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18 Dec 08 - SpicaBooks.Com/Europe.html Copyright 1999-2008 by Andrew Homer - The Euro - Webmeister StarHeart Web Designs
My Europe Blog
Europe Factoids * Driving is the cheapest way to tour in Europe. Best to lease a car BEFORE you get there. Contact "Europe by Car." * The Dutch are coming to the U.S. to fix the flood walls in New Orleans. A large part of the Netherlands is reclaimed from the North Sea and is below ocean level. They have a hugungous moveable wall at the entrance to Rotterdam's harbor which can be closed within an hour to protect the downtown and the ships in the harbor from storm surge. * The Basque have been in Europe for so long that cultural anthropologists refer to the Basque as being "pre-European." * With one European passport system their national borders have become much more porious for drug traffickers. * If you study a bas relief map, you'll notice the the Andes of South America are much more awesome than Europe's Alps. I've been through and over the Andes, but I think the Rockies in Glacier Park, Montana are more beautiful, dramatic, and awe inspiring than the Andes. * Oslo, Munich, and Florence are near the same meridian.
* Russia was founded by Vikings. * Germans are crazy collectors of American Indian stuff. There are more American Indian art magazines published in Germany than in the U.S. * Through the decades, Europeans have embraced black American entertainers better than Americans have. Josephine Baker, Tina Turner, and famous jazz musicians are examples. * Americans are amused by the British accent. The British are amused by the American accent. * The word for pineapple is the same in Czech and Celenese of Sri Lanka. * For never adapting the Metric System, the U.S. Congress has aided American industry to lose out on export business which European manufacturers have been getting.
* So many Germans are buying vacation homes in Ireland, that Irish land costs are increasing seriously, thus enraging Irish farmers who want to expand their farms and buyout their neighbors. * The population of Europe is starting to shrink. So, you can buy old stone houses in northern Portugal which have been vacant for years. * Because of the devaluation of the U.S. Dollar, these last 2 years, in comparison to the Euro, Europeans are finding it cheaper to buy a house in the U.S. than in their home country. * Japan and the European Union are cutting into American dominance the the global economy. * Regardless of how many weapon manufacturers there are in Europe, America still produces more weapons bought by any dictator with deep pockets. Yet Washington wants us to believe that the U.S. Government is the world's peacekeeper. Good joke.
* The governments of Europe have Proportional Representation, America does not. Voter registration is much higher in Europe than in the U.S. * Go Green Parties of Europe!!! * Want islands AND Europe? Try the Shetlands, the Balearic Islands, Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Malta, eastern Denmark, Gotland, Madeira, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, Crete and the other Greek islands. Gibraltar probably feels like an island. If you have a place on Corfu, please invite me over. * Want to retire to European ambience, but can't afford it? Try Argentina.
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I've been addicted to study all things European since I was
a kid. I've spent a gazillion hours just soaking in the map of Europe. I studied
the diverse cultures of Europe before I ever heard of cultural anthropology. But
so far, the closest I've been to Europe was when I spent 3 days in Recife, Brazil.
I'll soon go back to college and study European politics. Just for the fun of
it: I'm half German and the rest is Dutch, English, Scotish, Irish, Italian, and
Cherokee. 
Scandinavia
