Perfect timing

Hallo!  Dobry den!  Hello!  Bonjour!

That is about the extent of my foreign language usage in the countries we just visited.  I'm cultured.  So cultured that I never learned any language except English.  The American version.  Though if I were to learn a second language, I think I would choose the British version of English.  I think I'd catch on quickly.  We decided that it's super cool to say "Cheers!" as a farewell, but if you're American, it's tricky not to sound like a d-bag.

We spent 15 glorious days traveling (some more glorious than others...i.e. the days not spent on a plane), and now it's back to reality.  Upon our arrival back home, we discovered that Al Quada is trying to blow stuff up over there.  The same stuff that we just visited.  Scary!  I also discovered that the soldiers walking around Paris with big guns are not typically swarming the city.  And I thought they were just bored!  Do French soldier really have that much to do?

This was my third trip to Europe; the other trips were 5 and 7 years ago.  I made several observations of things that have and have not changed, as well as things that I had never noticed before:

• Starbucks is the new McDonalds.  When I studied abroad 7 years ago, I noticed there were a lot of McDonald's and KFCs (which I never understood.  I don't know anyone in the US that frequents KFC.  I think Europe is keeping the chain afloat).  Since then, Starbucks arrived on every corner.  Even in Prague, where there were exactly 0 Starbucks in 2003.
• European hair styles have improved, but there are still an inordinate number of mullets and rat tails.
• Trendy styles that I don't want to cross the Atlantic include pants that resemble Hammer pants circa 1990. 
• Americans are fat.  On my previous trips, I don't remember noticing it, but an obese European is a rare find.  We chalked it up to 1) Walking/cycling more and 2) Portion sizes.  Along these lines, I actually got in an argument on a train in England with a guy studying to be a cardiologist.  He thought it was the government's responsibility to regulate what people eat (i.e. NY regulating the amount of salt restaurants can put in food).  I argued that people should be personally accountable for their food intake.  This debate went on for a few minutes, and then we stopped talking and I pretended to sleep.  I don't think England would appreciate my conservative views.
• Germans (specifically those in Bavaria) are happy people.  This led me to think there may be a positive correlation between amount of beer consumed and happiness, because Bavarians drink a lot of beer!
• Czech people are still unhappy.  They also drink more beer per capita than any other country, which showed my previous hypothesis is incorrect.
• French people are generally not helpful.  Okay, that's pretty much what I expected.

I actually wrote the preceding a week ago, but figured it would be a stupid post without some fabulous photos, and I just got around to looking at all of our pictures last night.  I plan to do a post on each country that we visited, and use my blog as a scrapbook of the trip.  Here's a preview:

Munich (Oktoberfest) 

Prague 

London

Paris

Next post: Germany!