The other thing I noticed in Europe was that everything shuts down in the middle of the day for luncheon. Not for just an hour. Everyday several hours during the middle of the day.
This is how in Italy you separate the “authentic” restaurants from the “tourist” restaurants. The tourist ones are open for lunch.
In addition, do not visit Europe in August. Almost everyone takes the entire month off. So, every beach is packed. Every spot frequented by European tourists is jammed.
It is a unique area. You would come home from work from a base, in Germany or Netherlands, and try to go to the market. Nope, they closed at 5 or 6pm, no groceries for you. And when you did have time to shop, you bought alot, which is a typical thing that we do as Americans. Nobody wants to shop everyday, and they would stare at ya.
Beautiful place to live and see though.