Things We Have Learned

Special K comes in chocolate. So does nearly everything else.

Adults don’t wear bike helmets.

People drink beer and wine before lunch time. 

We’d give anything to find a Starbucks.

The British WWI cemeteries are immaculately kept up.

Peanut butter is hard to find; most of it comes mixed with chocolate.

Wine is often cheap; it can also be expensive.

Ground pork looks like ground beef.

There are bike paths everywhere in the Netherlands and all ages ride bikes. 

There are no poppies in Flanders Fields in September.

Belgium is very flat--like Kansas but with trees.

Everyone in Western Europe speaks several languages.

We are driving on roads where we don’t understand most of the traffic signs.

Grocery stores do not provide bags.

Farmers in the Netherands use ditches instead of fences to keep the cows in.

Most campgrounds use the same hose for fresh water fill and dump site clean up. This turns our stomachs.

There are 3 McDonalds within 2 blocks of each other in Rotterdam. However, there are NO Starbucks!

ATM’s can be hard to find and then you will find three of them.

Doing laundry is frightfully expensive and takes a long, long time.

You can sweep the motorhome out three times a day and the floor will still be dirty.

Things in the outdoor markets are much cheaper than in stores, but then you have to carry them all day.

Belgium has long high hills and steep valleys.

“Quaint” isn’t nearly as endearing when it is raining.

You can't just go into and out of stores: you have to say "Good day" and "Goodbye." Sometimes even "Goodbye, madam."

From the Basel, Switzerland, campground regulations: "Between 23.00-07.00 o'clock and in the early afternoon between 12.30-14.00 o'clock everyone should keep calm and respect their neighbour's sleep."

French pedestrians and cyclists walk along the shoulder of a busy highway, separated from 45-mph traffic by nothing more than a white line painted on the road. It's a million liability lawsuits waiting to happen.

The French call this corkscrew a "Charles de Gaulle".IMG_2488Americans may be reminded of a different political figure, who Was Not a Crook.