16 Things You Don’t Know About Europe Until You Get There

[cmptrwlt]

Originally Posted by aquamarin

In Russia and Ukraine lunch time is around 1 to 3 pm, much later than in the US. Banks and retail are closed "for lunch". So it is not good idea to try to have things done around that time

I eat lunch at 10:30 . It is not that uncommon in Norway, but I think the majority wait an hour.

[oh-eve]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

I eat lunch at 10:30 . It is not that uncommon in Norway, but I think the majority wait an hour.

you won't get any lunch at that time in Germany.


Restaurants close in the afternoons and on Mondays.


These are the common hours:


11.30 - 14.00 Uhr
18.00 - 22.00 Uhr


or


11:30 - 14:30 Uhr
17:30 - 23:00 Uhr

[cmptrwlt]

Originally Posted by oh-eve

you won't get any lunch at that time in Germany.


Restaurants close in the afternoons and on Mondays.


These are the common hours:


11.30 - 14.00 Uhr
18.00 - 22.00 Uhr


or


11:30 - 14:30 Uhr
17:30 - 23:00 Uhr

It is not common to eat lunch in a restaurant or cafe in Norway. Most companies have a canteen with subitized food. The lunch break is only 30 minutes. I pay 3 € for my lunch and can eat as much as I want.

[yabanci]

Originally Posted by lukas1973

Not sure what "continental breakfast" means or what Americans mean by this.

It's a term American hotels use to make their parsimony seem sophisticated.

[forgotten username]

Not sure about what a continental breakfast is

In France, people usually don't eat anything with salt for breakfast. Usually it's bread with marmolade or any type of croissant / pain au chocolat, etc, what we call "viennoiseries".

On the side, many people drink litterally a bowl of coffee (not the italian type as you can imagine), and orange juice and milk are popular.

The younger generations (that is, people under 40) also favour a bowl of cereal with milk.

In Italy it seems to be roughly the same.

If I get up late during the week end because I partied too much I can fancy a brunch, that is a mix of breakfast and other stuff like for instance scrambled eggs or maybe some vegetables, but not meat. I don't really eat that much meat anyway, but it would be weird to eat some Prosciutto along with a bowl of rice crispies or something.

Also, I'm more of a tea person in the morning. I prefer 5 pm coffee.

[1950's-americana]

1.) There are many ways to flush a toilet

Yes, it's true.

2.) Showering can be a challenge

Why? the showers in Europe are like showers anywhere else.

3.) You can’t leave the hotel with your room key

Not really, I stayed in many hotels where I always kept my key.

4.) Things close down at lunch time

Depends, this is mostly Spain and Italy, and to a lesser degree France. in London nothing closes at lunch time.

5.) It’s hard to find to go cups for coffee- You’ll have a hard time ordering a cup of coffee to go

.
You can go to Starbucks.... but Europeans do love to sit down for a cup of coffee, it's very comforting!

6.) Dinner takes two to three hours to eat- Ready for a quick bite to eat? Think again.

if you want a quick bite, you can go to a doner kebab, take away chinese, Xki, you name it! plus Quick, mcdonalds, burger king etc. etc.

7.) Sometimes you have to pay before you order

I've never seen that.

8.) Public toilettes aren’t free

Depends on the country, in Spain they're free, in France you gotta pay.

9.) Wifi isn’t free and isn’t always available

Most coffee shops, restaurants, etc. have free wifi.

10.) You don’t need to tip

True

11.) Almost all museums are free (or at least cheap)

Depends on the country

12.) Ordering a latte means ordering a milk

Latte is Italian for milk, so if you go to Italy and say latte you're literally asking for milk!

13.) Breakfast is cold cuts, cheese, and bread- Eggs don’t seem to be common for breakfast.

Not true, omelettes are french, torta de patatas with egg is spanish, english breakfast includes eggs.

14.) Salads aren’t a big thing

Greek salad, french salad, catalan salad, potato salad, very european.

15.) Limited selection of foods

Actually much more varied selection of foods as you have a huge amount of small countries next to one another, plus migrants from all over the world.

16.) Burgers must be well done

europeans eat raw meat and blood beef is very common... Americans eat more well done than Europeans.

[Eden Morlevent]

Originally Posted by forgotten username

...

my father used to have a tartine of butter with ham (generally bayonne), that he would dip into his black coffee. my mother prefers tea, or she even drinks coke but she don't eat anything. and me i'm only generally eating salty food, like pastas (with salt) or semolina mixed with mashed potatoes, i can't really eat anything sweet in the morning, it's more for the middle of the night or something, and i don't drink milk or milk chocolate but i drink orange juice or grenadine. no cereals, but a sandwich with a baguette and some merguez is okay at 8-9am lol.

[oh-eve]

Originally Posted by Yanagisawa

16 Things You Don’t Know About Europe Until You Get There

12.) Ordering a latte means ordering a milk

14.) Salads aren’t a big thing

uhm, latte = Italian = milk so what do you expect?


Salads? Of course!! We just don't have 6 different dressings. Spices, oil, vinegar = dressing.


You get a side order of salad to almost every real meal.

Originally Posted by Yanagisawa

16 Things You Don’t Know About Europe Until You Get There

1.) There are many ways to flush a toilet

2.) Showering can be a challenge

3.) You can’t leave the hotel with your room key

4.) Things close down at lunch time

5.) It’s hard to find to go cups for coffee- You’ll have a hard time ordering a cup of coffee to go.

6.) Dinner takes two to three hours to eat- Ready for a quick bite to eat? Think again.

7.) Sometimes you have to pay before you order

8.) Public toilettes aren’t free

9.) Wifi isn’t free and isn’t always available

10.) You don’t need to tip

11.) Almost all museums are free (or at least cheap)

12.) Ordering a latte means ordering a milk

13.) Breakfast is cold cuts, cheese, and bread- Eggs don’t seem to be common for breakfast.

14.) Salads aren’t a big thing

15.) Limited selection of foods

16.) Burgers must be well done

Depending on the exact country or region, there is endless variation with what to have a classification of when referencing extra magical international country boundaries of Europe. Extreme generalization with the original post. There is an ultimate collection of 50 countries technically around the mainland Continent area, and beyond diverse to ever have such a list of false misconceptions happening.

I have visited France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Monaco. Really, the only one I entirely agree with is: "5.) It’s hard to find to go cups for coffee- You’ll have a hard time ordering a cup of coffee to go." Blue is an in between category of yes/and or no simultaneously depending on where someone visits, and exactly when.

Vast majority of them are rather superficial rarely having a very in depth cultural immersion to fully understand. I want more very deep, extra comprehensive unique spiritual, demographic, or empirical experience ones.

What are other people's original version of "Things You Don’t Know About Europe Until You Get There!"

The most funny or amusing encounters I have witnessed from another individual with a false claim is "Everyone in Europe has a very small house compared to North Americans" or "Romania doesn't have any sea ocean resembling beaches." The second one was especially surprising. The first one depends on where someone lives, especially if less urban, and less high density area.

[Brave New World]

ROFL - loving this thread.

Are the OP's observations based on having once watched watching National Lampoon's European Vacation and EuroTrip.