johnrobe

There are things I love about Europe that are getting drilled home on our trip. There are things I don’t like as well, but I won’t call them out unless they are really egregious.

Likes:

- All the public transit everywhere is on the honour system. It is dependable. Every stop, subway, tram or bus, has a timer telling you when the next vehicle is coming.

- Beer. How can it be better and somewhere between half and one-tenth the price? Economics doesn’t work that way.

- Movie theatres. Okay, the sample size is tiny (I have seen one movie in Europe (it was Sunday night and Vienna doesn’t do Sundays)) but I love that the seats are assigned. Takes all the rushing for seats, worrying about who you’re sitting next to etc., out of the equation, and that’s great.

- Toilets. Almost all the toilets have very sensible “big flush” and “little flush” buttons. The one in the Vienna apartment just has a sort of on / off switch - flush as much as you need. Such a smart way to save water.

Dislikes:

- Stairs. See picture. Those are the stairs up to our apartment in Vienna. There are 96 knee crackers in that picture.

- All beverages besides beer. Are you thirsty? Tough! They aren’t going to bring you water unless you pay a lot for it. Want a diet coke? Be prepared to pay cognac prices for it. Europeans probably go into a 7-11 and look at Big Gulps the way I look at beer here.

- The remotes in our apartment. One is for the TV, one is for the “satellite cable” box. Both have one red button and one green button on the very top row of the remote. Both remotes have power one/off and mute in the top row. But with one remote, power on/off is red and mute is green, with the other remote, mute is red and power on/off is green. Makes you wish you were colour blind.

John General