GRAFFITI—We’ve spent a lot of time on trains since we arrived in Europe. What I’ve observed as we travel along the rails is the amount of graffiti painted on any and everything. The interesting part of the graffiti is that it all looks very similar in form. It’s almost as if the artists have all gone to the same school to learn to write their names. I have not seen any vulgar graffiti. It mostly seems to be people’s names, or just letters than mean nothing to me. I’ve actually seen graffiti painted on people’s house who live close to the tracks. It is on just about any type of rail power boxes, even in the rail yards. Back when we lived in Kenly, where a major Amtrak rail ran, it was not uncommon to see graffiti on most of the box cars that passed through town. We had plenty of time to view it because the trains often were 100 cars long.

FOREIGN CURRENCY I did right much reading on using foreign currency, especially from Rick Steves, writer of numerous travel books about Europe. His advice was to get the currency in the country you are in. What I’ve found though is that about the only time we’re really needed local currency was at the laundromat in Lauterbrunnen. We needed Swiss Franc 5 dollar coins for the machines. Everywhere else we have been we used what the locals call “contactless payment.” That means using a debit or credit card. Before we left we went to the bank and got a global debit card. It is a prepaid debit card. We can spend only as much as we load on it from our regular bank accounts. That way if it were to get lost or hacked, the person using it could only spend as much as has been loaded. We’ve kept about $300 on it most of the time. It’s very easy to add more whenever we need it. And, it’s not been turned down at any place we have purchased anything. I did have to get CHF Swiss francs from the Lauterbrunnen bank so we could use the laundromat. As we checked out of our hotel there, the hotel took the remaining local currency and applied it to my statement. I did get $40 in British pounds when we landed at the airport in London and I still have it. We figured when we depart from London airport, we’ll use it then.

TIPPING & GETTING OUR BILL Restaurants are certainly in no hurry for customers to leave, we’ve found. In nearly every restaurant we’ve eaten in, we’ve had to ask the waiter to bring our bill. They’ll ask cash or card. When I say card, they whip out their little portable device, punch in the amount and hold it out to me to “tap.” In only one instance did the waiter present the portable device for me to add a tip. Adding a tip in the US seems pretty routine as just about everyone asks if you want to add a tip. In some of the crowded restaurants where we’ve been I feel as if we are tying up a table that someone else could use. But, the restaurant staff don’t seem to want us to leave, even after we’ve told them we are finished and don’t want anything else.

MOTORCYCLES We have never seen such reckless driving by motorcycles as we saw in London and Paris. I’m just amazed more of them have not been killed. They weave in and out of traffic regardless of lanes. We’ve watched them ride up on the sidewalks to get in front of cars. One motorcyclist had a child riding on the back. These motorcycles squeeze between cars and buses with abandon. Yep, there is a lot of horn blowing by the four-wheeled vehicles but to no avail.

SIRENS In both London and Paris there are always emergency vehicles flying by with sirens blaring. (Maybe it’s attending to motorcycle riders who have been wrecks.) But we have only seen one time where those sirens arrived at two vehicles wrecks. Sirens in London and Paris—and maybe other places in Europe—do no sound like sirens in the US. These sirens are just two toned sound in a see-saw noise. I always suspect the law enforcement officers are using the sirens to get through heavy traffic. In fact, we seen often times were the police or ambulance vehicles are just sitting with the rest of traffic blowing the siren and nobody moving. That’s because there’s no where to move.