I am not a Europhile. I am not one of those who waxes on about the glories of six weeks of vacation, thirty-six hour work weeks, and free medical care while choosing to ignore the high unemployment, stagnant growth, and confiscatory tax rates (rates that would make Ted Kennedy blush) that accompany them. However, I do recognize a good thing when I see it and in two areas in particular I think there is a lot we could learn from the Euros:
Trains. My God the trains in Germany were magnificent. Efficient, clean, comfortable, and able to spirit you to almost any corner of the country without much effort. My wife on I traveled exclusively by rail and had little difficulty making a circuit that covered much of Deutschland for a very minimal expenditure. On only a few occasions did we even have to bother making reservations.
Typically we would show up at the track ten or fifteen before a scheduled departure, find open seats, and stow our luggage in the racks above us. When we arrived at our destination we simply grabbed our gear and hopped off. Since most cities have train stations in their center we were often on the streets within minutes of our arrival heading to a hotel. Contrast that with the hassles, headaches, and time required for even a short commercial flight these days. And yes the trains do run on time or very close to it, a claim that cannot be made for travel by air.
And unlike the living hell that flying can when you're herded like cattle onto the aircraft, squeezed into a seat that anyone taller than Webster will find uncomfortable, fed bland, soggy meals by a churlish flight attendant (just about a guarantee when flying Northwest), and then charged an arm and a leg (on domestic flights) for the alcohol that you so badly need just to maintain your sanity, traveling by train can be quite enjoyable. We often brought our own food and even wine and beer on the train and were able to relax with plenty of leg room and comfy seats. And if you wanted to get up and go to the bathroom, grab a snack in the dining car, or just walk around you were able to at any time you were so inclined. And when were on the high speed Inter City Express trains we were clipping along at 260km per hour with hardly a bump.
We need better trains in the US. I'm talking about city to city, town to town trains not a light rail line from the downtown to the Mall of America to serve a bunch of Randy Moss wannabees as we're now building in Minneapolis. Why shouldn't we have the option of taking a high speed train from Minneapolis to Chicago instead of subjecting ourselves to the indignities of air travel or spending six hours driving in a car on I-94 hoping that one of the numerous Wisconsin State Troopers won't nail us with a speeding ticket? I know that it would require a considerable investment in infrastructure and the system would likely require government subsidies to operate but how much money have we shelled out to the airlines in recent years for poor, inefficient service? I ch-ch-choose trains.
The other sphere where I found the European approach to be superior was the cultural attitudes towards alcohol. Beer and wine were available for sale nearly everywhere and there seemed to be no prohibition on public consumption of alcohol. You could walk down a city street in mid morning with an open half liter of beer and not draw a second glance. On a few occasions on our trip we would have picnic lunches in public areas and never thought twice about opening a bottle of wine or downing a few beers with it. It was also not unusual in Germany to see men drinking beer with their breakfast or construction workers having a cold one on their lunch break. But we witnessed very little public intoxication (with the exception of Oktoberfest of course) and the associated behavioral problems that accompany it.
The Germans seem to understand that drinking alcohol is not a black and white thing. You don't have to be either a tee-toddler or an alcoholic. You can enjoy drinking without being a drunk. What a enlightened outlook compared to the quasi prohibitionist leanings that one encounters in the US today. A good example of such thinking is this commentary from last Saturday's Minneapolis Star Tribune in which the author decries the fact that the media coverage of the Twins celebration after winning the American League Central Division pennant included showing them drinking alcohol. Guess what? Adults (over 21) can and do use alcohol to celebrate, relax, and have fun. Instead of trying to prevent children from acquiring such knowledge how about teaching them that it is possible to drink responsibly? Part of the mythology that kids and later young adults associate with alcohol stems from the fact that it is often presented to them as the "forbidden fruit". Perhaps if we were to adopt the European approach and were more up front and open about alcohol; what it is? why people drink it? etc, it would become less of a temptation to children and young adults and their abuse and misuse of it would decline. More importantly I would be able to buy beer when and where I want and drink it when and where I want. And isn't that what America is supposed to be all about anyway?
Lastly it was a breathe of fresh air to see that the anti-smoking Nazis haven't seized the reigns of power in Germany yet. Based on my observations I'd say that over half of the adult German population pounds the nails and they do it pretty much anywhere they please. Oh, some of the train stations have adopted no smoking policies but the normally rule abiding Krauts pay these regulations no heed whatsoever. I'm not a regular smoker myself (although I do favor a heater from time to time particularly if I'm sipping on a brew) and I'm not saying that it's good that so many Germans smoke but with the second hand smoke hysteria that has gripped so many here in the US it was refreshing to see people openly enjoying one of life's little vices. Smoke 'em if you got 'em Fritz.
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