# What do Americans think of Europe?



## The Aesthete (Apr 27, 2014)

As a European (Well some people think the UK is outside of 'main Europe' and in geographical terms it is) but when it comes to culture and history, I think the UK is one of the best countries of Europe alongside France and Germany. The other European countries have their place too but I see them as derivative nations i.e. Austria is a direct derivative of Germany. Belgium -> France etc. That being said, the UK is a terrible county to live in. Overcrowding and unemployment are rife here compared to the Nordic countries. Outside of London, the UK is bigoted and suppressed. You can smell the suppression of the mining towns in the North and people aren't as healthy as Americans from what I see. Even the rich upper class are rooted in 'ugliness' and degeneracy with many health problems. Compare this to some of the people I see on American TV shows, who appear like clones, they are very generic and 'average' looking. From what I see of the American people, there are a lot of healthy average people with good dental plans and healthcare living lives many British people would happy trade for. Europe seems to have more disparity in this respect. I find American women to be attractive but there seems to be something lacking unlike European people. Like a lot of American news presenters are attractive but could never be 'models' like European women. Europe in general is still vastly more segregated than America. 

And why do people think that American people cannot play classical music as Europeans do? I was listening to a video someone uploaded and they commented 'Oh it's an American performance'. What's that all about?


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I'm guessing you're young? I think these generalisations aren't very accurate and certainly not helpful. 

I have no idea where you could have got the impression that American classical performers were in any way inferior to Europeans.


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## LancsMan (Oct 28, 2013)

Oh dear - I think the UK is a great country to live in - but I guess I'm from the bigoted north of England and am too supressed to know any different!


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I live in the American Midwest. Anglophiles run amuck here...actually, I'm one of them. Embarrassing fact: I have watched every single episode of Downton Abbey and Sherlock and read both Austen's _P & P_ and _Emma_.
And who doesn't want to visit the great European cities? London, Paris, Rome...so much history! And much longer than ours, I might add.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I invite you to the third world for awhile. After that, you will be preaching 'God save England and the Queen' in a jiffy...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

If this was a more musical discussion it would have been more interesting, but as it is I moved it here. I want to warn you that these threads easily get feisty because a few generalizations can really annoy people. Cultural/Historical supremacy battles are some of the worst. You may be asking it out of curiosity, but it can do a lot of harm.

I could probably answer this thread in the most simplest terms.

We live in a broken world. There are all kinds of problems in the world that happen to all kinds of people, no matter where they are from. Sure, there are plenty of healthy, well-to-do Americans, but there sure are a lot of ones in poverty and struggle. But here's the catch. A lot of Americans nowadays idolize Europe, saying "oh if only it was like that over here!" (I'm not one of them personally, being much more connected to Europe than most as a 2nd generation American). But those Americans _also _have only seen the "generalized" idea of Europe from the media, the stuff Europe only wants us to know. It is rare to have any sort of economic, political, and cultural plan that will be "successful" for all people.

Likewise, there are also all sorts of musicians out there, who will please all different kinds of people. There will always be musicians that will never please people from Europe the same way they won't please people in the US, in Australia, in Latin American, Asia, Africa, etc. I like the fact that Europe still loves and supports its classical music, but I'm sure they love it just as much as Americans love "our classical" like Sousa, Copland and Gershwin around here. I like being a "world citizen" after all, wanting to favor both of those music cultures equally. Whoever commented on something being an "American performance" may well **** be right! But what's the point? Will they let _me _think it laughable when I see the Berlin Philharmonic performing Ives? Nationalism still lives today, perhaps it may never go away.


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## Matsps (Jan 13, 2014)

You gotta be young to say the UK is a terrible place to live. Young, or downright stupid. Free healthcare!, decent freedoms for the people, relatively high wages, relatively low poverty, no civil war or threat of major wars, great access to modern technologies, free parks, free museums, free libraries, income support.

Yeah ok it's not heaven, but it's tough to find anywhere else that you can say absolutely, hands down, no arguments, life is better in.



> Compare this to some of the people I see on American TV shows, who appear like clones, they are very generic and 'average' looking.


Yes, because we all know television shows describe a countries' people and culture with diversity and without bias to anything, especially not the rich/beautiful/celebrity.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I don't know what the average American thinks of Europe and does it matter?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

_*What is telegenic is always the best way to judge a place and its people.???*_

Yeah, right. Seriously and ridiculously naive.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

How could I ever be critical of Euorpean art? 98% of classical music that I listen to come from Europe.


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2014)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> a few generalizations can really annoy people.


Very true.



Huilunsoittaja said:


> We live in a broken world.


There's one...did you see that?

"The world" is a difficult place to generalise about. (There's another!) It's neither "broken" nor "whole", nor "working". If you live where I do (North UK), and not in Ukraine, or in one part of Ukraine and not another, you'll have different experiences of the world, a complex place that can't be summarised satisfactorily in a few words.

As for what "Americans" think of "Europe"...you'd have to start by asking a few of them, though there'd be no guarantee that their opinions would in any way be representative of a population of around 300 million.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> What do Americans think of Europe?


That it's a country.


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

Not enough :devil:


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

What do Americans think of Europe?Aside from specific sensationalized subjects, my examination of anonymous comments on news (local and other) blogs leads me to question whether there is statistically significant 'thinking in depth' about anything. Certainly not about Europe.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I will be in Italy in less than 2 weeks. I will have "fresh impressions" at that time.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

View attachment 40652


About these generalizations :lol:


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2014)

I am an American, and live in the South (Alabama). I very much love my country, and my own neck of the woods.

I like Europe, as well - at least the parts I have visited. I love the history and the culture. I especially love the architecture. And I also know that Europe has its problems. I spent 2 years in Southern Germany (mainly the Black Forest region and Schwabenland), Switzerland, and Western Austria. I would love to go back. Would I like to live there? I don't know. Visiting is one thing, living there is another. Not because of any big hangup, but more simply that I am accustomed to where I live, and it would be a huge change, and I have school-aged children.

Politically, there are lots of things about Europe that I don't like. But that does not impact my being able to appreciate the various countries.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

The Aesthete said:


> As a European (Well some people think the UK is outside of 'main Europe' and in geographical terms it is) but when it comes to culture and history, I think the UK is one of the best countries of Europe alongside France and Germany. The other European countries have their place too but I see them as derivative nations i.e. Austria is a direct derivative of Germany. Belgium -> France etc. That being said, the UK is a terrible county to live in. Overcrowding and unemployment are rife here compared to the Nordic countries. Outside of London, the UK is bigoted and suppressed. You can smell the suppression of the mining towns in the North and people aren't as healthy as Americans from what I see. Even the rich upper class are rooted in 'ugliness' and degeneracy with many health problems. Compare this to some of the people I see on American TV shows, who appear like clones, they are very generic and 'average' looking. From what I see of the American people, there are a lot of healthy average people with good dental plans and healthcare living lives many British people would happy trade for. Europe seems to have more disparity in this respect. I find American women to be attractive but there seems to be something lacking unlike European people. Like a lot of American news presenters are attractive but could never be 'models' like European women. Europe in general is still vastly more segregated than America.
> 
> And why do people think that American people cannot play classical music as Europeans do? I was listening to a video someone uploaded and they commented 'Oh it's an American performance'. What's that all about?


Don't worry, I'm pretty sure my world view was this myopic when I was doing GCSEs as well. It will get better.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

senza sordino said:


> View attachment 40652
> 
> 
> About these generalizations :lol:


Ahah! I like the Finn joke.


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## chalkpie (Oct 5, 2011)

I fell in love with Jolly Olde England in '93 when I spent a semester abroad and studied at the Birmingham Conservatory (now called Birmingham City University or something?). I would move there for a few years in a heartbeat. I love the English culture, and the landscape of the British Isles is magical and beyond description. I live less than 90 minutes from Manhattan and fail to see the charm overall. I'm really glad I live where I do:

Mohonk Mountain House (about 4 miles from my house)


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

from the US Department of State.
Valid U.S. Passports
2012: 36% of the population 
2002:19% of the population
1992: 7% of the population

The upsurge can be partially accounted for by many immigrants, who will still travel 'back home' for visits to family and friends.

Post September, 2011, a law was instated which required all passports boarding any domestic flights to show ID before they could board an airliner _for all domestic flights_. A passport being the least questionable ID, many Americans who had never had a passport got a passport. The new legal requirement of showing ID prior being allowed to board a domestic flight may account for a good part of that surge in 2012 to 36% of Americans holding a passport. I.e. many Americans who now have a passport have not yet been abroad.

In 1992, with only 7% of the population holding passports, you could say that the other 93% of Americans were barely thinking anything about Europe _in any way at all._


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Europe? Isn't that the little country over by Russia?


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

LancsMan said:


> Oh dear - I think the UK is a great country to live in - but I guess I'm from the bigoted north of England and am too supressed to know any different!


England? Oh you mean the outskirts of London:devil:


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2014)

PetrB said:


> from the US Department of State.
> Valid U.S. Passports
> 2012: 36% of the population
> 2002:19% of the population
> ...


I'm not sure this explains the increase in passports. For domestic flights, you can simply use your driver's license, so I doubt a lot of people scrambled to get passports simply because they wanted to fly across the country.

I think part of it is the drop in airline prices over the years. Unless Americans want to go to Canada or Mexico, they have to fly. Flying costs money. Flying internationally costs a lot more money. But it has gotten cheaper, so i think it becomes more enticing to Americans to see places like Europe. In contrast, it is relatively easy for Europeans to travel to different countries. For example, while I was staying in Switzerland, in a matter of no more than a few hours, I had my choice of visiting Germany, France (there is even a tramline in Basel, Switzerland, that passes into France), Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy. Invest a little more time, and you can see even more. And you can do it in a car, or even easier in a train. Both of which cost significantly less than airplanes.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Uhm, we have far more in common than you may realize. At least, that is the conclusion that I have drawn from my own experiences from having lived for some time on the continent.


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

IT IS HARD TO SAY about what they think of EUROPE but music wise the best composers are from Europe mostly,like MOZART,TCHAIKOVSKY,BEETHOVEN,DVORAK,WAGNER,ELGAR,GRIEG,BACH,SCHUMANN,FELIX & BRAHMS.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There are some European cities I would love to reside in: London, Vienna, Berlin. What classical music lover wouldn't?


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

It's chalk full of Europeans, I tell ya'.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Top on my list of American misconceptions of Europe ... and perhaps not only American... is how restricted our idea of "Europe" is. When Americans think "Europe" it seems that we are usually thinking something like "the UK + France + Germany + Italy + Ireland."

Occasionally "+ Russia + Spain + Switzerland."

And then, the best we could hope for ordinarily, "+ Greece + Denmark + Sweden + Norway + Poland + Netherlands + the Czech Republic."

It's fairly rare for us to think of Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia.... Not many Americans can say what a Fleming or a Walloon or a Magyar is. There's all this sturm und drang over Ukraine right now, but I absolutely guarantee that even right now, with this all over the news almost every day, if you showed most of us a map with Kazakstan and Ukraine switched, very few people - maybe 1% of the population, _maybe_ - would notice, even if you pointed to it a lot and used to discuss recent events there. The number would go up a bit if we eliminated the people who can't find France on a map, but it would still be pretty low.

Even something like the distinction between the USSR and Russia - which you'd think lots of people would understand because pretty much anyone over 30 lived through an interesting part of the Cold War, then basically watched the dissolution of the USSR on the news - would stump most people. We also lived through the Balkan Wars in the 1990s and supported or did not support Clinton's decision to intervene; but ask an American about the Sarajevo or Kosovo....

The neglect of Eastern Europe is particularly bad and extends back into history. People who watch all those shows on the History Channel about Hitler and WWII usually actually don't know much about the war in Eastern Europe - they don't know "Babi Yar" from "babushka." Most of the (admittedly rather few) Americans who _could_ talk for more than three minutes about the French Revolution without saying anything stupid would have no idea about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Great Northern War. I'm talking about history teachers who don't know Brandenburg from Prussia from Silesia from Walachia from... well, for that matter, Burgundy.

I know this could be done all over the world - (Not merely "Do you live in North or South Korea?" but this: "You live in China?" "No, I live in Korea." "Oh. Is that a part of China?" and just to be fair to Americans let's point out that similar conversations could be had in Germany or France or the UK too) - but basically the point is, when an American - even fairly well-educated Americans - think of "Europe," we usually only have about 5 countries, maybe 8 or 10 or so in mind.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

mtmailey said:


> IT IS HARD TO SAY about what they think of EUROPE but music wise the best composers are from Europe mostly,like MOZART,TCHAIKOVSKY,BEETHOVEN,DVORAK,WAGNER,ELGAR,GRIEG,BACH,SCHUMANN,FELIX & BRAHMS.


That is simply an unfair comparison because of how undeveloped the US was in the 17th and first half of the 18th century in comparison to Europe, they later more than made up for it.


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

What do Americans think of Europe?

Europe??? Like, that's in London right?  

Barf me out! Gag me with a spoon!


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## Chrythes (Oct 13, 2011)

> Europe seems to have more disparity in this respect. . . Europe in general is still vastly more segregated than America


Well yes, probably because Europe is not a country.


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## Levanda (Feb 3, 2014)

Ah I see, some even started don't like Russia and Russians for some problems over the Ukraine. Europe, Russia, Asia, America north and south we got good cultures and some wish to destroy other cultures which is not helpful at all. I have meet from America vow wonderful people, so I don't have an opinion what countries people are. Even as I am from post Soviet Union we had dark side stories about USA, but I wish to wash away into past history.


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## Guest (May 16, 2014)

I see many disparaging comments from people here about how ignorant Americans are of Europe and European history, and then stereotypical portrayals of Americans. Tell me, how much of American history can our European counterparts recite to us? Could they distinguish a Boston from a New York accent? Could they locate New Amsterdam? Could they explain the Mason-Dixon line, or the Missouri Compromise, and their importance in history? 

I am not disparaging anybody here - but everybody tends to know a lot less about other countries than they do their own. I don't know the individual histories of each of the European countries, and when I think of Europe, yes, I do tend to concentrate more on the prime movers. Yes, each individual country is important, from Germany and France down to little Andorra and Liechtenstein. But let's be honest - in the grand scheme of things, with all the important things to know out there, and a limited time to know them, the average person, unless they are a historian, doesn't know a lot about the smaller countries that don't play as primary a role in the international scene. Just like I also couldn't name every African nation at this point (it seems those lines and names change, at least every decade), I would probably have a hard time assigning names to each European nation if given a map, and I have studied a lot of European history, but primarily in general terms. I know a bit more about some countries (Germany, England, Switzerland) due to personal curiosity. But it seems pretty absurd to judge a people based on their knowledge of another country that is not their own. Should the country of Djibouti look down on most people who likely couldn't tell you a thing about their country, let alone locate it on a map? And would that lack of knowledge condemn that person as a backwoods hick?

Intellectual arrogance is always annoying to hear. Nothing is more pretentious than people pointing out the faults and flaws in others.


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## Guest (May 16, 2014)

Levanda said:


> Ah I see, some even started don't like Russia and Russians for some problems over the Ukraine. Europe, Russia, Asia, America north and south we got good cultures and some wish to destroy other cultures which is not helpful at all. I have meet from America vow wonderful people, so I don't have an opinion what countries people are. Even as I am from post Soviet Union we had dark side stories about USA, but I wish to wash away into past history.


Typically, when you see people making comments about a country, they usually are referring to the political leadership. I'm sure most people have nothing against Russia. The issue with Ukraine is more than likely a rejection of the policies that Putin is pushing against the former Soviet republic. Not a repudiation of Russian culture.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Some off-topic remarks have been removed. Please return to the original topic.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)




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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

The Aesthete said:


> As a European (Well some people think the UK is outside of 'main Europe' and in geographical terms it is) but when it comes to culture and history, I think the UK is one of the best countries of Europe alongside France and Germany. The other European countries have their place too but I see them as derivative nations i.e. Austria is a direct derivative of Germany. Belgium -> France etc. That being said, the UK is a terrible county to live in. Overcrowding and unemployment are rife here compared to the Nordic countries. Outside of London, the UK is bigoted and suppressed. You can smell the suppression of the mining towns in the North and people aren't as healthy as Americans from what I see. Even the rich upper class are rooted in 'ugliness' and degeneracy with many health problems. Compare this to some of the people I see on American TV shows, who appear like clones, they are very generic and 'average' looking. From what I see of the American people, there are a lot of healthy average people with good dental plans and healthcare living lives many British people would happy trade for. Europe seems to have more disparity in this respect. I find American women to be attractive but there seems to be something lacking unlike European people. Like a lot of American news presenters are attractive but could never be 'models' like European women. Europe in general is still vastly more segregated than America.
> 
> And why do people think that American people cannot play classical music as Europeans do? I was listening to a video someone uploaded and they commented 'Oh it's an American performance'. What's that all about?


The guy in this video is closer to what the average American is like: 




Also, we have to pay a butt-load for healthcare here! You guys get it for "free"!! A few years ago when I was 18, I went to see a doctor for a health issue I was having. I had medical insurance that I was paying $150 a month for, and I had to pay an additional $8,000 out of pocket for the doctor to run all sorts of tests (I didn't know how much it cost until 4 weeks later when they sent me the bill). In the end, he told me "I have no idea what's wrong, but you're young so it's probably nothing serious".


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

What do Americans think of Europe?

Well, it depends on what you are thinking when you say "America":

i) America: the continent (you know, at the north of the US, the canadians; at the south, the backyard, i.e., mexican hats and Colombian drug traffickers)

ii) America: The United States of (Manhattan, Jazz, etc.)

iii) America: 'merica (mega-chain hamburgers and guns!, lots of them!)

Each of them have different opinions.


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

What do Europeans think of America?


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

PS. Do we mean native Americans, those in South and Central America or just those in the USA who don't wear feathers and shoot arrows?


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## Guest (May 20, 2014)

And when we are talking about the British, are we referring to the older Celtic inhabitants, or the later Anglo-Saxon and Norman invaders? Really, we could go on like this for some time. Most of history is the story of land changing hands from one group to another. Europe was a continual battleground for most of its history, with most of what we now think of as Europeans having come from regions other than Europe.

We just like to point it out in the U.S. because it happened more recently (although we could talk about the lands overrun by Germans and French in their battles across Europe, or the European partition of Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East, etc.).


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*What do Americans think of Europe?*

Probably that Europeans should be packing more heat.


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## Guest (May 20, 2014)

This American thinks they should ditch the Euro.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I just came back from Italy-Rome and the Amalfi Coast in particular. Blood in the streets. Quite a few badly injured scooterists.
Maybe they ought to have and enforce traffic laws around Roma, eh?

By the way the food was nothing special either.

Not happy about the restaurant rip-off cover charges and also paying a 37% tax thanks to the weak dollar vs the Euro.


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## Guest (May 20, 2014)

_Vive l'Europe_! Now, please remind me Magellan, where exactly are the _americas_?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

hpowders said:


> I just came back from Italy-Rome and the Amalfi Coast in particular. Blood in the streets. Quite a few badly injured scooterists.
> Maybe they ought to have and enforce traffic laws around Roma, eh?
> 
> *By the way the food was nothing special either*.


I'm surprised to find such a gross and misleading generalization in this thread.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

PetrB said:


> from the US Department of State.
> Valid U.S. Passports
> 2012: 36% of the population
> 2002:19% of the population
> ...


A lot of that is because you need a passport just to go to and from Canada now. That's why I have mine - for my 50 trips to Canada every year. I would love to spend a few years in Europe going to concerts and operas. I could spend th rest of my life doing that.


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