So I’ve been amassing a list of some of the more subtle differences between the places I’ve travelled thus far and my dear sweet home in Canada. Pretty much whenever I or my travel buddies would notice something I’d try to remember and write it down later!

Locomotive Methods

• Almost all the taxi cabs are very nice Mercedes! Usually beige/tan in colour and impeccably clean!
• Transit systems are extremely extensive! The subway stations are massive and in Germany they even had little clocks that displayed the remaining time until the next subway. Also most of the systems are on an honour system, so they only do random checks for tickets once in a while.  Playing the “silly backpackers who thought the system was free” seems to work, although not something I suggest depending on.
• J-walking or crossing on a red light in Germany is frowned upon. You will get nasty looks from disgruntled old German men if you do!
• There are many more bicycles about, and many cities have dedicated bike paths and even little bicycle stoplights! (awww isn’t that so cute?) In Vienna they even had a (pretty much) free bicycle system that was all electronically controlled with stations all around the city that you can pick up and drop off the bikes at! A damn sweet system and very useful for getting around!
• All the cars are smaller, you see very few SUV’s
• The city of Interlaken, Switzerland didn’t even have streetlights! Just small round-abouts where the cars stop and always yield for pedestrians!
• Much more interlocking tile for roads and sidewalks.

Consumption and Anti-Consuption

• With a diet of schnitzel, donar kobaps, sausages and 1liter beers, some how Germans in Munich are still not fat! We still have no idea how this is possible…I theorize they’re all aliens.
• They don’t have just coffee like we have coffee. Asking for a coffee gets you an espresso, and when you try your hardest to clarify that you want a normal large coffee, they just smile and stare blankly at you while handing you a double or triple espresso
• Yogurt is far more prevalent! Everyone eats and drinks it! Yes, drinks yogurt! It’s similar to our Yop, but they come in 550mL bottles, and a wide assortment of flavours!
• They have something called ultra-pasteurized milk that doesn’t ever need to be refrigerated. The amount of this type of milk far out numbers (normal) cold refrigerated milk. Some stores actually only sell the non-refrigerated type.
• Alcohol is sold everywhere! And most places are fine with drinking on the streets! Yey!
• If you’re in a public location and wish to use a bathroom because you’ve been holding it for 5 hours, be prepared to shell out at least fifty cents to get in! On the plus side, the bathrooms are usually clean, and fully stocked with tp, soap and hand towels.
• They are in love with toilette scrubbers! I have yet to see a bathroom in Germany, Switzerland or Italy that doest have that little scrubber right beside the toilette!
• The label for the bathroom is “WC”, I’m assuming it means wash closet or water closet, but asking for the toilette usually gets you going in the right direction.

Ethnic, Cultural and Other Such Things

• Most cities are medium density, so not many skyscrapers or tall apartment buildings, but pretty much all the buildings are attached to each other
• Nudity is much more prevalent in the advertisements throughout the cities
• Germans and Swiss love to recycle!
• Less ethnic diversity in the big cities. Where Toronto might be a Mosaic, cities over here are pretty much homogeneous.
• Everyone has a cellphone and are always on it texting away
• There’s far more history and architecture in every city
• Clubs don’t close at 2:00am
• In Munich there is a dog tax you have to pay which is based on the aggressiveness of the dog. So a chiuaua might cost 150Euro a year where a pit bull is 1500Euro a year.
• The grass is actually greener over here! (especially “forbidden grass” near palace areas where you will get yelled at for walking and sleeping on lol)