European Comparison

Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany

So, after being here in Europe for about 3 months now, I have started to spot some differences among the places I've visited. Just for fun, here is my general impression (most over 2 day weekend visits)

1) Amsterdam:
a) Shopping: 1 out of 5. My wife says "Netherlands" is Dutch for "crappy shopping." For a petite woman, there is nothing to buy. For a guy who likes electronics, there is little to shop for. There are no malls like we have in the US, all the shops are in stores that are aligned on shopping streets that go for blocks and have no cars (although some have trains--strange...). CREDIT CARDS are your friends. Please start taking them! I cannot believe that the biggest grocery store in town doesn't take plastic. Or the Centraal station--you have to have CASH to buy a 70 Euro ticket. For goodness sakes, get with the '90s!

b) Meals. 2 out of 5. In general, even the best food is average. It is hard to find a place you want to return to regularly. We like: Foodism, Dorrius (really the Crown Plaza's room service is from the same place and we don't have to leave the room), Gaucho's Argentine Steak (the meat is great, but no real flavoring), Rozenboom Cafe (they even have a non-smoking section downstairs), and McDonalds for fast food.

c) French Fries. 5 out of 5. Consistently the best "chips" we've had anywhere, including the States.

d) Bakeries. 1 out of 5. Aside from the local grocery store, the little bakery shops serve 2-day-old bread all the time. They use the First-In-Stale-Out concept here.

e) Street people. 1 out of 5. The people on the street here will walk right over you. They do not move and they seem to have no problem bracing for impact rather than stepping aside. The first few weeks I played dodge-people; now I just play the locals game of acting like I'm looking somewhere else and lower my shoulder for a good smack. I don't get this--the Dutch seem like such nice people--until you meet them in the street.

f) Cleanliness. 3 out of 5. Maybe there are dirtier cities, like New York or Detroit, but for this place has a serious amount of trash. I just don't get how many people seem to just throw their trash on the ground. And dog poop is a bit more prominent here than anywhere else I've ever been. Keep one eye on the sidwalk or you are bound to spread it for a block or two. Oh, and you have to pay to pee in this country. Everyone wants you to pay 30 cents or so to use the bathroom--that covers the cost of cleaning them. So they were clean. But who carries small change everywhere??? and who expects a woman to be walking in cleanin the sinks while you tinkle in the urinal?!

2) Bruge (Brugges)
a) Shopping: 4 out of 5. My wife loved this place--lots of tapestry, chocolate, lace, trinket and other fun shops.

b) Meals. 3 out of 5. The pub spaghetti was great, but a little family run place in the city was just ok. The food was decent, but not incredible.

c) French Fries. No Vote. Didn't have any, so can't compare.

d) Bakeries. No Vote, but my Apple pie in the pub was to die for--an applie pie that goes down in the books as one of the best I've ever had. (a year 1515 Pub called Herberge Vlissinghe)

e) Street People. 3 out of 5. Lots and lots of people. Rick Steve guidebook had said we should just be prepared to "share the place with the rest of Europe" and it was good advice. They were all very nice and pleasant, but a whole lot of them getting in your way.

f) Cleanliness. 4 out of 5. Really a nice clean city. There was very little litter on the ground and the shops were well maintained. No complaints, really. You have to pay to pee here, too. Bring small change. Why do they ask you to pay to go to the bathroom in the central train station?! You should plan ahead and visit the WC on the train before you arrive. Oh, and the lady that cleans the restrooms gets to watch you use the urinals here, too, as the mens room door is wide open and the stalls are right in side. Did I say the woman that works here--I meant all the women that stand in line for the ladies room watch you...


3) Germany (Rhine Castle Drive and Neushwastein Castle)
a) Shopping: 4 out of 5 when they are open! Geesh, Germany please open up on the weekends! Shops close at 2ish on Saturdays and don't open on Sundays. We walked into a Cookoo clock shop and loved every corner--but that was the only shop open in a town of neat stores.

b) Meals: 4 out of 5. The Italian place we ate in at St. Goar was simply fantastic. The German food near our hotel, not so good, but we learned the secret. GERMAN RESTAURANT TIP: If the parking lot can fit a tour bus, keep moving.

c) French Fries: 3 out of 5. They were ok, I mean if I hadn't been in The Netherlands with some amazing French Fries I might have thought these were good. They were just ok.

d) Bakeries: 2 out of 5. I had been told how famous the Germans were for their bread. I tried 3 different bakeries and all served me danishes or rolls that were at least a day old, or just not very good.

e) Street People: 4 out of 5. Very nice indeed. I don't recall a single issue with walking along the streets here and even in the tour group at the castles. People were friendly and even were kind and let us through first in some cases.

f) Cleanliness: 3 out of 5. Nothing special, nothing bad. I don't remember having to pay for restrooms like in the Netherlands, and they were just as clean.


4) Paris
a) Shopping: No Vote. We only seemed to shop in the museum gift shops, so it wouldn't be fare to judge the stores here. The giftshops were top-notch, though. My wife would highly recommend them if you spend the day in their museum.

b) Meals: 4 out of 5--and even that was when we ate at quick spots. The lunch we had in a cafe was very good for 13 Euros...and lots of it. The other meal we had was in the food court at the Louvre and my wife says it was the best Lasagne she's had in years... at the FOOD COURT!!! No problems finding good food here.

c) French Fries: 3 out of 5. Hard to really judge on one meal with fries. But they were good. Not Dutch good, but good.

d) Bakeries: 4 out of 5. YUM. A nice place near the hotel had Pain Au Chocolate and they were quite tasty (a bit more butter than I like, but quite good). No complaints--even, when on Sunday it was closed and I had to cross the street to another place. Very good, very fresh.

e) Street People: 2 out of 5. Rude is about all I can say. How can such good cooks be so rude when walking down crowded streets. One Frenchman shoved my wife when he walked directly into her. He (we are talking about a man) just pushed her on both shoulders after he walked directly in to her. One extra step towards my wife and I would have been spending the night in jail. This wasn't the only incident walking around or taking the train. How come people here don't know to let people out of the trains before they try to board?

5) Switzerland
a) Shopping: 4 out of 5. Now, my wife wasn't with me, but the shops were even interesting to me. And, since they seem to have so many Japanese tourists, they might even have her size. Oh, and if you want a watch! They've got plenty. Jewlry, got that too. But... can you leave the country without buying a Swiss Army knife from one of the gazillion stores selling them?

b) Meals: 3 out of 5. The food wasn't bad, it wasn't great. Mostly German food where I was visiting, so the meals were decent. I didn't go to any fancy places, so I may not have a fair assessment.

c) French Fries: No Vote. I can't remember eating a French Fry in Switzerland--other than the McDonald's I stopped in when I got there. I'll have to go back.

d) Bakeries: 5 out of 5. You cannot believe how good the bakeries are here. Oh my goodness! I could not pass a bakery without stopping in for an Apple Strudel -- and they were just 2 or 3 Swiss Francs. Good Good Good. I dream of returnning for more.

e) Street People: 4 out of 5. (Tough not to include the hundreds of Japanese tourists I passed while hiking up in the mountains--they'd get a 2 out of 5. How come they are so rude? Don't they know we don't want to crash their tour group?). In Lucern, or even in the Ice Palace in Jangfrau the people were pleasant and not pushy. In Lucern there were lots of people walking in the covered bridges and the only real issue there were that so many wanted to spend the day crossing over. I noticed the locals taking the open bridges and joined them after my first attempt to cross with the tourists.

f) Cleanliness: 5 out of 5. I was impressed when I got into the airport after landing. I was more impressed on the trains. They have McClean restrooms (nothing to do with McDonald's) that you pay to go into (at the Train station in Zurich, for instance). They are spotless. Everywhere I went, even in the mountains town of Gimmelwald (another recommendation from Rick Steve, who, I sware, I saw there) the streets were very clean... it was really just a nice clean town... like every place I visited in Switzerland.