{"id":1223,"date":"2018-10-09T05:35:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T08:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/?p=1223"},"modified":"2023-05-05T14:56:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T17:56:08","slug":"thoughts-observations-things-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/?p=1223","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts, things seen\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following are miscellaneous thoughts and observations. \u00a0Obviously we\u2019ve not been anywhere long enough to form any firm basis for generalizations so they aren\u2019t intended in that way. As more things come to mind, we\u2019ll add them so this page will continue to evolve for a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
While we were in Paris we observed many people (young, old, students, business people, men, women) walking around with one to several meter-long baguettes. As they\u2019d walk, they\u2019d rip off a piece of bread and eat. \u00a0Nice! \u00a0Here in Turin, people seem to frequently nosh on things flowing with chocolate! Nicer!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chocolate is everywhere in Turin!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scents: I expected to be assaulted with scents (cologne, perfume, etc.) in both France and Italy. \u00a0But really haven\u2019t noticed any at all.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Smoking: It seems far more people smoke in France than at home – we\u2019ve not noticed it so much in Italy. However, in stark contrast to the new smoking by-law in Halifax, smoking seems to be ok pretty much everywhere in both countries – however we\u2019ve not noticed ANY smoking indoors in restaurants, but it\u2019s frequent in the outdoor eating areas.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s common in Italy for stores, shops, restaurants, etc. to close in the afternoon. This allows workers to go home for a proper lunch. It also extends the working da to 7 or 7:30 pm. In more urban areas the practice is not universal,. However, as you walk along the street in the city, you\u2019ll still see some stores – even large ones – closed for a while in the afternoon.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a>This is the inside of the door at one of our accomodations. \u00a0Notice anything missing? \u00a0There is no way to lock this door from the inside unless you use the key. \u00a0That also means of course, there is no way to unlock it witout the key. \u00a0This appears to be quite standard in France and Italy. \u00a0It is illegal in North America.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a>A sink in a public bathroom (in Italy). Notice anything? No taps. See the little pedal near the floor? Yes! That\u2019s how you turn on the water. SO much more hygenic! When will this come to North America?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
English: English is embarrassingly pervasive in both France and Italy – and I assume, in many other parts of the world. \u00a0We\u2019ve seen MANY cases of English only. \u00a0These aren\u2019t just tourist related signs either, yesterday I saw \u201cBACK TO SCHOOL\u201d in a store window, for example. The practice is, in my opinion, an indication of the arrogance of North America.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a>This is another example of the influence of North American culture. I saw this chain of restaurants in Turin (it\u2019s throughout much of Europe) and I was amazed. Really… there is so much wrong with this. \u00a0The reference is obviosly to the \u201cwild west\u201d of the US, the menu is extensive and includes mostly BBQ an BBQ related items, from all over the US (not just the west). But that\u2019s not the point.<\/p>\n

At first I assumed this was a NA chain pushing into Europe – my limited research indicates, so far, that isn\u2019t the case – but I want to dig deeper on that. However, if it\u2019s based in Europe, the message is even worse and suggests that Europeans think it\u2019s a good thing to market \u201cold Wild West\u201d in a region that is MUCH older than any BBQ idea in the US. \u00a0Additionally, the chain seems to be only in WESTERN Europe!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here are two toilets that we thought were unusual.<\/p>\n

On the right is an older style designed for squatting (which, apparently is actually a more healthy position nn which to… do your business). This is the only one we saw and was in the train station in Lucca. The flush was powerful!<\/p>\n

On the left is a much newer toilet. This one was in one of our accomodations. Notice the cut out area at the front. \u00a0Brilliant! \u00a0(I\u2019m sure at least the guys understand the advantage here! \u00a0We\u2019d like to see more of the toilets on the left everywhere! \u00a0Bravo to the designers on that project!<\/p>\n

Sidenote: Notice how the water enters the toilet tank at the top? Every tank we\u2019ve seen here is like that.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Early in our adventure we noticed that the level of dress is, in general, significantly higher than elsewhere. \u00a0Even when we got to Lyon, we noticed a more relaxed attitude. \u00a0In Paris we were quite out of place in our shorts and t-shirts, which were worn only by those out for a run\/jog.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scooters – YUP, the kid of two-wheeled scooter the kid down the street might have. \u00a0Not powered. Not fancy. Just a scooter. \u00a0This is something we think of as, well, something the kid down the street might have! \u00a0But in Paris, Lyon, etc. this is a mode of transportation for anyone in the city. \u00a0It\u2019s not uncommon to see businessmen\/women scooting along the street! So, before you get annoyed at that kid down the street – remember the CEO of a company in Paris may very well get around in the same way!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following are miscellaneous thoughts and observations. \u00a0Obviously we\u2019ve not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,59,14,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-france","category-italy","category-other-thoughts","category-travel"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",2448,3264,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615-225x300.jpeg",225,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615-768x1024.jpeg",640,853,true],"large":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615-768x1024.jpeg",640,853,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",1152,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",1536,2048,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",1024,1365,false],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",431,575,false],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/D57A9629-9874-4784-A729-9B498D13EEBD-e1539029066615.jpeg",308,410,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"AE","author_link":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/?author=1"},"category_info":"France<\/a> Italy<\/a> Other thoughts<\/a> Travel<\/a>","tag_info":"Travel","comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aemacdougall.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}