travel

Some things I learned in Europe

I recently returned from two weeks in Europe, attending a trade show, working from our Geneva office, and then a little fun in Paris. Along the way I learned several things. Here are some of those lessons:

  1. Mullets are still very much in style among Eastern Europeans.
  2. Europeans still like Americans, even if they don’t understand or like our government. They especially like Americans who hate George Bush.
  3. At most hotels parking is relatively cheap, but Internet connections are ridiculously expensive.
  4. Swedish expats are kind of like the mafia – they all know each other, stick together, and help each other out.
  5. It pays to make friends with Swedes.
  6. Parisians are not as horribly unfriendly as I remembered (or feared).
  7. It’s hard to get less than 100 CHF bills out of an ATM in Geneva. For example, withdrawing 400 CHF gets you two 100 CHF and one 200 CHF bill.
  8. When you withdraw 100 CHF in Geneva and select the “mixed bills” option, it spits out two 50 CHF bills.
  9. The French and the Germans are pretty much total opposites. A “half glass” in German in a half liter. In France it’s half of a half liter (0.25 L). Germans pronounce every letter in their words. French pronounce maybe 1/3 of them. The rest are silent.
  10. Champagne + beer + white wine + red wine + cognac + limoncello = invincibility.