Here's a crazy one. My son or I do not drink alcohoic beverages. I lived in Germany and Italy for seven years, thirty-five years ago. All soda servings were by the bottle. Is everything still by the bottle or have they discovered fountain drinks yet? Many US restaurants offer free re-fills. My son can go through 5 or 6 in one meal; he has not learned the old European custom of sipping a drink and making it last for hours. As we will be visiting: England, Scotland, Austria, Germany, and Italy, what is the current state of "soda affairs" there. Also back then, local water was a "no-no." Has this changed and can you order a glass of water in safety now? Thanks alot for any help or jests...Rich Luttrell

Not a crazy question at all. Many Americans, used to the quantity over quality approach, are surprised by European practices in this area. Your son had better upgrade his sipping skills or be prepred for the beverage portion of the bill to equal or exceed the food portion! Seriously, I have seen very few - if any - European restaurants where free refills on soft drinks were offered. Most still serve by the bottle, including water unless you specify that you want a pitcher of tap water rather than bottled water. And local water is fine in the parts of Europe you will visit, unless there has been some local mishap with the water supply.

We did not find a restaurant with larger sized glasses or free refills while in Germany, Italy or France. Also - ask for tap water or 'still' water - evian bottled will also run about as much as soda. We did find 'maxi' sized drinks at MacDonalds - i know that's a huge no-no for most tourists but we did enjoy the large size and ICE!!!

In Italy, if you order a Coke or similar soft drink in a restaurant, they bring out a can and a glass of ice. The cans go for anywhere between 1.50 Euros to 5 Euros each, depending on the type of restaurant. The McDonald's do not have the self serve soda dispensers as we do in the States.

I don't know about the other countries, but in France, I believe that restaurants are required to provide you with tap water free of charge (and you can drink the water as there's nothing wrong with it) although I did find that the tap water in Paris, given the sometimes ancient pipes, had a metallic taste. In any case, when I did order "une cruche d'eau" (a pitcher of water), the pitchers were tiny and the water was most definitely lukewarm and unappealing. I suppose they want you to buy the bottled water.

Goatee, my experience in France has been totally the opposite of what you describe. I never get balked at for ordering tap water "carafe d'eau" and at least half the time it is even well chilled, either pre-chilled in bottles, indicating they serve it a lot, or sometimes even with ice.
On the other side, I really don't like "fizzy water" and many times bottled mineral water has a taste I don't like at all. I have no problem with the usual tap water throughout France particularly in Paris.
Although I must admit, as I just said on another thread -- Italy is quite a different matter -- often virtually impossible to get tap water in a restaurant.

Patrick, I guess perhaps I went to cheaper restaurants than you did. I'm going back to Paris in a couple of weeks, I'll see what I get this time now that I have a better salary...

Don't think so, goatee, if anything I thought maybe it was the opposite, that I went to cheaper ones than you did! If going to a really fine restaurant, I suppose I'd break down and order the bottled stuff. But not at inexpensive to moderate cafes and restaurants.

In Germany our children's "soda" bill was sometimes more expensive than our beer bill.
My daughtrers kept ordering coke light. After 3 or 4 (x2) at our leisurely long dinners it could be $$15-18 just for soda. We stopped that pretty early in the trip.
I do not recall fountain drinks at most of the places we stayed in Bavaria.
the tap was drinkable.
Enjoy........

You might try Hard Rock Cafe.

If you order large bottles of water it will be considerably less than soda. And we too have found that the only place to get giant sized sodas is Mickey D's - we go there once every 3/4 days - not to eat - but just to get a giant and ice-filled diet coke. Otherwise we stick with wine or beer - and large bottles of water (which we have always found is served icy cold).

Have never seen anyplace that does free refills.

Schlotzky's Deli (an American chain, I think) in Berlin near Checkpoint Charlie has free refills on soda drinks.

Thank you all for the replies. I guess I will stick to sipping my drinks and my son can live on water; although I am supprised to find that they have discovered ice. To this day, I still drink my sodas without ice. Rich Luttrell

Pizza Hut has free refills. That is the only place I've seen in Europe with free refills. On my first visit to Berlin nearly 10 years ago, I ordered a soda at the Tierpark Zoo (Eastern Berlin). For $2 I got one of those cups you get from a water cooler. I didn't buy any more soda at the Zoo.

At the risk of being branded a snob... I find it a little scary that people spend a lot of time and money and care to go to Europe, and then eat at American chains. Though I will admit that I repeatedly went to Starbucks for coffee in Vienna, because it was the only cafe' I could find that didn't reek of smoke - Italian coffee bars don't have this problem much anymore.


best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

http://www.straughan.com

Hi Luttrell,
I am not aware of anywhere here in Wales or UK with the exception of Hard Rock or TGI Fridays that refills free. In fact I ate out in Stratford on Saturday and paid £1.80 for a single glass of lemonade. Had I realised this prior to ordering I would have just bought 1 glass between 3, but then the straws probably would have been a £1 each..lol
You will no doubt know that UK food is not renowned for either its quality or quantity.
Bon appetite
Muck

What does this "have they discovered fountain drinks yet?" mean?

Europeans, generally, drink far fewer sugary drinks than Americans (the slob element in Britain being an exception to this). So, when I was involved on the edges of this business, quality (bizarre concept, but that's the word the peddlers of this junk used) was a serious problem for draught carbonated drinks. With the machines rarely used, what came out was horrid even for people who liked the stuff.

It wasn't just sloppy European staff: Atlanta's finest were flown in and failed to crack the problem that low sales of toothrot inevitably meant low quality. If you want to drink the stuff, you're a lot better off sticking with bottles or cans.

Incidentally, I've been drinking the tapwater in Germany and Italy for a lot longer than 35 years. Not even a gyppy tummy.

Very few places I have been in europe including where I am in Dublin have the fountain guns. ALso after that 1-2 offer refills like Pizza Hut or TGI Fridays. When I am thirsty and eating or in a pub I ask for a Pint of coke, oj etc. This is two of the small bottles and it covers a pint glass. Its not cheaper but maybe get a big one for him and water for the time he finishes his coke.

You don't mention when you are going to be overseas. we found, by accident, a small grocer near our hotel in paris who sold frozen bottled water. We'd buy those, pack them in our backpacks, etc and had icy water all day. Just have a plastic bag to put them in. During the hottest months of the summer, this was a great find!

Hi luttrell,

I suggest that your son switch to low or no alcohol beer. It might be cheaper.