So, I’m about half way through this trip and I thought I’d share some things that I’ve observed. These are everyday things that are just different than in the United States. Some are meaningless, some I really like, and others are an acquired taste.

I was going to do a top ten list and then I realized I had eleven and figured why cut out an observation. Check out the photos and you’ll see what I mean for some of these…

Price of Gas

I was really confused by the price of gas in Europe. It was so cheap. I was riding past gas stations and seeing prices around €1.10. Well, it turns out that is the price per liter. One gallon is 3.79 liters, so gas is actually €4.17 a gallon. Add in the conversion rate, and we’re talking $5.57 a gallon.

Wedding Rings

In many European nations wedding rings are worn on the right hand instead of the left. This can have a different meaning the US, and I was making some misguided assumptions at first.

Language

Virtually everyone speaks at least two languages, their native tongue and English. Many folks speak three or more languages. The most I heard was seven…wow!  We really need to emphasize language learning in our primary and grade schools more. 

Hotel room lights

Two out of three hotels thus far have a great little feature that is a real energy saver. If you want to turn on the lights in your room you have to insert your room key in a power activation slot. This makes it really tough to leave your lights on while you’re out.

Toilet handles

I swear I still keep looking for the handle to flush the toilet. I haven’t found one yet though. Most toilets have a button above the “think tank” that you push to flush. Some have two buttons: one for number one that only uses a little water to flush, and another for number two that uses more water to flush. Finally, some toilets have a knob on top of the tank to pull.

Balcony doors/windows

They use what I’m calling a two stage door in Europe. Turn the handle one way and the door tilts open from the top to let air in the room. In this configuration it is more like a window. Turn the handle the other way and the door opens as we would normally expect. Pretty cool!

Beds

Often the hotels will have two single beds pushed together to form one big bed. I guess this is a sort of low tech sleep number thing, but it doesn’t really bother me as I haven’t been sleeping much.

Internet Access

My hotel in Athens uses scratch off cards for internet access. These cards can be purchased at the front desk. Simply scratch off the login and password fields and then enter the information on the startup web page and you off and running.

Education system

The Europeans have a great respect for the US university system. This has come up on every stop along the way. In Europe the universities are almost exclusively public. There are just a tiny handful of private universities.

In Greece the constitution actually forbids private universities. This sounds odd at first, but historically speaking it is the state’s way of keeping religion out of the education system. This theme is very consistent with France and Germany too. One must recall that for thousands of years the church played a very dominant role in all aspects of life, so much so that virtually every state has secularized the education system among other things.

Oh, I should mention that there is NO tuition fee to attend a Greek University.  All a citizen has to do is pass an entrance exam if he or shee wants to continue their education.   This is true for immigrants as well. 

Running Shoes

My running shoes don’t work in Europe. They worked twice in Paris, but I’ve had trouble with them ever since.  I'm thinking it might be the energy converter.  :-)  Maybe they’ll work in Bucharest…