Images of Europe

I thought that it should be easy to travel U.K., because of the English-speaking country.  However, I circled a hotel lobby many times to look for my room when I was told that it was located at the ground floor, actually meaning the basement in London.  A lady at the tourist information center corrected me by saying not subway but underground.  After the third attempt of searching for good Fish and Chips, I simply decided to go for the Indian or Chinese food for the rest of days.  That was my first-time experience to give up on local food in a foreign country.  I was baffled by different floor numbering, unfamiliar English words as well as unsavory local cuisine.  However, I found U.K. very attractive.  I would love to go back there.  Next time, I want to drive through the British countryside.

A few of my friends who visited Paris hated it because they all said that they got some snobbish attitudes when they spoke English.  I was a bit concerned about my visit after I heard about their unpleasant experiences.  I learned how to say "Can you speak English?" in French before I traveled.  However, most of the French people whom I met were nice to me.  Especially my French friends made my stay in Paris comfortable.  Even strangers were willing to help me in English.  However, I sometimes got confused in the middle of their explanations because I suddenly did not understand them.  It was funny when I realized some strangers ended up speaking French to me.  It did not help me, but at least I could see they were nice to me.  I also found some men were overly friendly or flirty.  I asked one of my French friends about it.  She said, "We are half Latin!"  Ah, I see.

I visited Germany because I made friends with two German couples.  Their husbands briefly worked with me in Thailand.  They really made my stay easy and fun.  I truly appreciate their hospitality.  In addition, I was blown away by the beauty of Munich.  I thought that Paris was beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty exhibited by Munich.  Everything there seemed to be well organized.  Even vegetables at a market were well organized.  My German friends also took me to beautiful castles, museums, and opera performance.  I came to understand why one of my German friends had previously claimed that the United States has no culture.  I had been puzzled at his words because I thought that America has a culture that distinguishes itself from other cultures.  However, I realized in Germany that he meant culture as high culture, or elite culture, such as fine arts and classical music.