Europe - The Little Things

Here is a list of small things that I noticed during the month spent in Switzerland/France/Italy:

• Alcohol has little or no taboo. Ex #1. At the Italian university, which is run by the Catholic Church, there is wine on tap in the cafeteria. Ex #2. At the Changins campus, the vending machine sells Heinekens.


• After your football (soccer) team wins a match (game), you are allowed to honk your car horn for an hour, but after that it is illegal.


• Eggs and milk are not refrigerated in the supermarket.


• Everyone eats French fries, or pomme frittes. Everywhere. To an alarming extent.


• Horse meat is actually quite tasty when cooked properly. Not sure how I feel about this one, but I'll roll with it for now.


• You can bring your dog on public transporation, but you have to buy them a half fare ticket, as if it were your child.


• Ordering a latte at a coffee shop gets you a curious look and a cup of steamed milk.


• Scooters in Switzerland are very quiet, but extremely loud in Italy (4 stroke vs. 2 stroke).


• Bus drivers can get a big bus through almost any small, medieval city, unless the road construction guy gives you the thumbs down when your round the corner.


• Everything in the super market comes in little tiny packages.
• In restaurants, a beer is usually cheaper than a Coke.
• In restaurants, its nearly impossible to get a glass of tap water, and the beer is still cheaper.
• There are a lot of really expensive cars in Switzerland: Ferrari Enzo, Porsche Carrera GT, and Bugatti Veyron were all seen within one mile of eachother, and there was a Lamborghini used as a daily driver that we frequently saw in Ouchy.