Observations conclusions and musing from our epic six week European adventure.

 These are totally my opinions and only my opinions.  

1) Socialization is way better than ours
2) A highly developed infrastructure
3) Accommodations tend to be a bit smaller
4) Tourism; tons of it
5) In the bigger cities, there are “low emission zones”, and you don’t see old cars on the road at all 
6) Google maps blows me away! They have instructions for the tiniest allies
7) EVERY toilet, public or private has a brush and we now know why
8) Mistletoe grows as a parasite plant on many trees. I have never seen real live mistletoe before.
9) eSIMs are the BEST
10) Italy has more historic buildings preserved than France
11) I am now determined to learn new languages and history (Although I always say that when I get back from any foreign country and I don’t learn anything)
12) I am totally amazed, how religion dominated all of Europe, especially by the Roman Catholic Church
13) I must research St. Etienne. I felt like it was calling me for the longest time.
14) Euro to Canadian dollar; despite the exchange you tend to start seeing euros like Canadian dollars. But they are anything but. 
15) Lots of grain and hay fields, but not a lot of livestock
16) Some places really need reservations ahead of time; Anne Frank museum, Florence Duomo, Versailles for example. 
17) A lot of “learn as you go” as you can’t foresee all problems
18) The European perception of Canada is that we don’t have people to work there. This really saddened me. 
19) Planning every day as we went sucks the life right out of me
20) We need to adopt some of the simple habits of travel; no waste, reuse, simplify.
21) The need to research before arrival not after you’ve been.
22) Peanut butter is almost unheard of – Nutella is the thing
23) Most toilet paper is coloured or patterned. We quit doing that at least 40 years ago. Maybe they know something that we don’t.
24) I think the penny in my left shoe worked. I never took it out the whole trip.
25) One bar of soap, two face cloths, seven pair of underwear each, two pair of pants are definitely enough.

AND FINALLY: smaller luggage is definitely possible.

Comments

  1. Not DaveMay 22, 2025 at 8:29 PM

    Loved your blog, look forward to your next adventure.

    ReplyDelete

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