Random Notes From Europe

It has been a week since Stephanie and I have returned to Des Moines from our honeymoon in Europe. Here are a few random thoughts and observations from our trip.

• There are a lot of mosquitoes in Italy, even in November. I have a nice collection of annoying souvenirs in the form of itchy bites to remind me of our trip.
• Europeans are thinner and better-dressed than Des Moines residents. This is not universal, but closer than you might think. One exception is the silly puffy-ribbed coats that Italians seem to love.
• The bread in Florence is not made with salt. As a result, it doesn't taste like much. All of the other food in Florence is the best food.
• Stephanie commented a couple times on how beautiful Paris is. I agree. Unlike any other city I have seen, Paris shares a common aesthetic, and it truly beautiful.
• High-speed train travel > plane travel. Traveling by train is really enjoyable. You can see the countryside, they have a bar on board, and the check-in and security process is painless. In contrast, the worst part of our entire trip was the 4 hours we spent once we landed at Chicago O'Hare airport. What a completely miserable experience. Ugh.
• I love the public transit in Europe. London is famous for it's tube and double-decker busses, and for good reason. It is so easy to get where you want without a car. Even in the relatively remote Cinque Terre in Italy, regularly scheduled trains make it easy to move from one city to the next.
• I have no patience for Americans who say Parisians are rude. I have what I refer to as traveller French. That is, I can exchange pleasantries and ask for directions. I always try to start a conversation in French, but that's almost always as far as it goes, then we switch to English and we're on our way. The people we have interacted with have been almost without exception pleasant, polite, and helpful. I laugh when I think about how "Iowa nice" people would react to visitors who can't speak English.
• We downloaded a few offline map applications, and we got a ton of value out of them. Ulmon makes offline guides for most big tourist destinations, and we recommend them. We also replaced paper books with a Kindle paper-white for this trip, with fantastic results.
• AirBnB is the way to go in big cities with expensive hotels. It does require a little research, and the search and filter features are far from perfect, but have really enjoyed feeling more like a resident, and having the amenities offered from a real home, vs. just a place to stay.
• London is a fantastic mix of stodgy English tradition, international flavor, and modern progress. While American English seemed like the common language in Italy, we were never sure what accent or language we were hearing in London. A shiny new building that looks like a giant tooth sits blocks away from centuries-old institutions in the city of London. It's an interesting dynamic, and one that I find very appealing.