1530 Big and Little Things I noticed

Obese Americans. I didn't see any. Travel though old cities of Europe with cobblestone streets, hills to climb, many irregular steps, and much less handicapped access than what we have come to expect, limits travelers and tourists to those in reasonably good health. The ages of the tour members ranged from early 40s at the lower end to mid-80s in the upper, but despite some frailty among a few of our older members, no one was what I would call obese. Nor did I see obese Germans and Austrians, who seem to look quite healthy and athletic based on what you see in American cities. (They obviously are running off all those wonderful breads and pastries.) I know I've read that they are catching up with us, but it is very noticeable the minute you step back inside an American airport.

Toilets. When you could find public toilets, they were well designed and managed. Toilet paper in Germany and Austria seems to be universally supplied by companies that produce paper towels and only know that product. A few places we experienced pay toilets which seems a throw back to the system we had here in bus and train stations in the 1950s. I didn't notice that they were any cleaner or nicer than those that didn't charge, but it does provide jobs. The stalls seem to be more sturdy, intended to last longer than a few months or years, mostly covered with ceramic tiles with stainless steel doors and really solid locks.

Churches and cathedrals. These seemed to be maintained by the state by taxing the Catholics (I suppose it is the same for Lutherans, but we didn't go through any protestant churches on a tour). Europeans like to criticize our American politics being influenced by religion, however, I think Americans would really balk at having the state collect taxes to support the churches. The cathedrals are a huge draw for tourists who bring in millions of Euros to support the economy. If anything, the state ought to do all it can to support these wonderful old buildings, which cost millions to maintain. We rarely saw a cathedral without scaffolding and plastic to catch debris.

Minorities. Although there were many African Americans on our flight to Frankfurt, they must have all been going elsewhere for a holiday. I literally saw only Caucasians and Japanese in Europe. I know there are "guest workers" in Germany and Austria who are darker, but I didn't see them. A few security personnel in the airports looked exactly the same as in the United States. I saw only one or two people in wheelchairs (it would be extremely difficult in the cities we visited), and only one retarded person. You know what? I think I missed the diversity of our large cities (disclaimer: we have almost none in our suburb which is pretty WASPish). For all our complaints about political correctness, affirmative this and that, and immigration policies, we are still a nation that accepts everyone as a goal, even if we haven't reached it yet. As unemployment soars in Europe, I think we'll see increasing resentment against minorities who have never become citizens, and even those who have.

Smoking. May I say a big thank you to all those liberals who have pushed cigarettes and cigars out of our faces, and eliminated the stink from our clothes and hair. Oh, how quickly you forget how unpleasant it is to sit in a smokey restaurant, or even to sit or stand outside with something that smells like old dirty clothes smoldering. Pugh!

Television. We had TV in our cabins, and unless we were going through one of the 21 locks on the Danube, we had fairly decent reception. I would sometimes watch German programming while trying to fall asleep (time change you know). Did you know you can watch a home make-over in German and pretty much figure out what is going on? They seem to love something that looks like a Judge Judy show, only it appears to have actors, not real plaintiffs and defendants. One time while flipping through I found three running simultaneously. We could also get BBC and CNN International. So we kept up with Hurricane Rita. One of the oddest things I heard on CNN (which I rarely watch at home) was a comment and clip of President Bush warning people to evacuate and take safety. The commentators said he was responding much more quickly than he did with Katrina having learned from the government's poor response. But after the video clip of his warning, she said, "This is the same speech he gave to the people in the path of Katrina in late August." Now why a warning has more impact if he is in a suit and tie in DC than in boots and jeans in Crawford, I have no idea.

Part I: Our Wonderful Trip
Part II: Our Danube Cruise
Part III: Photos: Nuremberg
Part IV: Photos: Regensburg and Passau
Part V: Linz and Melk
Part VI: Photos: Durnstein and Vienna--under construction
Part VII: East Germany Lessons for us
Part VIII: What to wear on a cruise
Part IX: Dancing on the Danube