Over the past three weeks, we’ve had conversations with people from all over Europe. Most are well traveled and well educated, and in various professions - engineering, auto dealership, nursing, teaching, small business owners. Our B and B hosts in two different villages and regions, have invited us for dinner with their friends, who happened to be visiting. The conversations were about all sorts of things - history, books, what everyone does for a living, cars they drive, on and on.
At both dinners, the other guests were curious about us and America. When asked about health care, they couldn’t believe we pay for health insurance, and they were aghast at how much we pay, the same for university. Both are free or cost very little, in most European countries. They talked about transportation, and trains connecting much of Europe, with fast train service in many places, including France - with service from Paris to Marseille in just over 3 hours/500 miles. The events of WWI and WWII came up, with every family affected in some way. One guest told us his grandfather never spoke of the war once, because it was too painful. Europeans have experienced war and putting their countries back together, after huge loss of life and bombed communities. Many of those people are still alive. The carved monuments in every village are daily reminders of the vast numbers who died.
Property taxes are very low but their income taxes are higher than in the US. They get longer vacations and work shorter hours/day. Child care costs are minimal and both mothers and fathers get paid parental leave after giving birth. Pesticide use on fresh fruits and vegetables is very limited, so produce isn’t quite so pretty but is full of flavor. It’s all interesting to think about from a quality of life perspective. We are learning every day!
