Trivial Pursuits

The Economics of Driving in Europe

In this day of skyrocketing oil prices, some of you may be interested in the cost of driving in Europe. The fuel usage for highway driving in “Valeriu,” our 2002 VW Passat, is supposed to be 4 liters per 100 km or, put in US terms, about 59 miles per gallon. In addition, Valeriu uses diesel fuel, which is cheaper than gasoline in the great majority of European countries. However, the lowest price we have paid for fuel so far is 1.00 euro per liter, or about $4.75 per gallon, and we have been charged as much as 20 percent more. Added to this are tolls on the autobahnen/autostrade/autoroutes/autopistas, which are much higher than on tollways in the United States although we can’t give you an average figure. The final blow is the cost of parking, which ran $15 per day in the long-term lot at the Barcelona airport, to give a mild example. Our bottom line: American motorists should count their blessings, even without Senator Frist’s gas tax rebate.

English for Continental Europeans

We were intrigued by the electronic billboard shown below, which was in evidence in all the Spanish cities we have visited so far. Clearly, there is interest in learning English—or at least in selling the teaching of English—but equally clearly, there are still a few things to be learned. Our favorite examples so far were a menu item in an Avila restaurant with an English translation that read “Grilled Avila Big Veal Chop,” a plastic laundry bag in a Barcelona hotel that advised guests to “ramble your dirty clothes to the chambermaid,” and a Granada restaurant menu listing “Stew’s Day,” apparently not a salute to Todd but a reference to the stew of the day.



Spanish Religious Art

Religious art has always occupied an important place in Spanish culture. Recently, however, it seems to have taken some unusual turns as exemplified by the following picture from the hallway of our hotel in Cordoba. Pax vobiscum.