I have never been to Europe but I have always known it was there. I knew it was a different set of countries and not necessarily like the US of A but still mostly white people doing European things, not that really different from what we do do but maybe less of it.
I believe I was right on that one because they do have some of the same things we have but most of it is just plain smaller, be it refrigerators or cars, and houses and body sizes, roads and rules, meals and toys. Everything is smaller or in the case of toys hardly there at all. While I did see numerous motor scooters, some that are fast beyond imagination, there were no four wheelers, no water scooters, just not many motorized toys. I saw this a positive advancement.
The distances between places was closer, probably because their country is no bigger than Texas and they do have an abundance of people and have had for thousands of years. This closeness has made them focus on other activities like eating food which is pretty much a big deal. Every meal is taken seriously, seriously in the sense that everyone takes time to be together and talk. It is relaxed and the food is important. It is against the law for a baker to put preservatives in bread. Each day, it is fresh and well made and damn good---but I will say that right here in Amherst we have a bakery turning out an equal product. Still, we liked fetching the food and bread each day.
The pace is more relaxed. There is not the hustle, the ever present effort to seek out every possible dime to buy more stuff. A 35 hour work week, not bad. They seemed to have less stuff which to me was an indication that maybe we too could learn to live with out less and still have a great life. This was the one big lesson. We too can be smaller and still live the life, live the good life. A touch of hope if you will.
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