> Some random notes and observations about my recent
> expedition to the interior of Europe:
>
> It used to be that the plumbing in Europe was really
> pitiful by American standards. Well that's changed,
> although there are still some eccentricities. It is quite
> common for example to have a 2-button flushing mechanism –
> to save water when a lesser flow will do the job. Very
> green and something that is as yet almost unknown within
> the circles familiar to me. On the other hand, Europeans
> seem to take a perverse pride in designing toilet bowls
> that cause generation and subsequent display of skid marks.
>
> But the showers and faucets and bathtubs and such that I
> encountered in the various hostels were uniformly good.
> American hotels and motels still seem to think that
> bathtubs are limited by some law of nature to be 5ft in
> total length and 1 ft high.
> ...

>
>But then
>Pepsi is dispensed in bottles holding 1/5 of a liter. A
>truly pitiful amount. To give my American readers some
>idea of what zero-point-two of a liter looks like, check it
>out
>
>http://www.pajarowatershed.com/Temp/Pepsi.JPG
>
>This is quite a culture shock for one who comes from the
>land of the 7/11 store.

>Some random notes and observations about my recent
>expedition to the interior of Europe:

>I don't think this is a European or an American thing, but
>I think there is a design school somewhere, where
>architects are schooled in the fine art of placing the
>toilet paper dispensing mechanism in a position where it is
>nigh impossible to reach while seated on the throne.

>One thing I can't explain - the fluorescent lights they
>put in the bathrooms seem to be carefully chosen to be the
>type that flash 5 times before they actually come "on".
>When you reach my age, one...

> I''ll close by mentioning that the car was an Opel with a
> special gizmo under the gear shift knob preventing shifting into
> reverse, such that my wife and I were seen to be pushing the car
> backwards on a Munich street until advised about the details by a
> passerby -- he said that Saabs have the same gizmo.

>

>I had to take three electrical chargers with me on this
>trip – shaver, cell-phone, camera. So now in addition to
>the container I carry for toothbrush, comb, and medications
>(qv. Dopp bag), I have another for chargers, memory cards
>for the camera, and a spare battery for the latter so I can
>be using one while the first is being recharged.
>
>Peeing at a motorway rest-stop in Germany requires coin.
>

>

>> I had to take three electrical chargers with me on this
>> trip – shaver, cell-phone, camera. So now in addition to
>> the container I carry for toothbrush, comb, and medications
>> (qv. Dopp bag), I have another for chargers, memory cards
>> for the camera, and a spare battery for the latter so I can
>> be using one while the first is being recharged.
>>
>> Peeing at a motorway rest-stop in Germany requires coin.
>>

>
> Sounds like you were spared the Swiss dash, Jitze. Formally the Belgian dash,
> this involves the gentle art of driving across an entire country without
> stopping for fuel for vehicle or passengers or to take a comfort break, and
> thus not having to change currency.

>

>>Sounds like you were spared the Swiss dash, Jitze. Formally the Belgian
>>dash, this involves the gentle art of driving across an entire country
>>without stopping for fuel for vehicle or passengers...

> Enjoyed your jeremiad or polemic or whatever -- will just add two bits
> about driving in central Europe last year. In addition to a sizable
> road tax (also required in Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic) we
> were required to purchase a visible vest as part of our Austrian
> driving privilege. Our Munich-based car rental didn't have the vest,
> and we had had to arrange a special car that we could take to
> Budapest, Prague, Vienna, and Berlin. I still have the vest as a
> souvenir of some sort, maybe the kind one would rather not have.

> Django Cat wrote:

>>

>>> I had to take three electrical chargers with me on this
>>> trip – shaver, cell-phone, camera. So now in addition to
>>> the container I carry for toothbrush, comb, and...