Five things you thought were 'European' but aren't
Sometimes what happens in Tuscany, stays in Tuscany
The title of this post should really be, “Five things I thought were European but aren’t.”
But I don’t think I am the only American to have cobbled together a fantasy pan-European culture in my mind—a Eutopia, if you will. One where everyone has ‘free’ healthcare and takes their lunch daily at the nearest sidewalk cafe.
We Americans can come up with a lot of preconceived notions. We imagine life “in Europe” to be as homogenous as life in the U.S. largely is, just different.1
But Europe is comprised of 50 different countries, 27 of which are in the European Union, each with their own unique culture, language(s) and history.
I got the idea for this post from watching a Paris apartment tour video by another creator. She mentioned something in the kitchen as being “pretty standard for Europe,” only to be quite put out by the number of commenters from different parts of Europe (okay, a lot of them were from Germany) informing her that it wasn’t like that where they were.
It got me thinking about the things I assumed were “standard for Europe” based on my vacations in Italy, honeymoon in Spain, and hours spent binge-watching Rick Steves on PBS.2
Here is my list of five things I had assumed were ‘standard for Europe’ (based on my limited perspective) that I was surprised to learn were not.
Shopping at farmers’ markets all the time
My several visits to Tuscany and Rome, as well spending every morning of our honeymoon wandering around La Boqueria in Barcelona, made me think that every European got their groceries from open-air markets stacked with a huge variety of organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables and high-quality, sustainably sourced meats.
Reasonable people would have thought about it and realized that significant differences in latitude, altitude, and climate between the Mediterranean and northern Germany would naturally equal differences in diet and shopping patterns.
But, I am not a reasonable person.
Weekly food markets are still a thing in most neighborhoods in Berlin, but the variety of products available is much more limited. In addition, most Berliners do their daily shopping now at supermarkets. So, the Wochenmärkte have evolved to offer more specialty foods and crafts.
Local street markets are still much more popular and happen more often in Italy, Spain, and parts of France where the weather is better.
Bidets in the bathroom
I know this is a weird thing to be disappointed about. But having seen bidets in every bathroom in every hotel and AirBnB from Rome to Madrid to Hong Kong to Seoul, and lots of places in between, … Yeah, I was expecting bidets in Berlin.
In fact—fresh from experiencing the Great American Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020— I was hoping for them.
But bidets are not a thing in Germany and most of northern Europe.
According to Wikipedia:
Bidets are common bathroom fixtures in the Arab world and in Catholic countries,[13] such as Italy (the installation of a bidet in a bathroom has been mandatory since 1975),[17] Spain (but in recent times new or renewed houses tend to have bathrooms without bidets, except the luxurious ones),[18] Portugal (installation is mandatory since 1975),[19] and France (present in 95% of households in 1990, but dropped to 42% in 2000).[20] They are also found in Southeastern European countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Greece and Turkey. They are very popular in some South American countries, particularly Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Electronic bidet-integrated toilets, often with functions such as toilet seat warming, are commonly found in Japan, and are becoming more popular in other Asian countries.
I find it ironic that even though the bidet was invented in France, its popularity there has declined precipitously in recent decades. Less than half of French households now have a bidet.
Air-drying the laundry
We moved to Germany prepared with multiple clothes drying racks based on our experience vacationing in Siena and three years of living in Seoul, South Korea.
In Seoul, electric or gas clothes dryers are virtually non-existant—or were when we lived there 2006-2009. Our apartment came with a retractable drying rack installed on the balcony ceiling, and we were used to hanging all of our laundry to dry.
When we visited my mom during her trip to Siena and Rome, we hung our laundry to dry on folding racks provided by the accommodation.
And, when we lived in Bavaria, way back in the ‘70s, I can remember her hanging our clothes on these super-long clotheslines strung across the top of the inner courtyard of our apartment building.
But here we have a clothes dryer. It is electric, not gas, and it is a non-vented extraction dryer that takes three to four hours to finish a load. But it does dry the clothes very well.
This is definitely not standard for Europe, not even for Berlin.
In many older apartments, residents don’t have connections for washing machines. Some have communal washing machines and dryers in the building basements, called Waschkeller. There are also laundromats, like in the States and other places, for people who don’t have access to a washing machine at all.
But it is also not unheard of for people to have a dryer in their apartment or house.
Paying for water at restaurants
Before moving to Germany, I heard so many travel influencers warning to never order water in a restaurant here because you will be served expensive bottled water, and that is your only option.
This is mostly a cultural issue that is blown way out of proportion. And, it is mostly just in Germany that getting water with your meal is any kind of issue.
In the United States, it is common for restaurants to provide tap water to drink free of charge, and to also continually refill water glasses throughout the meal.
This is not the case anywhere I’ve traveled in Europe.
You can order water to drink, including a bottle for the table. Usually, the waiter will ask if you want still or sparkling, and then bring a bottle of what you want. And you will pay accordingly.
If you want tap water, you have to specifically say that. And, policies about charging will vary. In France, it is the law that tap water to drink has to be freely available to all restaurant diners. (Order a carafe d’eau.) And in the United Kingdom, any establishment serving alcohol also has to offer free tap water to customers.
In Germany, you need to specifically order tap water (Leitungswasser, literally ‘pipe water’) and they will serve you a glass of it. But because ordering tap water to drink in a restaurant is not common here, wait staff often don’t think of it if you just say ‘water’ and bring what is commonly ordered, which is bottled sparkling water.
There’s no big plot to up-charge you, that’s just what they’re used to. And, there may or may not be a charge for the tap water. I’m not aware of any law in Germany that is similar to those in France or the UK.
In Italy, I have only ever been served bottled water and have heard that many restaurants will refuse to serve tap water to drink, with some people saying it’s considered rude to ask.
In Poland, it’s also considered weird to order tap water, as a lot of Poles don’t believe their tap water is safe to drink. In recent years, there have been several public information campaigns aimed at convincing them otherwise. And members of the governing coalition recently proposed a measure that would require restaurants to provide half a liter of drinking water for free to every customer who orders food.
Adopting the euro
OK, this last one is a bit of a reach. Obviously, the euro is common in Europe. But it isn’t universal—not even within the European Union. Seven EU member states have chosen to keep their own national currencies: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
All but Denmark have legally committed to adopting the euro once they have met the convergence criteria for joining the Eurozone.3 But Denmark has negotiated a separate agreement that allows it to continue to keep its national currency, the krone, permanently.
Conversely, some European countries and territories that aren’t in the union have adopted the euro.
Four states (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City) have signed formal agreements with the EU to use the euro and issue their own coins. And Kosovo and Montenegro unilaterally decided to adopt the euro as their sole currency, despite not having a formal agreement with the European Common Bank.
Practically speaking, this just means you should check the exchange rates when you travel and know which countries use the euro and which do not.
But it was something that surprised me when moving here.
So, am I completely off base? Do you and everyone you know buy all of your veggies at the Wochenmarkt? Is there a bidet in your German bathroom? Drop a comment and set me straight. I have no problem with being corrected when I’m wrong. I get a lot of practice!
And, now…
A reader poll about a matter vital to the future of Europe!
Not getting into the legacy of imperialism and settler colonialism that resulted in the founding and evolution of the United States as one country with a predominantly single language and culture. A post for a different day.
I also lived in Germany with my family for a year as a small child. So also add my parents´ stories of Bavaria in the 1970s.
Bulgaria has been approved to adopt the single currency effective 1 January 2026.
I used to love autumn when I lived in Germany. Seasons always felt more pronounced (and associated meals). All merges together more in Britain
I haven't ever seen or used a bidet, but it sounds like a good way to keep that part of your body clean.