The same and more of it

I read

You used to be able to tell a person's nationality by the face. Immigration ended that. Next you discerned nationality by the foot wear. Globalization ended that. Those Finnish seal puppies, those German flounders - you don't see them much anymore. Only Nikes, on Basque, on Dutch, on Siberian feet.

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

... therefore, I think!

That is exactly what I was discussing while in Europe.

It seems, as in the picture, that now Dutch Shoes are more used as decoration, a souvenir of a not so far past.

Nowadays, everyone eats, wears, listens, drives the same thing.

Listen to this one. The night I left Montreal was to be the last Stanley Cup Game between Boston and Vancouver. (I will not discuss here which team I was rooting for but let's say that I felt closer to Boston; it's that rivalry thing that makes me go for Boston when Montreal is no longer in the finals ...) So it's 6am in Zurich, I have just came out of the plane, I am walking toward the rental car office and what do I hear over the speakers (radio), German German German ... Boston ... German German German ... Stanley Cup. Unbelievable! 5 minutes after landing, I knew who had won the Stanley cup.

I arrive at the Avis desk; not Eurocar, no no I can have any major car rental companies. The young clerk answer me in English (part French) wearing RayBan reading glasses! I get in the car, a Ford! Turn on the radio Fergie, followed by Lady Gaga, etc. I enter my destination in the Garmin GPS ... I drive to Zurich passing McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut ... drinking Coca-Cola, people smoking Marlboro (and DO THEY SMOKE in Europe) ...

Traveling to industrialized countries, you really have to go out of your way to get a local flavor !

Not impossible, but sometimes not that obvious.

In the next few days, weeks I will share with you my trip to Europe: Switzerland, France and Germany. Show some pictures , share great stories (I think).