CJ, > How did you judge? The size of the houses?
There are all minor points and highly subjective to the viewpoint of an American tourist, but here goes:
a) Public restrooms are not that great (and I gotta pay to use most of them?)
The only place where I saw pay toilets was in France.....there would be an attendant in some public restrooms that you had to pay. I never saw them in the German restrooms. In any case, that's a cultural issue. As to the quality of the toilets themselves......I think the only ones that would be considered less than their American equivalent would be those in central Paris.....they are older and dingier. I found the German ones to be the equivalent of the American ones. However, I don't see any of it as a standard of living issue.....but rather the differences in culture. For an example, I would not go to restroom in a parking garage or in a park except under extreme distress......but as a tourist visiting the US, you might not know those are potentially bad places or might not have a choice. And the same applies to you as a tourist in another country.......its not possible for you to know the little cultural nuances that guide and protect you in the US while you are in France or Germany.
b) Quality of hotels are not at the level I'm used to in America, dollar for dollar (or euro for euro).
I found it hard to find the quality of a Holiday inn or a Motel 8 type hotel/motel in European cities for the same prices we pay in the US. Then again, you wouldn't find those type of facilities in the cities of America. They are more suburban type hotels which don't exist in big numbers in Europe.
On the other hand, what you wouldn't find in the US is the cheap hotels that exist in the heart of European cities for travelers on a budget which are also safe. In the US, cheap hotels mean pimps, prostitutes and danger.
c) Cars are smaller (but at least they're bigger than those in France and Italy).
European cars are smaller for two reasons.......one has to do with letter d in your list of negatives. Streets are narrower because they were built before the development of cars unlike American cities and villages which mostly postdate the introduction of cars.
Secondly, European countries never had the oil resources that the US had...therefore, early on, they discouraged the development of larger cars so that better gas mileage would be a reality while making sure that public transit was a viable alternative.
d) Streets are narrower, even in the farmlands and villages.
See answer above.
e) Grocery stores and "Wal-marts" not as nice.
I don't see any difference between the supermarkets in Europe and the ones here.....except maybe they are smaller in Europe. Where I do see a difference is in a city like Paris where there is a paucity of supermarkets, and instead, you do your shopping in patisseries and boulangeries.
Though I gotta say this. When I say that the standard of living does not match up to that of America, I'm not saying that European countries are inhabitable. I'm just saying that there are a lot more luxuries that I take for granted in America. No wonder we're fat and lazy here.
I would be curious to hear what CJ and others say who have been to Europe. While I think there are differences, I am not convinced that Europeans have a lower standard of living when all things are considered. |
