The Royale With Cheese...

(Because of the metric system, right?)

It's the little differences:
My list of observations about European Travel

• Bathrooms/Toilets
• Have more privacy, with stall doors that reach or almost reach the floor.
• Are flushed with a button on the wall, which avoids that stressful bending over business.
• Are shaped differently. The bowls that is. Sometimes I wonder if the Germans like having a viewing shelf where they can appraise before flushing anything down.
• In Hungary, the water pressure is strong after flushing, causing some splashing. So those little spots of wetness on the seat are (probably) not what you think they are.
• Are not expected to be there in public places. At least, not free of charge that is. Check out the "Opera Toilet" in Vienna. Expensive at 80 Euro cents but posh and accompanied by music.
• Food/Drink
• Tea is as well-done as coffee, with as much of a to-do, which pleases this tea drinker. Usually served with an individual tea pot, an aromatic and fresh loose tea, rock sugar, lemon, and even a little cookie.
• You will never be asked to pay or made to feel bad about the length of time you linger at a table. You are expected to take your time and not expected to pay for more items as the price.
• However, when you do ask to pay, the server will hover and wait for the money immediately. Awkward when divying up the check.
• With gas or without is the question if you want water. And, while free in America, paying for it is never a question--you will.
• Not as much emphasis is placed on serving everyone's meals at the same time. It is not, therefore, too rude to eat before or after everyone else.
• If you like pate, or liver in general, Hungary is the place to be. You can get more of it, and cheaper, in any restaurant (or even fast food stand) than anyplace I have ever seen.
• Wienerschnitzel is best in Wien.
• Rieslings are usually drier in Europe.
• Getting Around:
  
• Museums are closed on Mondays.
• Shops close at 8 o'clock in most places, with a few exceptions.
• You are expected to give up your seat for the elderly. Some older ladies can be very pushy about this.
• Germans will always wait for the walk signal. Even in the dead of night, with no cars visible for two miles each direction, in the rain and with a dying friend on the other side of the street.
• Hungarian cars are not guaranteed to stop for crosswalks.
• Public transportation is better anywhere, everywhere, than in America.
  
• You will always have culture shock upon returning to the United States, even though your have been gone for only weeks from the land you have lived in for years.
  
• No, you don't have to say say "Danke" to the customs man. He speaks English.
• As do all the people around you so no more whispered comments that you are certain no one else will understand.
  
• No recycling bins in public places. All trash is still thrown away in the same place--the landfill.
• People smile in the service industry. Genuinely. Wow.
• Sorry, beer is not as cheap as soda. And you are not on vacation anymore so not before noon either.

Welcome Back to America!