In Europe, they're smart about their cars

By JOHN M. CRISP
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
Here are a few random observations derived from the past three weeks of watching the European countryside flow past a train window. I don't claim that their depiction of Europe is completely accurate or exhaustive. Others will see different things, of course, but this is what I saw: Everything is smaller in Europe, the roads, the houses, the portions served in restaurants. SUVs and Hummers are very rare and "SMART" cars are common. The SMART is a car so small that it reminds you more of a toy than of what we Americans think of as a real car. Yet, it's so fuel-efficient that it requires a gas tank of fewer than nine gallons.
Even the people are smaller. The wave of obesity that makes headlines in our country hasn't reached Europe yet, in spite of the rich food and butter and the excellent cheese, bread, beer, and sausage. This could change; McDonald's restaurants are cropping up in even the most European of cities, and Madrid has at least one Burger King.
A cup of coffee is smaller, too, and the second one will cost as much as the first -- no free refills. On the other hand, the coffee is of extremely high quality, and for most Europeans one cup is enough.
In any case, the coffee is complemented with a cigarette. Europeans, young and old, are still smoking. Smoking is forbidden on trains and in a few other places, but you'd have a hard time finding a non-smoking restaurant or even a non-smoking section in a restaurant. In the long run, this can't be a good thing, but for a visitor to Europe, it feels, well, very European.
Switzerland is a lovely country, clean, orderly, and efficient. But it's so buttoned-down and rule-oriented that, technically, citizens are forbidden to wash their cars or work in their gardens on Sundays. On the other hand, how could you not love a country that arranges for its supermarket checkers to be able to sit down as they check groceries? Why don't we do that? Exotic items like horsemeat and snails can be found in the supermarkets. But a French university professor expressed disgust at the idea of eating horsemeat, saying that neither she nor anyone in her family nor anyone she knows eats horsemeat, or snails or frogs, for that matter. She suspects that the idea that the French eat horsemeat with any regularity dates from the lean years after World War I.
Besides, as it turns out, horsemeat actually tastes pretty good.
Spanish 'promenade'
I'm pleased to report that the tradition of the "promenade" is still alive in Spain, even in big cities like Madrid. On Sunday evenings in Barcelona, families and lovers turn out to stroll from one end of the lovely Parc de La Ciutadella to the other, seeing and being seen, talking, smoking, teaching their children to ride skateboards. Those too old or disabled to stroll sit on park benches and watch the procession. This is a tradition that's hard to picture in our car-shaped society, but it must be healthy for families and good for nurturing a sense of community.
The tradition of the promenade, like many aspects of European culture, is very, very old. In fact, Europe was already old in 1776. You can see the antiquity everywhere. This doesn't mean that the Europeans necessarily know more about how the world works than we do. On the other hand, they probably know at least as much. And their connection to the past may, at the very least, provide perspective on the present.
Most observers wouldn't characterize Europeans as warm, friendly, and outgoing. But in general they were reasonably tolerant of my essential monolingualism. The rudeness of the French is a grossly overstated stereotype, like the idea that they eat horsemeat. Many Europeans don't hate us, but some of them are amused that we would bother to begin calling French fries "freedom fries." Many wish that our president were more "serious" and that we had listened more to their objections before we invaded Iraq. But, frankly, so do I.
John M. Crisp teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas.