Observations From a Simpleton
The jetlag isn’t kicking in as fiercely as it usually does. Perhaps I’ve become accustomed to transitioning from time zones? Either that or it’s going to come on full force in a few days. Randy returns today (he’s actually on the plane as I type) and should land around 3:15PM. YAY!
I can’t think of much to say so I’m just going to list some personal observations about Europe:
1 – Why can’t the U.S. follow the European model of full-height partitions between toilets? Not only are the doors full height, but they use actual floor to ceiling walls between stalls. There are no 1/2-inch gaps between partitions, no 6 inches on the bottom and two feet on the top wide open for somebody to look over (or under). It also helps reduce the volume of those quirky, unpleasant noises you often hear in bathrooms (noises that I would never emit, of course).
2 – On a related note, why can’t Europeans learn how to clean a bathroom? 95% of the ones I’ve used have been filthy. I took a photo of one where there was no toilet seat, piss all over the floor, and containers of food littered about. However, the lobby toilet in our Munich hotel had a self-disinfecting toilet seat that was brilliant (and I hope catches on elsewhere).
3 – They may have high recylcing rates for bottles and bags, but they are sorely lacking when it comes to water. There’s nary a water-conserving showerhead to be found. And I’ve never seen so much water being used to flush a toilet before. I find this odd because they’re so rigid with environmental issues in other ways (lots of nuclear power, 25 cent deposits on bottles in Germany, and they don’t give out grocery bags at the store…you have to buy one for a euro [$1.56] or bring your own).
4 – Their public transit is so efficient and thorough. Even primitive transport technologies like trams (such as Boston’s green line) run more smoothly and quickly. In Munich, for example, they’ve got the ability to turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach intersections. Also, in Munich the trams have ticket machines on the train so they can open all of the doors at above ground stops instead of having everybody filter through just the first door. What a time saver!
5 – German’s don’t like bedding. It’s the weirdest thing, in both hotels we checked into in Germany you don’t get sheets. There’s the fitted sheet covering the mattress, of course, but then there’s a goofily folded duvet sitting on top. You can’t tuck yourself in, and no matter how you lay, the minute you roll over a portion of your body is uncovered. Oh, and the “king” sized beds we booked were always two twin beds on one frame. And the duvets were twins…so there’s no way for both of you to be under covers together. Odd.
6 – Paris is pricey! In the past 3 years that I’ve been going, prices just keep getting higher and higher. They’ve not reached London prices yet, but it’s pretty bad. A bottle of sparkling water at a restaurant can go for $9 or more. For water! We went to a cafe (to dodge the rain) and had one glass of wine, a small bottle of sparkling water, and one crepe; it came to $24.00.
7 – France loves rotaries. I had always thought it was a British thing that only remained in the U.K. and Massachusetts, but they’re all over France. You’ve got the huge ones, like at the Arch de Triomphe in Paris, but they’re scattered all over the south of France, too. After exiting a highway we went down one straight road that must have had 7 or 8 rotaries in just one mile or so. They had them at every single intersection instead of lights.
8 – France has started something brilliant that I hope spreads to the states. It’s called the Velib and it’s essentially a bike rental system throughout the city. At every subway stop, train station, and various other attractions, there is an enormous bike rack (with 50 or more bikes, at times) where you swipe a credit card, get a ticket, and grab a bike. Then you park at at whatever other bike rack you want. It’s FREE for the first 30 minutes, then one euro per half hour after that. But if your attractions/destinations are just a 30 minute bike ride away, you can essentially get around the entire city for free. And it beats being in the subway where you can’t see things. We rode along the Seine taking in the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, Eiffel tour, Les Invalides and countless other sites. There are over 22,000 bikes in Paris alone. This system is also in use in Lyon. And both are very successful.
9 – The U.S. needs to adopt smart cards. I’m not sure why we don’t have them (they’re the credit cards with a chip in them). In Europe, the subway ticket machines and the Velib bike rentals all required the smart cards so we found numerous Americans unable to use them (well, they could pay cash for the subway, but they were out of luck on the bikes). Fortunately, Randy’s American Express card has the chip.
10 – Their pilots suck. Maybe it was because the planes were smaller (100 seaters). Or maybe it was because we had rain inclement weather, but our take off’s and landings were R-O-U-G-H. It felt like they were rushing, then slowing down, then rushing…then hitting turbulance, then going up again, then down again. Oy vey.
11 – Nobody stamps passports anymore. Paris didn’t stamp it, and since all EU countries don’t require passports to travel between them, I didn’t get one for Germany, either. What’s the point of a passport book if you can’t look at it years later and recall all the places you’ve been?
12 – Europeans include tax in their prices. That makes so much sense. Why do we list the menu price…then add 5% at the register. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just show the total price you pay? That way, when you’re in line you’ll know exactly how much change to pull out.
13 – Hotels in Europe seem to be going in this “no shower curtain” route where they provide these plastic/glass doors instead. But instead of a full shower door enclosing you in the bathub, the door is only about 9-12 inches wide. It covers less than 1/3 of the bath tub. Consequently, we flooded ever single hotel bathroom floor (we can’t be alone in this).
14 – It’s cheaper to get liquored up than it is to rehydrate. In France, it’s cheaper to get a glass (or a carafe) of wine than it is to get water. In Germany, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands, it’s cheaper to buy beer than water.
15 – Europe gives me a new appreciation for convenience stores. In the states, I rarely go to them because our full-sized markets are open at all hours. If not, there are usually mom-and-pop shops on neighborhood streets, or all of our pharmacies sell beverages. But we couldn’t get a freaking bottle of water in Munich to save our life. EVERYTHING was closed at 8pm in Munich (except restaurants/bars). So our first night there we couldn’t get water. On Saturday, stores were open, but there were no “convenience” stores – just retail shops and pharmacies. Pharmacies in Europe are just drug stores – they only sell medications and toiletries (yet they’re on every corner). With all of the tourists in Munich, you’d think there’d be shops all over serving snacks and bottles of soda/water. Nope. And don’t even think about Sunday when the whole city shuts down (except restaurants and churches). We were smart enough to stock up on Saturday when we found the lone market in downtown Munich.
I guess that’s it. I’d love to hear how Europeans find things in the states. I’m guessing they’d find our light switches hilarious (in Europe, light switches are a flat pad in the wall that can be up to 2.5 inches square) and our toilets primitive (their toilets flush by pushing panels in the wall). Any Europeans care to share?
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5 – Yep, my host family’s place was like that. the duvet cover is your upper sheet. so if you’re hot, you can’t just have a thin sheet over you. i was pretty much frozen the whole 6 months i was there, so it wasn’t much of an issue!
6 – The dollar has been falling on each of your successive visits — probably where most of the increase has come from, non?
LOVE the bicycle share program. Fantastic.
Exactly Dave! I had the worst time getting comfortable in those German beds because the duvet was too heavy…but I need at least something on me. I couldn’t stop sweating…and we stayed at places with AC (Europe’s idea of AC is very different than ours).
Anyway, if I spent one more night there, I would have removed the duvet from the cover and just slept with the cover.