Observations of Europe

I've now been in Europe fourteen months and have found the cultural differences between here and home to be quite fascinating. And much like America, there are diffrences between the nations of the European Union. Perhaps the MOST universal of all cultural issues is the attitude outside of France that France is a wonderful country. Its biggest issue is that it's full of Frenchmen. I really thought it was just an American thing, but, the negative opinions of French hubris and attitudes appear to be the same throughout all non-French-speaking nations. I've heard this comment almost universally from British, Germans, Walloons (Northern Belgium), and Spaniards, along with Americans.

The music scene here is unreal. The Mannheim-Ludwigshafen area is equivalent in size to the Columbia-Lexington, South Carolina areas - medium size metropolitan area. The area was heavily bombed and devastated by allied bombing in World War II, but has been completely rebuilt, to include the restoration of many historic buildings. Very industrial, it boast a concert schedule that would be the envy of many American cities. Bon Jovi, Anthrax, Neil Diamond, Scorpions, 30 Seconds To Mars, 50 Cent, Al Jareau, Bjork, Coldplay, Eagles and on-and-on. I have also gotten turned on to the German rock band Unheilig. Their hit of last year, "Geboren um zu Leben" was huge here in Germany (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snLeeGyTKHw&feature=related) for a taste. Amazing stuff.

And amazingly for such a secular nation, holidays in Germany, except for Reunification Day, are all faith-based and always rate a wine or beer festival. Alcohol here is inexpensive and excellent. I'm not a beer drinker, but everyone else I know here is and they all agree that the beer here is excellent. And nearly EVERY town of any size has its own Brauerei (brewery). Many towns in the area immediately west of here (the other side of the Rhein) have Weinguten (wineries) in the Weinstrasse (Wine Road). I stumbled on the very small town of Ruppertsberg in the Weinstrasse and found the Ruppertsberger winery where I have purchased three of their wines, all for less the five euro, or seven dollars. That is not atypical for really excellent German wine. Those bottles are being saved for a trip home!

Sidewalk parking may be something I will really never get used to. The sidewalks in Europe are for pedestrians, cyclist and parked cars, and are maked as such.

Living space here is compact. Obviously, with Europe having half-as-many-more people and half the territory, land use is extensively regulated. Nearly every home, apartment, etc., is multistory. I have even encountered three-story homes with two or three generations of a family, one to each floor! The individual 'footprint' of the buildings are amazingly (in this American's eyes) small. They are masonry affairs with block walls about sixteen inches thick and heavily insulated. Most newer builds have roofs covered in solar panels, too. Yards are generally very small, too, and HIGHLY groomed.

I'll continue this review in a future post. But, before going I must relate a lighter note. I am intrigued by the similarity of the weather here to that of Western Washington and the Puget Sound region. They are so similar that I was afraid that Darlene, my wife, wouldn't like it here. While we were in Washington, she ran an Army regulated daycare in our military quarters on-post. I would ride my bike to-and-from work (like I do now), and would go home for lunch. On this particular, cold, dreary, June day I rode home to discover the kids on the playground out our back door in heavy coats. I walked into the house and greeted Darlene, who immediately turned to me and stated in a firm, angry voice, "When we move, we're moving to a place where it's warn when it's supposed to be warm!"
I replied, "Yes, Dear!" turned around and went to Burger King for lunch. It was clear - Darlene hated the weather and western Washington.

In that same vein, I told this story to some British colleagues who told me that the weather here is so much nicer than that in Britain. My first thought was, 'Well that explains why the English were such prolific colonizers. They were looking for something -anything- better."