In August of 2014, I did two weeks in Europe with my wife, our kid, and her sister.\u00a0\u00a0It was one of those Viking Cruises that you may have seen n TV (Spend less time getting there and more time being there). \u00a0It was our second cruise with Viking. \u00a0This one had us starting in Prague (Czech Republic) and ending in Paris.<\/p>\n
Czech, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, and France–I’ve been in all six during the last seven years. \u00a0Ranked in order of preference:<\/p>\n
1) Italy, 2) Ireland, 3) Germany, 4) Luxembourg, 5) Czech, 6) France<\/p>\n
Italy was the best trip so far (2011), followed by Ireland (2007). \u00a0Italy was clean (except for the shithole called Naples), the food and wine were delicious. \u00a0It was easy to get anywhere locally by foot, and the trains were high speed, cheap, and accessible. \u00a0Ireland was green and over flowing with beer. \u00a0Smoking is prohibited anywhere in a public place. \u00a0One beer is enough to put you DUI, so most people walk to pubs.<\/p>\n
Germany and Luxembourg and largely the same–very clean. \u00a0Orderly. \u00a0Things run on time here. \u00a0Beer is plentiful and delicious. \u00a0I speak a little German so I’m not totally lost.<\/p>\n
Czech and France. \u00a0I’m glad I went but I won’t be back. \u00a0These are wierd culture countries. \u00a0 Here, most of the men (aged 15-35) seem to be obessed by dressing and looking like their women. \u00a0And they are succeeding. \u00a0There are few Justin Bieber haircuts here. \u00a0Most guys have a jelled “push a wedge up in the middle” hairstyle, or some other forward projecting appendage that could double as a sail on a jetty. \u00a0They all wear skinny jeans, most often with some highly female stitching pattern on the back pockets. \u00a0None of them seem to project a “package” while wearing these jeans so there has to be some “fruitcup stuffing to the rear” going on. \u00a0I would think that would be painful if one sat down. \u00a0Maybe they just have small sacks. \u00a0Their shoes, if casual are a rainbow assortment of boat style sneakers. \u00a0Dress shoes all have a tapered end that projects out about three inches from where the toes really end. \u00a0It makes their feet all look like size 14.<\/p>\n
In the Czech Republic, a telling sign came from our guide “Charlie” who told us about when the Russians had last been there and the possibility of the ever coming back.\u00a0 He said, “25% would welcome them, 25% would run for the hills, and 50% would not give a damn.”\u00a0 Notice that no percentage would stand and fight.\u00a0 No, that is the job for Americans.<\/p>\n
Everyone smokes in France.\u00a0 It is allowed in many eating establishments as well.\u00a0 It turns the stomach to watch your server stand outside and smoke, then without washing his hands, grab your dinner plates and serve you.<\/p>\n
France enjoys a 35 hour work week.\u00a0 You automatically\u00a0earn 2 weeks vacation as soon as you start working full time.\u00a0 Do some math.\u00a0 5 hours less per week times 50 weeks is 250 hours.\u00a0 At 35 hours a week, that\u00a0is just over 7 weeks.\u00a0 Lunch is two hours long and the meal is paid for by your employer.\u00a0 50 more hours not worked is another week and a half. \u00a0So compared to Americans, the French work just over 41 weeks a year to our 50.\u00a0 The employer splits the transportation costs of the employee also.\u00a0 College?\u00a0 Paid for…for as long as you want to attend.<\/p>\n
With so many perks, it is no wonder their taxes are so high and why they experienced zero GDP growth for two straight quarters.<\/p>\n
The best part of the trip, aside from coming home, was the adventure to Normandy.\u00a0 If you are military you already know what I am talking about.\u00a0 No one can pass up walking on Omaha Beach if you’ve ever served.\u00a0 I won’t stop going to Europe.\u00a0 I’ll just be more selective as to where.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In August of 2014, I did two weeks in Europe with my wife, our kid, and her sister.\u00a0\u00a0It was one of those Viking Cruises that you may have seen n TV (Spend less time getting there and more time being there). \u00a0It was our second cruise with Viking. \u00a0This one had us starting in Prague […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions\/167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeofcenter.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}