Hey All:
Brought the family over to France for a four week tour of France and Northern Spain (OK and to catch a couple ot Tour stages). We´re in Barcelona right now but will be in Montpellier to watch the finish and start of stages 11 and 12 (we couldn´t do this trip without the generosity of our European expat friends back home). Had fun watching the prologue on Spanish TV yesterday evening.
Couple of observations for those of you back home (some of which have already been related here in the past but bear repeating for emphasis):
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The history of the European experience (which is the basis for our modern US history) is astounding in it´s sweep and scope and told most obviously through it´s architecture. Puts the term “old” in perspective.
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I love the concept of “siesta”. Not sure if N. Americans could work with it though.
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Smoking vs. obesity; hard to tell who´s winning this public health war vis a vis N. America vs. Europe.
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As an environmental professional I believe there´s lots we could learn from the French and Spanish about energy conservation. We could teach them a thing or two about water quality protection perhaps.
Anyway, we´re doing our best to take the “ugly” out of American were we´re concerned- I speak French (OK un peu et pas mal) and my wife´s Spanish is excellente. We dress up to go out sight seeing, no t-shirts or ratty shorts. And we speak in normal volume and take pains not to compare everything to stuff back home.
Salut y bon dia!