The Things You Miss

Okay, Europe is incredible, magical, historical, wonderful and just an all-round lovely place to be!

I mean, the MacDonalds Burger place actually has a full-service bar in Italy. I'll have my quarter pounder with a gin and tonic on the side, if you please.

There are, however, some things which you miss.

How tough is it to make ice now-a-days? I feel like a forlorn penguin at some of these hotels, begging for some ice which they dole out into small glasses with a look of such satisfaction that I'm reluctant to tell them back in the States we can roll up a garbage can to the motel ice machine and fill it up for free.

Admittedly, 35 years ago when I first came to Europe, the coffee here blew me away. Espresso, lattes, cafe aulaits, they all left MJB and Folgers in the dust. But Europe is still the same and the States has rocketed past them! The coffee is still good here, but you have to pay a fortune for each cup, a take-away is hard to get and the concept of free coffee at your local hotel has not generally arrived here (I will give a nod to Best Western in Innsbruck on that one though, they provided a lovely cup of free coffee to our room even though we hadn't quite made their "recommended check-out time").

And the extra charges on items would even impress our US banks (who have managed to assure us that giving them money is a chore for them rather than a convenience for us). Perhaps one of our ultimate experiences on this was in Vienna, where we went in search of a breakfast. We found a place, ordered omelettes and some toast. The toast came and had been toasted, but that was it, it was toasted bread. I asked for some butter and jam, a unique concept apparently in Vienna. The waiter happily brought it to me and when the bill was presented, we were billed, individually, for each pat of butter and packet of jam.

Last night, at what was a lovely meal, they brought us a basket of bread, which we declined, since we knew we were already sharing a salad, soup, pasta and main course. When the bill came, it included a charge (actually, a double charge) for bread. I pointed out to the waiter that we didn't want and didn't have any bread. He apologized and frowned, saying "we do not have a service charge, so we charge for the bread". He had been very good, so I added a bit of a tip in cash, but pointed out that I thought the "bread tax" was part of my tip.

And I am, I admit it, a total and complete clean towel hog. Those messages in the hotel about saving the environment and reusing towels? Totally lost on me. But here, most of the places give you a thin towel (one) per each person in the room. How hard is it to load us up on towels? I've even left tips and notes to the various maids (though, with my broken German/French/Italian, I'm not totally convinced about what I'm requesting) asking for more towels, but so far, no luck.

Still, we are having a lovely time!!!!!

Gary & Karen