13 small observations from my trip to Europe
Vignettes on differences from Rome, Florence, London and Paris
The problem with not writing this newsletter frequently is that the burden of the blank page only grows with time. Like a unicycle, starting to pedal is the hardest part (I would imagine). With that in mind, this week’s post is a short one as I pierce the digital silence and put words onto the internet.
I recently completed a trip to Rome, Tuscany, Paris and London so I thought I would share some vignettes on small things I noticed that were different. At the risk of sounding like a country bumpkin, here we go:
1- (London) Switches to turn on lights are outside the rooms with said lights: In the houses in London I visited the light switch for a room (e.g., bathroom lights) are outside the room they impact. In other words, you have to turn on the lights in a room before you walk in - otherwise you have to walk into the dark, putter about and then leave to turn on the lights, which I may or may not have done many dozen times.
2- Small butt-benches to stand-sit on: Spotted this in Paris and London. If you are waiting for a bus or a tram, there are little butt-seats - they aren’t full-blown benches since those take up space and could maybe lead to loitering. Instead you see these little stand/sit things. They seem like an objectively good idea. I wonder why don’t we see them in the US?
3- Forbidden grass and allowable-chair-placements in French parks: Wandering the Jardins de Luxemburg I saw people lounging in the green chairs provided so I took a couple for my family and placed them next to a fountain. Little did I know this was not allowed. Almost immediately, out of nowhere popped a man man whose job it is to make sure the chairs used to hang out in the beautiful park do not move to places they aren’t supposed to go. The chairs are mobile and it’s okay to have them in certain places, but there are other spots the chairs are interdit. Pourquoi? Je sais pas. I wonder how they decide what parts of the park are and aren’t allowable to sit in. You can see in the picture below that there are sections of grass that are okay to sit in and others that are again, interdit - probably because they ruin the view (again, I would love to understand how they decide the criteria for this!). All very fascinating…
4- Public water fountains that just pour water non-stop: I saw this in Paris and Italy. There are public water fountains that just pour out clean water. They don’t have buttons to push like in the US - they just pour water non-stop. You then either drink directly, cup your hands for a few gulps, or refill a bottle. They are also often beautiful fountains which gives them a really nice feeling whenever you happen upon them while walking.
5- The London Natural History Museum’s moldings: This museum has striking architecture and a lot of beautiful, fun details built into the facade and on the interior. For instance, the inside columns are designed with molded monkeys climbing all the way up the ceiling. I believe the architect designed a lot of these small touches… An incredible museum made even better through small details…
6- French manga is plentiful: I was really surprised by how large the French manga section was in the Charles de Gaulle airport. There were multiple walls of manga in French with much of it (as far as I can tell) created in French for French readers. This was way larger than what I have seen in most airport bookstores…
7- Courtyards for big buildings: I was recently in New York that has Avenue-sized buildings without courtyards. I will save my rant for another day but working in a really big building without sunlight isn’t great… Unlike this model, the big buildings I saw in London and Paris do a much better job letting light into the interiors either through courtyards or giant light-fixtures (e.g., Gallery Lafayette has a giant glass dome that lights up a huge chunk of an otherwise dark interior). I tried to capture how many courtyards there were through the picture of London below.
8- Mini grocery stores: All through my trip I saw so many small, incredibly well stocked and custom-shaped grocery stores. The density of these cities probably supports this model but even in smaller towns like Siena in Italy I saw some incredible little groceries with their own butcher and giant meats/cheese section (photo below). The stores often are shaped into older buildings so they can sometimes be like labyrinths with blind corners and twists and turns.
9- European keys: I don’t have great pictures for this but the keys in Europe are really different from what we have in the US. At least in Paris, London and Rome the keys seem way more complex and harder to break into (not sure if this is true but it felt this way). Are they actually better? Why are the keys in the Americas so bland? When and why did this one specific thing diverge from the Americas?
10- Ginseng Coffee: I only spotted this once. Not sure if this is good (I was too scared to try) but this was an odd find in a random coffee shop in Rome. How did this machine get here? And what entrepreneurial and adventurous Italian orders it instead of his espresso?
11- Painted ceilings: obviously they are all over Europe from centuries past but I wonder when and why we stopped painting our ceilings? At what point did we collectively decide not to bother doing this for our most important buildings? Look at this majesty!
12- Tiny cars: there are so many of them and so many shapes and sizes. In many cases describing them as “cars” feels like a stretch though - e.g., this little dude below in Rome is more like a bicycle. It’s interesting that I don’t think I’ve seen most of these cars even in SF or NY (where arguably a small car could make sense).
13- Beach club: on the Mediterranean coast I found this concept of beach club that we don’t really have in the US. You show up, pay money and then use the facilities for the day or for the summer. They have showers, a restaurant, a beachfront coffee shop (with amazing coffee and sweets) and some makeshift showers. Pretty great. (Soon after I took this photograph an impromptu beach Tango sensual dancing session took place between an Italian older couple in their swimsuits… talk about something you don’t see in California :)
While these are just small details what struck me from my trip was just how different each country remains even after decades of super-charged globalization. While some things have become more globally homogenized, I can’t help but feel the speed of divergence is again increasing. Yes, everyone now has similar phones and a ~common internet, but the drive towards distinct regional/national identities and the strength of culture is so strong that I wonder if the world is trending again towards more uniqueness… What a beautiful world to explore…
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I like the format of this piece- unique and insightful observations.
I last went to Siena in 2015 but I still regularly think about some of the little grocery stores there.