Prices in Europe
Jul 31st, 2006, 01:48 PM
#61
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 768
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Amandab
Don't let your friends stories scare you off of anything. I have been financially screwed at hotel sundry shops in this country. In Tampa, I paid a hotel $5 for a can of beer to drink in my room.
Yes in Europe a Coca Cola served to you at restaurant/cafe will be 4 to 5 euro. That is more than a small pitcher of white wine, so buy the wine.
Sitting at a cafe costs you euros (usually a higher price for what you order, but sometimes a separate table charge. But it is your table for as many hours as you care to use it.)
Some higher costs are not regional but simply small business people making money where they can. When we were in Rome, it was 90+ degrees often and I willing paid 4 euro for cold water several times.
OTOH you can find delightful hotels in Europe for the same amount as a dreadful, noisy hotel in this country. You can find full meals at sidewalk cafes in Paris for 20 euro (or splurge for 30 euro). Train travel can be affordable.
With some planning a trip to Europe will be a financial horror.
Don't let your friends stories scare you off of anything. I have been financially screwed at hotel sundry shops in this country. In Tampa, I paid a hotel $5 for a can of beer to drink in my room.
Yes in Europe a Coca Cola served to you at restaurant/cafe will be 4 to 5 euro. That is more than a small pitcher of white wine, so buy the wine.
Sitting at a cafe costs you euros (usually a higher price for what you order, but sometimes a separate table charge. But it is your table for as many hours as you care to use it.)
Some higher costs are not regional but simply small business people making money where they can. When we were in Rome, it was 90+ degrees often and I willing paid 4 euro for cold water several times.
OTOH you can find delightful hotels in Europe for the same amount as a dreadful, noisy hotel in this country. You can find full meals at sidewalk cafes in Paris for 20 euro (or splurge for 30 euro). Train travel can be affordable.
With some planning a trip to Europe will be a financial horror.
Jul 31st, 2006, 02:03 PM
#64
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 74
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Which part of Europe are you talking about? Some cities are more expensive than others. In Rome, you can go to a restaurant and spend 100 euros on a pizza dinner or you can go and get a carry out slice for 3.5 euros. You can buy a can of coke from a street vendor for 5 euros or you can go to a corner store and get one for .90 euros. Cost all depends on where you are and how much you are willing to pay. If you are smart, you can find inexpensive eats and sleeps all over Europe.
Donna
Donna
Jul 31st, 2006, 02:04 PM
#65
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,337
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In the past 2 years, we've been to Paris, London and Munich. Diet Coke in a restaurant ran about 4e in Paris and London (cheaper in Munich, I think). Granted, these are for the little bottles. Unless she was staying at the Ritz, or got completely ripped off, a standard Diet Coke order in Europe would not be 15e.
Could the problem be that she asked for a refill?
In Europe, if you must have Diet Coke (as we must have!), better to hit a supermarket and get a 1L or greater bottle.
Could the problem be that she asked for a refill?
In Europe, if you must have Diet Coke (as we must have!), better to hit a supermarket and get a 1L or greater bottle.
Jul 31st, 2006, 03:24 PM
#67
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Last week we were in Paris and I ordered an iced tea at Les Deux Magots Cafe and we paid 5.30 euro for it, or about $6.50! But as someone else has mentioned, it's not the drink we were paying for. My husband said it had bought us an hour to rest and people watch and what more could we ask for!
Jul 31st, 2006, 03:39 PM
#68
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 4,074
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Turista you got it right. Of course you are not paying for a coffee or coke sitting at the deux magots, firstly you can stay as long as you wish secondly it is a world known place and the location assures you people watching and a Paris feeling that we all tourists are usually interested. Of course, most of the time it is less expensive to drink what the locals drink in that case a cafe creme, or even an Orangina
and always une carafe d eau versus a bottle of some expensive water.
<<<<after all you can have all kinds of Cokes at home,....
and always une carafe d eau versus a bottle of some expensive water.
<<<<after all you can have all kinds of Cokes at home,....
Jul 31st, 2006, 04:15 PM
#69
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,099
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just on principle, I just couldn't bring myself to eat at Deux Magots when I was in Paris. I don't know what a Magot is in French, but in English, I don't want to be near one, much less two. LOL
Jules
Jules
Jul 31st, 2006, 07:56 PM
#71
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 380
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I can think of some places where one would pay outrageous prices for a drink : some famous cafes (say, at the terrace of the Fouquet's on the Champs Elysees), some clubs, some bars with hostess in the red light district around Montmartre..
However, such prices wouldn't be representative.
However, such prices wouldn't be representative.
Jul 31st, 2006, 08:32 PM
#72
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,779
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think she is either just lying (or "exaggerating" for a dramatic story), or was confusing currencies. I've seen that happen a lot, people quoting rates in some foreign currency and saying that was it in USD, or whatever. Or, she just has a very bad memory.
I think most drinks cost about the same in "Europe" -- wine vs. beer vs. soft drinks. I don't drink soft drinks, so maybe my memory on that one isn't as great, but I know they aren't that much more than wine/beer because I've had them a little. In major European cities, I've not found coffee as cheap as some others quote, however (not 1-2 euro in Paris, etc.). More around 3 euro. My recent trip, I took note, and a cafe creme ran 2.5 to 3.5 euro in various cafes, and that wasn't a super large size. I think in Spain, I could get a coffee for more around 2 euro.
I've read things saying the name of Deux Magots refers to some Chinese statues in that place and that's the name of some Chinese traders. I don't know -- in French slang, magot is the word for a cigarette butt. In English, the word for insect larvae isn't that word because it is spelled differently.
I think most drinks cost about the same in "Europe" -- wine vs. beer vs. soft drinks. I don't drink soft drinks, so maybe my memory on that one isn't as great, but I know they aren't that much more than wine/beer because I've had them a little. In major European cities, I've not found coffee as cheap as some others quote, however (not 1-2 euro in Paris, etc.). More around 3 euro. My recent trip, I took note, and a cafe creme ran 2.5 to 3.5 euro in various cafes, and that wasn't a super large size. I think in Spain, I could get a coffee for more around 2 euro.
I've read things saying the name of Deux Magots refers to some Chinese statues in that place and that's the name of some Chinese traders. I don't know -- in French slang, magot is the word for a cigarette butt. In English, the word for insect larvae isn't that word because it is spelled differently.
Jul 31st, 2006, 11:17 PM
#74
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,324
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
willit
My mom would be the first to convey her sympathies to your parents for the hardships they suffered. She also understood, even at the time, the complexities of war, and about targets.
The trouble with the Internet is that it is a lousy medium for conveying irony. You can't hear my tone of voice, for example, which otherwise might have helped you understand I was being facetious, ironic. My remarks were meant as a comment on how people can retain old habits, even long after maps and political alliances have changed, let alone after their opinions and world view has changed - as indeed my mother's has. On that note, I suspect the attitude of all of that generation has changed - regardles of their nationality - since that dreadful time. This is why I felt it safe to be ironic.
But irony or no, I got off-topic, and for that I must give the OP my apologies.
My mom would be the first to convey her sympathies to your parents for the hardships they suffered. She also understood, even at the time, the complexities of war, and about targets.
The trouble with the Internet is that it is a lousy medium for conveying irony. You can't hear my tone of voice, for example, which otherwise might have helped you understand I was being facetious, ironic. My remarks were meant as a comment on how people can retain old habits, even long after maps and political alliances have changed, let alone after their opinions and world view has changed - as indeed my mother's has. On that note, I suspect the attitude of all of that generation has changed - regardles of their nationality - since that dreadful time. This is why I felt it safe to be ironic.
But irony or no, I got off-topic, and for that I must give the OP my apologies.
Aug 1st, 2006, 12:54 AM
#75
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,319
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
South France non tourist bar / restaurant prices :
Ricard Euro 1
Rose wine Euro 1
Expresso Euro 1
Large white coffee Euro 2
Beer Euro 2
Three course meal inc wine from Euro 10
I don't believe this story. Surely no one drinks coke with a meal ?
Peter
Ricard Euro 1
Rose wine Euro 1
Expresso Euro 1
Large white coffee Euro 2
Beer Euro 2
Three course meal inc wine from Euro 10
I don't believe this story. Surely no one drinks coke with a meal ?
Peter
Aug 1st, 2006, 03:17 AM
#76
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,056
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Huh? Why not drink coke with a meal? I do it all the time. It's not that I'm teetotal or anything, but if I drink at lunchtime it makes me dozy and makes the afternoon a big effort! I'll also often have a soft drink with an evening meal too as wine just makes me thirsy (even though I like it). Last time I went out for a meal I had a couple of glasses of wine and also a pint of coke next to my plate for swigging!
Aug 1st, 2006, 03:39 AM
#77
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,057
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Surely no one drinks coke with a meal ?>>>>>>
Yanks do. Really they do. It's one of their quirks.
One other thing that we may be forgetting here is that by and large in the small cafes in Europe a soda is a bottle of pop, rather than the post mix stuff from the gun. Bottles are always more expensive than the stuff from the hose.
Here in Britain it is usually the gun kind rather than the bottles and it's dirt cheap (about £1 a pint in a pub). I have no idea whatr a bottle of pop costs at the Ritz though.
Yanks do. Really they do. It's one of their quirks.
One other thing that we may be forgetting here is that by and large in the small cafes in Europe a soda is a bottle of pop, rather than the post mix stuff from the gun. Bottles are always more expensive than the stuff from the hose.
Here in Britain it is usually the gun kind rather than the bottles and it's dirt cheap (about £1 a pint in a pub). I have no idea whatr a bottle of pop costs at the Ritz though.
Aug 1st, 2006, 04:46 AM
#78
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What's really, really, startling about this thread is that the habit of adults drinking Coca Cola with food must have spread to New Zealand.
Which I'll remember the next time a Kiwi gets all sanctimonious about the unhealthy North
PS. Has anyone else noticed something odd about the poster describing himself as "Audere est Facere"?
Identical style to a well-known other poster. Identical, if incomprehensible, football loyalty. Yet - after recently, if horrifyingly, describing the English public school ethos, as "mens sane in corpora sano" (William of Wykeham must having a heart attack in his grave) - he's now coming out with proper Latin.
Proof that, whatever other failings Tottenham Hotsupr may have, White Hart Lane offers a better classical education than the leafy groves of Winchester.
Which I'll remember the next time a Kiwi gets all sanctimonious about the unhealthy North
PS. Has anyone else noticed something odd about the poster describing himself as "Audere est Facere"?
Identical style to a well-known other poster. Identical, if incomprehensible, football loyalty. Yet - after recently, if horrifyingly, describing the English public school ethos, as "mens sane in corpora sano" (William of Wykeham must having a heart attack in his grave) - he's now coming out with proper Latin.
Proof that, whatever other failings Tottenham Hotsupr may have, White Hart Lane offers a better classical education than the leafy groves of Winchester.
