Author Topic: Different strokes for different folks - or: Why can't I move the shower head?  (Read 26643 times)

Offline MaineWriter

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I think they're mostly common in Fance. In Germany, they're not regular everywhere, but they're widespread enough so people know what they're for  :laugh:



I remember bidets back in Italy in 1972, but on more recent trips to England, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and Switzerland, I never saw one...so I don't think they are very common, at least not anymore.

Leslie
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Offline Penthesilea

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How about bedding? In Europe you have a duvet and a pillow; cuddle up in the duvet and you are warm and toasty. Here we have sheets, blankets, pillows, comforters...ugh. I like the European style much better.

I think the American/English style looks prettier, but the European ones are more practical.
As intersting as the bedding is the body of the bed itself. In America (and England), it looks like a bed would exist of two matrasses, one atop of the other, sometimes a valance around the bottom one. They don't seem to have a slatted frame. That was really weird to me the first time I was in England; it felt somehow "fake", like it wouldn't be a "correct" bed, but only two matrasses with a headboard  :laugh:


 

The beds I'm used to look like this:


Then you put a matrass on it (One's enough!  ;D) and that's it.


Quote
Let's see...not to be so contrary about the US...we do have bigger refrigerators. And I have to say, I like my big fridge!

Leslie

I think with the big fridges it's the same as with dishwashers: you don't need one, but as soon as you have one, you would never again want to live without it  :laugh:

Offline MaineWriter

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Remember when I was looking for the hotel in Amersfoort and it advertised that it had a box spring? (That's the bottom mattress, Chrissi. It's not really a mattress.) I said to Fabienne, what's the big deal? and she said, oh, box springs are very unusual in Europe! LOL

L
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Offline louisev

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Some of the things I found that are different between Germany and America...

Try going to a grocery store on a Saturday evening!  In the last two years some of the grocery stores are staying open past 6 p.m. on Saturdays, but you wont find a single one open on a Sunday!

No checks please!  Almost all commerce - in Germany, at least, is done via direct bank transfer payments, or what we call ACH payment in the US.  I never wrote a check in all the time I was in Germany!

Residence registration: all residents, citizens or visitors, have to register their residence with the local Burgeramt.  Because this is unheard of in America, Americans generally overlook this - but if you don't, it is impossible to get a visa.

Satellite tv anyone?  In the US and Canada, you have to sign up with a satellite service provider, and get your equipment from them.  In Germany, it's all programmed into the equipment, and you simply by the receiver that is preprogrammed.

TV and Radio Tax!  While you are registering yourself at the Burgeramt, dont forget to play your TV and Radio tax, for each device you use in your home.
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Offline belbbmfan

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Remember when I was looking for the hotel in Amersfoort and it advertised that it had a box spring? (That's the bottom mattress, Chrissi. It's not really a mattress.) I said to Fabienne, what's the big deal? and she said, oh, box springs are very unusual in Europe! LOL

L

 :laugh:

Box springs are exclusive and very pricy over here. Regular people have beds like the one Chrissi posted (with the one mattress). ;D


Another difference between Belgium and Canada: they drive really big cars over there. And I mean BIG cars!  :o Our rental vehicle was a Ford Taurus and I've never driven around in such a huge car. It was nice to drive though. And an automatic, also something we're not used to.
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Offline delalluvia

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Free refills? Not in Germany.

Ah, no wonder the hostility toward Mickey Ds.  This is an example of how only part of a whole gets translated and you lose the overall affect.  Yes, you get less soda with more ice, but in the States, you get free refills.  When McDs when to Germany, they got the ice thing, but got cheap with the fountain drinks.

Offline Kelda

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Ah, no wonder the hostility toward Mickey Ds.  This is an example of how only part of a whole gets translated and you lose the overall affect.  Yes, you get less soda with more ice, but in the States, you get free refills.  When McDs when to Germany, they got the ice thing, but got cheap with the fountain drinks.

And in the Uk and I believe the rest of Europe.
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Offline opinionista

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I think there's hostility towards Mickey D in Europe because it is bad food.

Anyway, something I wanted to comment. This is something I have seen in Cataluña, especially in Barcelona and in the South of France. Never in Madrid or Greece. Some apartments, houses and even hotel rooms have the toilet in one room, and the bathtub and the sink in a separate one. Sometimes the bathtub and the sink are all the way down at the other end of corridor. So, you use the toilet, and then have to walk all the way down to the other end to wash your hands. WHY? Does this happen in other European countries as well?
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Offline Penthesilea

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Anyway, something I wanted to comment. This is something I have seen in Cataluña, especially in Barcelona and in the South of France. Never in Madrid or Greece. Some apartments, houses and even hotel rooms have the toilet in one room, and the bathtub and the sink in a separate one. Sometimes the bathtub and the sink are all the way down at the other end of corridor. So, you use the toilet, and then have to walk all the way down to the other end to wash your hands. WHY? Does this happen in other European countries as well?

Yes, it does. Just two weeks ago, we were on vacation in Austria. Our apartment had the toilet and shower+sink in seperate rooms. Makes sense when you're more than one person. The moment I'm stepping into the shower, you can bet your left arm one of the other four members of my family has to use the toilet. Always. It's like a law of nature.
They still have to come into the bathroom where I'm showering to wash their hands afterwards, but I prefer this solution to having everything in one room. Understandable, isn't it?  ;D

It would be even better to have a second, small sink in the same room where the toilet is. But you take what you get.

Offline Kelda

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David had a bidet in his hotel room in rome!!
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