One difference I noticed in Europe, relative to the U.S., was in eating out. We didn't generally eat at fancy places but at brasseries, cafes, pizzerias, etc.; I think they were generally the same 'level' of eatery we mostly eat at here. What I noticed was that the waitstaff service was much, much slower than I'm used to.

Maybe one factor was a difference in attitude about dining, a more leisurely attitude. If you think of eating out with friends as a relaxed, multi-hour affair, you might not want the waiter imposing too much (although I'm straining to think of 'taking your order' or 'noticing that your glass is empty' as 'imposing'). I'm willing to chalk up some of the slow pace to cultural differences.

I wonder how much the tipping customs make a difference, though. Customers generally don't tip in Europe. I often don't like the custom of tipping in the U.S. because I think waitstaff should be paid decent wages without having to depend on the kindness of strangers. I've heard horror stories of snotty customers treating waitstaff poorly and unfairly. Perhaps I've overlooked a major advantage of the tipping system, though, which may be that it results in restaurant service that is much better than it would otherwise be. Of course, I like to determine how much money my waiter receives for the level of service I got.

The worst service we got was at lunch in Paris, where the waiter all but ignored us, got rebelzero's order wrong, never brought our drink orders despite a reminder when we managed to get a moment of his attention, and might never have brought the bill without the intervention of another waiter. Fuming, I thought to myself, "This guy has totally lost his tip," before I remembered I didn't having any tipping power here (except to reward exceptional service). Other customers at the restaurant seemed to be suffering from his lack of service, too, which brought to mind another possible factor: labor laws that—according to my understanding—make it more difficult for employers to fire staff than it would be in the U.S. I'm just speculating, of course. Your viewpoints are welcome!

Addendum: From the most recent J-List newsletter:

Japan is unique among industrialized nations in that the concept of tipping never caught on, and is in fact about as alien to people here as taking your shoes off before entering your house would be in the States. You can expect service with a smile wherever you eat (as a wise gaijin once observed, "in Japan, you know no one is horking in your food"), and if were to leave a tip on the table you can be pretty sure the staff would run after you to return the money to you. While it's certainly nice to not have to tip when eating out, there are times and I receive exceptionally good service and want to show my appreciation, but the lack of a custom of tipping makes this impossible—it would actually be quite rude to even try in most cases.

Here in Brussels the hotel 'net connection has been much more reliable than the one we had in Liège, so I've finally gotten a chance to add some captions to my snapshots. On Wednesday we ventured to Bruges (pictures here), and Thursday to Antwerp (pictures here). It was cold and rainy those days, the latter condition leading me not to take my camera out much.

I took many more pictures on yesterday's day trip to Paris.

I'll probably post more descriptions of our wanderings later, but for now, enjoy the pictures.

Well, that certainly was a disappointing match from a U.S. perspective. Here are my pictures. The crowd was wild; the beer- and testosterone-infused atmosphere was close to what I'd expect at an American football game. I was tempted to get my camera out when I saw some of the guys who'd draped themselves in big American flags urinating in the bushes along the way to the stadium. They became less rowdy, though, the worse the U.S. team did. For me, the game was a chance to rest and relax from the exhausting trek to Gelsenkirchen. We were on ten different trains yesterday, and even then, we didn't make it home afterwards until this morning, due to uncooperative train schedules. This has been the disadvantage to staying in (relatively) reasonably-priced Belgium.

Since my last update, we did go sightseeing in Brussels (see my pictures). For the first part of the day, we wandered around the Grand-Place and the nearby streets filled with pedestrians and flanked by outdoor eateries. There was a Turkish festival going on in the main square. One tip for tourists who want to get out of the heat: spend your time in chocolate shops. :) (As if you wouldn't be doing that anyway.) On a continent where air-conditioning is rare, you can count on chocolatiers to have it. We stopped by a Neuhaus shop and Planète Chocolat.

The next part of our visit took us uptown to the Magritte Museum, a privately-run establishment on the site of the artist's (recreated) residence. Magritte used many details from the architecture and furniture in his apartment in his work; it seemed as if almost everything in the place could also be found somewhere in his paintings, from a rug to the crown moulding. Apparently a new museum dedicated to his work is going to open next year.

Bonjour! We've been here in Liège for about twenty-four hours, recovering from jet lag and, in my case, a cold. I'm very glad I stopped by my doctor's office before we left the States; I got a precautionary course of penicillin that turned out to be warranted when we got a call, over dinner outdoors along Rue Pont d'Avroy, from the lab back home confirming that I had strep throat.

Today we're off to a market and then we'll see, maybe sightseeing in Brussels. Initial interactions with people all have this preamble of figuring out which language each party speaks; French, Dutch, German, and English all seem to be major languages here.