Back before I knew about Steemit, I traveled from my home in Washington State to Europe for the first time. I started in Germany and went through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Since I wasn't planning this post during the trip, I only have a few Snapchat stories to use as pictures. But here's what I found out about Europe that is better than the US.
One of the nicest parts about walking around cities in Europe are the no car zones. America has them in the older, large cities, but you can find them everywhere in Europe in both large and small cities. These no car zones are great places to hang out with friends and enjoy the sun. There's lots of small shops to visit and sometimes live music. When you get rid of cars, you don't have to listen to their annoying noise, everything is cleaner, and there's so much more space. America has their malls, but they just don't have the same kind of atmosphere as walking outside, surrounded by beautiful old buildings.
Cars have ruined American cities by making everything so spread out. While in Europe, I could walk around and see all the main sites of a city without having to take transportation. Even in Copenhagen, which has about the same urban population of San Diego, you can see almost all major sites within a 1.5 mile radius. And in the smaller cities like Wolfenbuttel, Germany, which has a population of about 50,000, most of the houses and shops are within a half mile radius. American cities are awfully large. Americans think they need to have a big ass house with a giant lawn. Stores are massive in America with giant parking lots. And American streets are wider as well. Since everything is so much closer together in Europe, people actually walk places instead of driving everywhere. This is likely a huge factor why Europeans are so much skinnier than Americans. It's not just their food. Which leads to the next thing Europe does better than America...
I don't get how America sucks at making bread so much. In Europe, the bread is soft and flavorful while American bread is grainy and bland. Europeans have bread with almost every meal. Americans think that bread is unhealthy and makes you gain weight yet Europeans eat more bread than Americans while staying skinny and healthy. I told my German friends that Americans think bread is unhealthy and they didn't believe me. Americans eat shit loads of processed food full of sugar and salt. Americans don't know how to make tasty food without sugar and salt while European food is all natural and delicious. Okay, not all of it... Europeans do love their chocolate. And they have a very good reason to. European chocolate completely destroys American chocolate. You will never enjoy a Hershey's bar ever again after trying some German or Norwegian chocolate. It's so much creamier and rich tasting.
America is really slacking when it comes to public transportation. I was so surprised by how easy it is to get around cities and across cities without having to own a car. Biking is very popular is Europe. There's bike lanes in every city at almost every road. There are some cities in America that are bike friendly, but it's not nearly as common as in Europe. If you're a tourist and don't have a bike, then you can use bike sharing. All you have to do is download an app, press a button, and a bike will be available for you to take from one station to another.
Then there's all the trains, metros, and buses available in Europe. They were all extremely efficient. Especially the metro in Copenhagen which is fully autonomous so it never has to rely on a person to tell it when to go. It stops at each spot for only a minute and then takes off to its next destination. There isn't even anyone checking to make sure you payed for the ride. I could have gone on every metro for free if I wanted to.
Even better is how cheap the public transportation is. You can take a Flixbus from one city to another for as low as 5 Euros ($6)! I took a 6 hour ride from Hamburg, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark, which included a ferry ride, all for only 26 Euros ($32)! And then my plane ticket from Copenhagen to Oslo, Norway was only $60. I would travel so much if prices were that cheap in America.
I was really surprised by how much more renewable energy there is in Europe. I have never seen a solar farm in America before yet they are everywhere in Europe. There's also tons of buildings with solar panels on them in Europe. Especially Denmark and Norway. Another first sight was seeing hundreds of wind turbines in the water. That was a futuristic idea just a few years years ago yet the Scandinavians already have lots of them. Talk about futuristic, Scandinavia might be old, but the newer buildings there look way ahead of our time. I felt like I was going ten years into the future when I went to Scandinavia. American designers need to step up their game.
It's amazing how they have so many beautiful, well kept parks right in the middle of a giant cities. I thought I would get tired of all the parks I planned to visit on my trip but every one was so unique. And most of them are free! In Norway, the entire country is basically just a giant park. Norway has a law called "every man's right" that allows you to camp anywhere at least 100 meters from a building, as long as you leave the place looking nicer than when you got there, of course. I got to spend one night sleeping on top of a mountain that looked over the city Voss. Then I spent two nights next to a waterfall in Norheimsund. Can you get any better than that?
