What surprised you on your first visit?

How old everything is! My first trip was to London back in 1999, with a side trip to Cambridge of a couple days. Total trip was ten days and full of many adventures and mistakes of a first-time traveler. Such fond memories!

Good topic.
Judy B

My first trip as an adult - how cheap good wine is! 3Euros or less and it's better than the $10 glasses in the US. And it keeps up that type of ratio.

In general - how art/history is just in your face. I mean, I knew Rome had excellent art but I think I somehow pictured it separate from daily life. Off in a museum or special zone. Not a famous piece in the middle of a square with people passing by going about their day. Or ruins being excavated next to a bus stop.

I was seven years old on my first visit. I remember a shepherd moving his flock through Piazza Esedra in Roma at about six in the morning.

My husband always recounts the story of our first trip to Europe in 2008. Rome was our first stop. We took a 'shuttle to your door' van from the airport. Hubby ended up in the front passenger seat. He could not get over the barely controlled chaos that was Rome traffic. He thought it was funny at first, then started feeling a little bit afraid. Here in Canada, you would NEVER have the scooters and motorbikes weaving thru the cars and driving ahead to the red lights in front of the cars. There'd be insane road rage for sure.

And the smokers for sure...ugh. Of course at home, I'm not out in public all day, and at restaurants here of course you can't even smoke on the outdoor patios. So the odour of smoke is really magnified for me when we go away...didn't find it bad in London, but France for sure. Rick Steves had a post on FB about 'feeling like a temporary Parisian' by sitting at an outdoor café for an hour - which is all fine and dandy except for the horrid amnt of cigarette smoke. Cough cough.

Like Mira, how cheap good wine is. Specifically in Italy being able to order a carafe or half carafe of the house red and have it be quite good!

That all the historic things are not roped off - you're allowed to get close up to very very old things and no one thinks twice about it. Here in the states anything remotely "historic" is behind ropes or glass - the public is kept at arms length and only allowed to gawk from a distance.

The assumption that we're all capable of looking out for ourselves and don't need to be protected and warned repeatedly that such and such is dangerous. The government, museum staff, etc aren't trying to save us from our own stupidity. The assumption seems to be that we're reasonably smart and responsible, vs the US assumption that we're dumb.

January, 1976, 21 years old: The plane was descending to land at CDG/Paris. It flew over a walled in castle/chateaux. That's when it hit me, I was in Europe! ...something my history addicted, 6th grade teacher told us we would do in our lifetimes, visit Europe, and from that moment in his class I was determined to make it a reality. The immediacy of the thrill surprised me. In Paris, I spent one day with my next door neighbor from home who was living on the other side of the block from me in Paris ...small world (and whom was a year younger than me so we never spent time together at home, but whose mother said she was homesick and wanted me to see her)! How could the men and women my age ever get into their skin tight jeans? French prostitutes were very well dressed, all whom I noticed were wearing fur. Older French women really didn't wear deodorant. They thought American girls were ridiculous for being shocked to have to share a bed with another student. It is hard to speak a foreign language when you need to even though you've had four years of study...especially if you are shy and are traveling with more fluent speakers.

And Italy felt like NYC to me, all the guys at the pizza/sandwhich shops spoke English. By the end of the visit, we were so sick of Italian guys, wanting to 'speak English' with us, who would just follow us around, we often just stayed inside when we had a break.

Great question. I think it was how "older things" are integrated into everyday life and (tie) how extremely nice people are to foreigners. I have many examples of both during my first international trip (England for about 10 days.) An example of the first is a building in York that was built in the 15th century and it was still in use as a shop. An example of the second was when someone gave me a ride from the Burseldon train station at night which I got off the train with a dead cell phone (there is nothing at the Burseldon station but a parking lot.) This total stranger offered to call a cab, when I told him where, he said his girlfriend's dad used to live near there and he would give me a ride after she arrived on the next train. He not only gave me a ride, but waited by his car to make sure I had the right address. There are many more examples. Both "surprises" helped fuel my love of travel and I hope I have reciprocated the kindness to others over the years. (ps I sure wish I read "Europe Through the Back Door" before I went over!)

I was shocked at the high level of airport security when leaving Europe, especially the thorough pat-down!

On my first visit to Europe in the early 70's, I was picked up by friends at the Frankfurt airport. As we were driving to their house, I saw my first German train going down the tracks next to the road. It was a steam train. My first impression of German trains was that they were way behind us in developing their transportation system. I quickly found out how wrong first impressions could be.

I had read about, dreamed about, studied about Europe for almost 40 years before I finally got to go. I had read RS ETBD and Europe 101 (more than once) and watched some of his earlier shows. I was pretty prepared for what I'd find when I went but there were two things that I still remember today were still a surprise after all that research. 1) I knew most hotels wouldn't have elevators but we stayed in a quite nice hotel in Paris that did boast an elevator. It was so small - one person, one bag - and moved sooo slow that most everyone took the stairs. It was like being in a phone booth (those of you who actually remember what a phone booth was). 2) that the wine was cheaper (much cheaper) than a coke and that ice really was a rarity.

Great list. We (especially my husband) were surprised how easy it was to get around.

I was surprised how much of my 9th grade French I remembered!

But I think the biggest surprise for both of us was we were actually there! IIRC there was a lot of "I can't believe we are actually here!" going on.

The last I checked, India is yet to extricate itself from Asia. It just beats me how often I see the stereotypical reference of Asia to mean China (and southeast Asia)!

It doesn't matter how much you're craving that plate of dumplings, or that bowl of pho. Do not – I repeat, do not – go out for Asian food in Europe. You'll be eternally disappointed. Stick to the local stuff.

Not that the Indian food we had in Paris was too great, but that is not really my point (and in London, which is still in Europe, I did eat some very good Indian food ... though that was in the 20th century).

All that said, I do agree with most of the items in the linked article. One glaring omission - how small are European cars!! [I hope Aussie cars are not so small ... else we are going to be in for a rude shock shortly!!]

• Porcupyn

My first experience was in 1973 and I was in the military. I had just gotten to Bentwaters AB outside of Ipswitch England. I found that I really enjoyed Real Ales. A lot of my fellow servicemen didn't care for "warm" beer.

The things that surprised me were about how much and how little Europeans know about America. I especially like what some people think "American" and "Tex-mex" food is. I was also surprised at how many people smoke, and how much they smoke, especially in central and eastern Europe.

I am with you, Porcupyn, on those comments about Asian food. London has some of the best "Indian" restaurants in the world. And, of all the many Indian restaurants I have ever been to, there is one in Bury Saint Edmonds England that is head and shoulders above all of the others ... I went to the Bury area for work for about 15 years a couple of times annually and I rarely made such a trip without a visit to that restaurant.

Now for Chinese restaurants, I have excellent Chinese meals all over Europe - Germany, the Netherland, the UK, Italy, Spain, etc..., but one I had in Aachen Germany in the early 1990's stands out as the best of many, many fine dinners.

And, one last Asian food comment: anyone who does not enjoy a traditional Indonesian Ristafel (Rice Table) in Amsterdam just doesn't care about Asian food!

With all that said, I still enjoyed the article.

Rita:

I was shocked at the high level of airport security when leaving Europe, especially the thorough pat-down!

I don't know if you are just making a comment or trying to say that it is a bad mark on Europe. Because if it is the latter, nothing could be farther from the truth. It is the USA that insists on these security levels, and it has had high security on inbound flight legs in Europe since I first came to the USA, nearly three decades ago. Maybe it affected only folks transiting in Europe and not folks getting in from Europe? I am not sure about that.

Porcupyn

Oh, the abundance, good taste and very reasonable prices of the wines just about everywhere. The fabulous beers in Prague and Belgium. The military guards-all armed with big guns-at Charles de Gaulle airport in 1997; our first trip to Europe-before 9/11. Very surprising to my husband and myself-then. Mostly how much I loved to travel and especially to Europe!

In 1977 I went to visit my future husband in Croatia, I was surprised how many of his family/friends had never saw or met an American before. Never mind anyone speaking Engish. I was also pleasantly surprised that they did not have sliced, packaged bread, only fresh bread baked every morning and no canned foods.

I spent the morning of my first visit to Europe getting from Gatwick airport to a B&B in Brighton on New Steine common.

What surprised me was how easy it was to misunderstand and mispronounce names and places and terms when I thought I spoke English like a native. I was used to normal American names like Ruiz and normal American places like La Jolla and normal American terms like round-trip ticket, so it surprised me to find that train station staff wanted to know if I wanted to buy a "cheap day return". What is a "cheap day return"? I wondered.

And when I asked for directions to New Steine square, I got puzzled silence in reply. Apparently I didn't know how to pronounce it.
I still haven't gotten the hang of the silent 'r's and silent 'gh's and vowels mixed up, 'i's sounded like 'e's and 'a's sounded like 'u's etc.

Americans have this sense that England is more refined or at least older, more time to work out the details, but language use seemed so imprecise -- 'brilliant' and 'proper' substituting for about a dozen different, more specific, American words.

Checking just now, I see that rooms at that B&B are double or more than double what they were back at the close of the previous millennium. I wish my own resources had also doubled, but again as a normal American my circumstances have barely budged.

Obviously, the surprises on "first visit" depends a lot on when that first visit took place. My first trip was fall 1969, and we were delighted at how cheap delicious meals could be ... and we were on a Europe-on-$5 budget. (And after travelling 2-1/2 months, appalled at the price of a coffee shop meal on our first day back in Los Angeles.)

Then in 1977, surprised by extensive airport security coming out of London (at that time, U.S. airports still let anyone walk out to meet passengers at the gate.)

Big surprise in 2011 was the Schengen rules, putting a crimp on the long-held dream of "spend a year in Europe after I retire." And booking in advance instead of just winging it. On the plus side, really cheap train fares for that advance booking.

Those times I want something else other than eating the local cuisine in Germany or France, London, Poland, I make it a point to find a Chinese restaurant, the exception is Austria and Vienna. They are different in each country., no problems for me as regard to tastes.

In Berlin the Chinese food has become more specialised if you are looking for that, ie, Shanghai cuisine, instead of just an ordinary "China Restaurant" in German. On the whole, Chinese is different in France from what you typically find in Germany, unless you're at a specialised restaurant. Look at the menus/pictures sometime posted on the window, the name of the restaurant gives it away.. I had Chinese food in Frankfurt on my last full day before flying out from FRA to SFO, some " hole in the wall" where the staff spoke Mandarin among themselves, not too far from the Hbf, on Mosel Strasse, (?), pretty good and pretty cheap too.

In London I would say the Chinese cuisine is as close as to what you find in the SF Bay Area on authenticity, not something tailored to German tastes or American tastes, ie Americanized Chinese food.

Our first trip to Europe was 1989 to Switzerland.
All lights are on timers, even elevators and in bathrooms.
There are so many flower boxes.
Everything is so clean...streets, highways, etc. Here in the NY/NJ area having garbage along the highways seems to be the norm.
I remember on a train trip putting my foot on the seat across from me for a few minutes. Conductor came right over and told me to take it off the seat.

Porcupyn,
My comment about being shocked by the first pat-down I received at airport security was not to demean European airport security at all. I just meant that the first time I flew back home from Europe I received the MOST thorough pat-down and questioning I had ever received!

I would make a couple of observations re the food comments.
- just because the writer mentions pho and dumplings, doesn't mean they are not familiar with the geography of Asia.
- Australians, because of former ties and even in pre Brexit times, would not really view the UK as part of Europe.
- written in an Australian humouristic style, I am sure the writer appreciates you actually can get some great authentic Asian food in Europe, and Indonesian food in Amsterdam comes immediately to mind.
- I am sorry some people took offence.

I think it's hard to get any "authentic" local or "foreign" food in average restaurants at all. Even if you aren't eating at a fast food chain, all you get is "fast food". For example, in Germany we have a lot of beef/pork stew dishes. I'm happily cooking these for my family but I never eat them at a restaurant. Bleah… overcooked. Nah. I don't need that.

(By the way: tried "australian food" in Germany twice. Announced: emu, snake, crocodile. Got: over-grilled something. Bleah.)

I think it's hard to get any "authentic" local or "foreign" food in average restaurants at all. Even if you aren't eating at a fast food chain, all you get is "fast food". For example, in Germany we have a lot of beef/pork stew dishes. I'm happily cooking these for my family but I never eat them at a restaurant. Bleah… overcooked. Nah. I don't need that.
(By the way: tried "australian food" in Germany twice. Announced: emu, snake, crocodile. Got: over-grilled something. Bleah.)

Not sure how you define "average" restaurant but there are many smaller, unrated, restaurants that have exceptional food.

Sure there are places that that have average fare but that is everywhere.

Another of our surprises was going for breakfast the first time in Germany and seeing what looked more like a lunch buffet! Man was it good though! I love returning to Germany for that! And the salads - German's know how to make a salad!

An average restaurant is one where neither the owner nor the cook are ambitious. They make money out of serving lunch to white-collar workers. And they are trying to make a living by practising tax and social insurance evasion. That's why they love cash so much.

You may be lucky finding a "foreign" restaurant which serves immigrant families, they are usually trying to stand out, and have very good "foreign" food. Look at the people eating there! (I know one in Hannover which has a cook simply for the made-in-house anatolian-style bread.)

And you may be lucky finding a good German food restaurant in a tourist location, where they are ambitious to give you an experience of German food. Which still cannot prepare a lot of common German dishes (the numerous stews) because they take two hours to cook and can't be preserved at an eatable condition for more than an hour.

The breakfast buffet you saw is typical for hotels and B&Bs. German breakfast before work typically isn't at all that fancy but only sliced bread with butter and sliced Wurst. Maybe a boiled egg. And on morning break at 10am, repeated at the workplace. But when German people are on a business trip or vacation, they expect to be served, and to have it plentiful. Most of my colleagues chose their accomodation on business trips by the quality of the breakfast buffet so hotels have to excel on that.

Finding a "foreign" restaurant that caters to immigrant families is easy in cities like Frankfurt and Berlin when it comes to Chinese food...no problem. Enter the restaurant, listen to what language is being spoken among the staff and see who the customers are. If the staff are speaking Mandarin or Cantonese or another dialect, ie, not German among themselves, that's a clear sign they pitch to "immigrant " families, and would offer specialised Chinese cuisine, more so if they are among themselves speaking Mandarin. There are numerous Chinese restaurants in Frankfurt on Kaiserstrasse or in the Hbf area and in Berlin on Kantstrasse that fit this description.

First trip was a week-long cruise in 2007 that bounced around the French Riviera, ending in Monaco for the Grand Prix (my reason for going--at the time I didn't care at all about the travel, I was a Formula 1 fan and wanted to see the race.) For some reason the cruise line hadn't figured out they needed to make a non-French stop to avoid cabotage (and it turned out Monaco didn't count, or so we were told), so instead of a stop in Corsica we went to Portofino. The surprise--how I would fall for Italy. Have made several trips since to other European countries as well and enjoyed them all, but it is to Italy that I continue to find myself drawn.

I think you have hit on something Eric, a certain "je ne sais quoi". Let's call it being lured by a romantic view of the world immediately around us. This is an easy thing to succumbe to in places like Italy and France, but I think we should look for it also in our home environments.

Many surprises for me on my first trip over (solo) in 1983:
German military personnel with long guns or short automatic weapons at the airport.
The drivers. Many times I had witnessed drivers passing traffic on 2 lane roads with oncoming traffic. Both the oncoming car and the car being passed moved to the right and the faster vehicle went up the center. Sadly I do not see this anymore in Germany.
How long it took to build some churches.
I would appreciate the beauty (in my eyes) of a Rococo style church.
Seeing the Berlin Wall and the fence dividing East & West Germany running through the countryside. Somethings are not taught in books.
How bad of a condition buildings were in in East Berlin. It seemed as if 40 years after WWII they had not completely recovered.
I am sure there are many other things but this should be enough for now.

Neil Gaiman's line sums it up perfectly: The difference between England and America is that in England, 100 miles is a long way and in America, 100 years is a long time. I loved horrifying some of the locals, telling them that on a relaxed Saturday, I would ride 300 miles on my motorbike - the same distance as from the Lake District to London. And then passing by a plaque celebrating something that happened on that spot 1000 years ago, (and that plaque being 40+ years old.)

Or, as we kept saying over and over on our trip: Scale. Chronological scale (when Hadrian's Wall is the "newest" historical site we visited - compared to Stonehenge and Castlerigg). Map scale insofar as looking at a map and thinking "whoah, that looks so far away, and it being two miles.

Also how incredibly narrow the streets are. (For context, I grew up in Salt Lake City, where a city street can be four or five full lanes, in each direction, with extra room on both sides for parking.)

What really surprised me on my first trip was ME--the fact that I was suddenly gripped by an urge to venture out into the world (London) by myself, and then planned and made a wonderful trip that far surpassed anything I expected myself to pull off.

My 1st visit was in 1986, courtesy of my Army Reserve unit. We came to Hanau for 2 weeks. Landed at Frankfurt airport in June with temps in the 90's. Surprise! No AC in the airport. We were shocked, as the airport really stunk. Shopping in the dept. stores on our afternoons off, and again, no AC. Not very enjoyable.
Our unit took a trip to Point Alpha near Fulda. Knowing about the border between East and West Germany was not the same as seeing it. The guard towers, barbed wire, the dogs, the no-mans land, the memorials to those who had died trying to escape. There were a lot of leaky eyes that day. It became real instead of just a flippant, "there's a wall dividing Germany"

Toilets. The surprise is that there were so many different kinds. Everywhere we went there was a different flush mechanism.

We expected to be served lots of sauerkraut. Wrong. Only had it once in 2 weeks.

Enjoyed the fountains in the pedestrian zones. Enjoyed having pedestrian zones. Loved the small balls of ice cream so you could get 2-3 flavors for the same price as what you would pay for one large scoop in the US and it was all Gelato. We had fun riding the train into Frankfurt from Hanau. What excitement!

1. Paid toilets
2. General Calmness
3. Hiding Street Signs
4. Unfounded Fear

That everything was so .... well... Foreign!!

Ah!!!!! The lovely, young ladies on the beaches of French. Some of my greatest, private photography still shared and enjoyed fifty years later.

To be fair, the writer is from Australia, so perhaps the general expectation of Europe was to for it to be cooler than his homeland...

As for what surprised me on my first visit to Europe (as an adult)... First, I would have to concur on how expensive some trains can be. In the UK, especially. On the other hand, the first time I booked and then took a budget airline flight in Europe (Wizz Air Brussels to Budapest for only 15 Euros), I couldn't believe how cheap and how nice for the price it was.

My first trip to Europe was in 1999 with people from my art history class in high school. I was seventeen and had wanted to go to Italy since junior high. We flew into Milan and got on a tour bus which took us to Verona, the first stop. The 2,000-year-old arena blew me away. I couldn't imagine growing up in a town with something like that.

Another poster said something about how in Europe they don't have signs everywhere saying "Danger" and "Beware." The first time I went to Germany (a whole 'nother first), my friend and I visited a fortress in the Harz Mountains in 2007. It was first built in the 9th century and modified up through the 14th. We were the only people there and free to climb all over it. I went to the very top and was careful not to lean on a rickety handrail. I was impressed that there were no signs warning of anything. It was refreshing. The authorities expected visitors to use common sense and to think for themselves.

The authorities expected visitors to use common sense and to think for themselves.

And/or the clientele was a lot less litigious ;-)

The real death trap is your own household. Always.

You really do see numerous signs in Germany warning you of the danger, such as "Betreten auf eigener Gefahr." Or, other signs using the phrases "auf eigener Gefahr." or "Lebensgefahr."

If any potential thief has ideas on hitting a store, you see this warning is posted, "Jeder Diebstahl kommt zur Anzeige," hopefully to deter that thief.

Being originally a European I have to change my first impression of Europe into my first impression of the USA: when landing in JFK on may 19th 1987 I needed to use toilet. In one stall water was high in the toilet. Tried another one and another one and it was the same. I thought all of them were plugged which of course was not the case. And I thought: they were right when they were telling us after our question: what is different in the US? and the answer was: everything.
Then when I woke up next morning in small town of Hanover, PA I looked out the window: huge American cars so called cruisers were not driving but floating almost without any noise on the small town street. The little pastel colored houses all from wood everywhere as far as I could see. Between ground and sky so many wires that it looked like a net. (In Europe you don't see so many wires. They are usually underground). So those were the very first impressions I will never forget.
My brother's who came to visit in 2001 first impression was how many very obese people he saw around.

On warning signs: How often do you hear at German train stations warning/informing you not to leave luggage unattended..."Lassen Sie Ihr Gepäck unbeaufsichtigt !" Or, another warning at an establishment (restaurant usually) when it will not assume liability if your coat/belongings is left there..."Keine Haft" Or, where electrical wires are in place, you see the sign warning you of its high voltage and danger..."Hochspannung! Lebensgefahr!"

A few folks touched on it. My Big suprise on first trip in 1985 was the WC ! ! And happened over and over. First, of course, was the labeling WC (what could that stand for ????). And on some entrances , just a pictogram. The urinals were Troughs ! Some troughs weren't elevated. just slight depression with drain at floor level ? Commodes had flush levers/button in all kinds of different styles and locations. Some i never did "find". Even experienced the "old" overhead closet with the pull-chain ! In some there was NO toilet paper ? But often a little brush to wipe bowl. One place ( in Italy ? ) i encountered the "turkish toilet" ? First time i walked right out, too embarassed to use it. In Paris were the metal public urinals RIGHT on the sidewalk ? And many of the "public" WC charged money ? Some commode doors REQUIRED correct coins to open. That thwarted me several times ! All-in-all, this was quite unnerving to the neophyte traveller.

Oh yeah - the Turkish toilets! Encountered in Monterosso, Cinque Terre with horrid results (as a lady, it's hard to squat, hold your purse out the way and avoid #1'ing on your wide legged pants.). Also found one in Carcassonne last year - hubby went in to use it and whoever went before him - uh - how to put this delicately - missed the hole with their huge #2. Disgusting! Same thing when we went to the Millau viaduct - but after going to give it a pass, I wised up and looked in the handicap stall - yup - there was a real toilet! Albeit, one without a toilet seat...bathrooms are always interesting!

True, the WC business was a surprise in one way, something different, but not at all a shock when I got there first in 1971. True, I did not know what WC stood for and meant, found out quickly in London after arriving from Calif.

In Austria and Germany I ran into the troughs and dripping wall type, where the water constantly dripped as you stood there urinating. That was new, I thought it very utilitarian when cleaning with a mop and disinfectant. In German cities I encountered the toilets with the long chain. The trough and toilet with the chain I had seen in the SF Bay Area. Yes, there were restaurant toilets or toilets in a Pension "down the hall" where no soap was at the sink, neither was there a towel of any type. Sometimes soap but no towel.

Paying for hot water when showering in the hostel was sort of a surprise, since that was not the case in all HI hostels in Germany and I had been warned of that prior to the trip. That meant you made sure you had a 50 pfennig coin to operate that machine to give you hot water. I remember one time I refused to pay and took it cold.

Yes, those were the days of yesteryear. All these different WC experiences and the showers in the hostels in Germany and Austria I got used to pretty quickly, no big deal. . Only the first "hole in ground" experience (that was in France) was a nuisance period.

I'm sitting here with a smile on my face reading about the thrill of first trips to Europe. Some surprises for me:
A vending machine in Dusseldorf selling sex toys. I thought I was pretty sophisticated but this shocked me. Those Germans!
My love affair with France. I'd expected to love England since I love its literature big time, but it's France that keeps calling to me - trying to find words in a foreign language adds to the pleasure.
Cleaning ladies in men's rooms - the first time my father came out of one, his face was white. By the way, speaking of toilets, whatever happened to the bidet?
Hotels in buildings that date from the 16th century! (I saw a sign on a restaurant in Paramus, NJ that said "A New Jersey tradition since 2013"!)

My first surprise came before before I even got off the ground: the safety instructions on Icelandair are in Icelandic!

Second: sitting in the lounge, waiting for my flight from Iceland to London to board, and hearing all the different languages being spoken -- and none of them were Spanish!

The different heights of the platforms relative to the trains. One fall, and I had this figured out for the rest of the trip. 😀

Fun to remember the first trip.

On the way from Heathrow into London "Mind the gap" was announced at every stop but after dropping our bags and heading out I tripped getting on the train and made a most un-lady-like entrance. :-\ very embarassing!

The thrill of getting there that first time still makes me smile and look forward to going back.

Here are some more:

http://www.destinationtips.com/destinations/europe/americans-surprised-visit-europe/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=17+Ways+American+Tourists+Are+Shocked+By+European++-+62737224&utm_campaign=OUT+DST+24031+americans-surprised-visit-europe-1&utm_term=5528442

I am not sure if anything really surprised me on my first visits. I read so much about each destination before going the first time and so many people told me about things to expect that I was really prepared for the typical surprises.

Reading number 16 in the above link reminded me about how difficult it is to find ketchup in Europe. My personal theory is that the "brown sauce" in the UK is just ketchup gone bad.

Surprised (at first) and impressed me....from first visit to Germany in 1984 and continues to impress me at every visit since then.....how much more energy-saving-conscious the whole country is compared to the US, from the motion sensor lights in hotel hallways, to the no-plastic-bag policies in stores (or you can pay extra for one), to hotel room electricity going on only when you put your key card into the slot.

First visit was to Paris and what surprised me was how hard I fell for the City of Lights.

I was trying to think of things that surprised me.

1. The amount of green space. I was led to believe that Europe was overpopulated and wall to wall people but that's not the case at all. People are in cities and/or towns and there's lots of forest and farmland between them. That's true of Asia too.

2. That it really wasn't foreign. I had traveled to Asia first. If you want to see completely different culture, that's the place to go. America was built on European roots, there are differences but there are also similarities. England is more foreign than Germany in many ways because, post WWII, a devastated Germany wanted to rebuild to be like us rather than the French or English.

My first trip was to England in the late 80s. What surprised me was:

how cheap wine, beer, and liquor were;
pay toilets;
no ice;
how bad English food really was;
the extent of the full English breakfast;
public trails through private property;
no ice tea;
the polite wording of signs
free museums

These days there is some ice, the food is better, but otherwise most of the list would still surprise me on a first trip as would the rising cost of cathedral visits.

In Italy in the 90s what surprised me was:

how good the food, even in the metro, was;
even more pay toilets;
siesta;
still no ice;
no tea, iced of otherwise;
out of order ticket machines

What surprised me on my first trip in the 2000s:

combination washing machine/dryers;
cheap wine;
ticket machines that work;
tiny tiny ice cube trays (yes I'm ice obsessed);
corn in the grocery;
unrefridgerated eggs;
that the rail pass is not a cheap option anymore;
that travelers checks are dead;
pay toilets.

Brad, where in the world did you hear or read this?

"England is more foreign than Germany in many ways because, post WWII, a devastated Germany wanted to rebuild to be like us rather than the French or English."

Germany did NOT rebuild to be like America. They just rebuilt things as fast as possible to have apts. for all of their homeless and displaced persons, rebuilt stores and factories as fast as possible to make money and get back on their feet again. Had nothing to do with wanting to be "American" or not looking like France or England.

Jo,

That's my impression from visiting both but a lot from the military. The British and Australian Air Forces are much more different, in structure, than the Luftwaffe - which is just like the U.S. Air Force.

Also Frankfurt, when I visited called themselves the Manhattan of Germany or "Mainhattan" because when they rebuilt post WWII they went with modern buildings that looked like cities in the U.S. The Frankfurters were very proud of it. I didn't tell them modern buildings didn't interest me. I know they've since restored older sections in their original style.

My first surprise was the unisex toilet at the bus stop from Luxembourg to Paris (cheap Icelandic flight). Then I lived in Israel for several years before my first trip to Europe, so many of the things mentioned above were already familiar to me. The heightened security in London (1972) - I was told I couldn't enter a shop because of a bomb threat, which kind of made me feel at home. Put a coin in the meter to turn on the gas to heat water for your shower and it better be enough or you'll be rinsing in shockingly cold water - London and Amsterdam.

In 1980 I went to Paris for the first time. Surprise - lots of people spoke English and nearly everyone was friendly. The Bois de Boulogne went on forever. So did Versailles. My sore feet . . . (second time was with bicycles :-)

Even after many years of travel, something seems to surprise me on each trip. Paris last year in April was incredibly beautiful with all the trees in bloom. Malaga is underrated. Barcelona is amazing (second visit, on the first, it was only great :-) The French countryside is beautiful, the villages are charming, there are castles and cathedrals everywhere and there's an excellent TI in every village. Florence was overrun with tourists in mid-May.

The good-Public transportation systems in England, France and Germany are amazing! Probably the European thing I covet the most.

The bad-A realization of the amount of suffering experienced by almost all of Europe in the 20th century and how fortunate we are to have escaped it.