems to be getting easier. Maybe the proliferation of ATM's that spit out endless twenties is helping this out. For laundromat heaven I found a couple of La Postes in France a few weeks ago that would change up to a 20 euro note into coins. What a joy! I'm sure they thought I was going to use the change to buy postage stamps, but I didn't care.

How difficult it is to get an after dinner drink. It's as if the degustation doesn't exist any more, only the apertif. I guess the tougher drunk driving laws are forcing doggie bags for wine so it's no wonder the after dinner drink is fading.

How almost none of the men wear a coat that have a hood. That's almost de rigeur in the US.

How you can't eat at the bar. In Cognac I tried to order a pizza in the front part of a bar/ take-out pizza place. My friend and I were going to sit there with a beer and pastis and watch the people come and go as they picked up their pizzas. Let's face it after a week together we had exhausted a lot of conversation topics and were looking for entertainment. :-) The instant I said the pizza was "n'emporter pas" (no 'to go') we were immediately taken to the back of the restaurant to sit where it was boring with little people watching.

How I get mistaken for English when I speak. It catches me off guard. It's so easy for me to tell that I have an American accent that it surprises me that others can't. I guess when you're in Montlucon in May the locals aren't really used to seeing Americans. Of course French people can tell regional, even worldwide French accents, but I certainly can't, so I'm definitely no better. When I was talking with a couple from Wales the lady said, "I obviously have a Welsh accent." I thought (but of course did not say) "Unless you say G'Day or 'shrimp on the barbie' I couldn't tell if you were from Australia or Northumberland." :-D

How the French in their cars are so much better about stopping for pedestrians in cross walks that don't have stop lights. You'll get mowed down doing that in Indianapolis if you aren't careful, even though the pedestrian does have the right-of-way.

How cheap the wine is! You could buy excellent bottles in grocery stores for under 10 euro. Less than 25 euro in restaurants. I don't drink much wine in the US because I won't pay 60 USD for a bottle of California wine in a restaurant or 20 USD for it in the grocery store.

janeygirl, that was so funny. i didn't get it at first!!!

We urinate against the wall because we like aiming.

I noticed too that the dogs are much better behaved in Italy. If they are on their property they will not bark and watch you approach silently. I guess they will bark if they have a reason and not yap for attention like dogs do so much in the US.

Even when the dogs are in restaurants they sit quietly and are so well mannered, my dogs certainly are not that well behaved even though they have been to training school.

For that matter, the children in restaurants seem better behaved with good manners and poise too. Compare them with the children in a local restaurant in the US, crying and whining and reaching over into your dining booth while the parents ignore them.

I wonder why.

Here in Canada we too "rent" our carts at many groceries. It is either 25 cents or one dollar (loonie) to get the cart - and you get it back when you return it. Does cut down on the "strays"!

Dogs are better behaved in Italy? First time I've heard that one ;) I guess this'll be all Italy stuff...

Italians tend to wait always until the walk signal is flashed at crosswalks.

Wearing loose jeans makes you alternative.

Hash is A-OK to smoke in clubs.

Movie theatres have drapes that open when the film begins to run. Like a play.

If you walk around with a girl on the street, everyone assumes you are together.

Somehow Foot Locker made it big.

Twirling fire cords is the thing to do.

If you are a punkabestia (gutter kid), you have to have a dog.

Jogging in a city is seen as quite the odd thing to do.

Jogging while dribbling a basketball stops traffic.

Bringing a basketball onto a city bus earns you stares.

Eveyone loves Juve, Inter, Milan, or Roma. Regardless of where in Italy you are, you have a definite favorite among those 4.

Irish pubs are where you don't want to go as a single female. Unless you are really into getting hit on by guys every 2 minutes (not female myself, just an observer. It's humorous).

Walking on the sidewalks on a late Saturday night is a bad idea. Alcohol + a gigantic scooter community = trouble.