WI Alternate "general European countries"?

baltur2

I've read on some English-language travel websites, that if a non-European wants to experience what Europe is like, they should visit Austria and Slovakia, because these countries are generally European, but so indistinct that foreign travelers can experience "Europeanness" without being too caught up in a unique local culture.

I guess this is similar to how a European would like to experience the general "Americana" of the USA, without getting too caught up in the regional identity and culture of a particular State.

Which other European countries do you think could easily qualify for this label in an ATL?
 

CountDVB

baltur2 said:
I've read on some English-language travel websites, that if a non-European wants to experience what Europe is like, they should visit Austria and Slovakia, because these countries are generally European, but so indistinct that foreign travelers can experience "Europeanness" without being too caught up in a unique local culture.

I guess this is similar to how a European would like to experience the general "Americana" of the USA, without getting too caught up in the regional identity and culture of a particular State.

Which other European countries do you think could easily qualify for this label in an ATL?
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I figured Czechia would be on her, but it shows how little I know. Beyond that...

Literally no idea. All of the European nations are pretty culturally distinct and have their own regions.
 
Lafayette_

Lafayette_

The Nazis somehow push further into the Soviet Union and capture Moscow, but still end up losing to the Allies — who would have liberated everything west of the Dnieper by 1945-6.

The liberated parliamentary monarchies of Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania remain firmly allied to the West for the next 50 years or so, avoiding communism altogether. Boom, “general” European countries.
 

AnonymousSauce

NiGHTS said:
I think what the OP is talking about is having European countries that are essentially so bland that you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from each other. Like, I imagine general Americana to essentially mean the parts of American society that you can find everywhere in the US, and that aren't essentially tied to any state or region. I'm guessing something like the blandest suburb would count as Americana. It's distinctive enough you can tell its American, but not distinctive enough that you can tell where in America its from.
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"America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland."

-Tennessee Williams
 
Lafayette_

Lafayette_

NiGHTS said:
I think what the OP is talking about is having European countries that are essentially so bland that you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from each other. Like, I imagine general Americana to essentially mean the parts of American society that you can find everywhere in the US, and that aren't essentially tied to any state or region. I'm guessing something like the blandest suburb would count as Americana. It's distinctive enough you can tell its American, but not distinctive enough that you can tell where in America its from.
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Thanks for explaining. What I figured was that, with 50 years of EEC/EU membership and economic development, would you be really be able to differentiate a metropolitan centre or countryside from Bulgaria as to one in Yugoslavia or Austria? I reckon that, to the casual observer, it would eventually all become “generic European” to any outsider.
 

Jukra

baltur2 said:
I've read on some English-language travel websites, that if a non-European wants to experience what Europe is like, they should visit Austria and Slovakia, because these countries are generally European, but so indistinct that foreign travelers can experience "Europeanness" without being too caught up in a unique local culture.

I guess this is similar to how a European would like to experience the general "Americana" of the USA, without getting too caught up in the regional identity and culture of a particular State.

Which other European countries do you think could easily qualify for this label in an ATL?
Click to expand...

IKEA, H&M, GM, PSA, Volkswagen Group, Lidl, Ryanair, everyone staring at smartphones... Europe is bland nowadays from Spain to Norway, Portugal to Poland. That's your general European country.

Traveling in Europe used to be much more interesting.
 
WaterproofPotatoes

WaterproofPotatoes

When a Canadian just wants to use up their points on a travel credit card and/or take pictures for social media to look cultured, Prague or Amsterdam are the likeliest destinations.
 

Jukra

WaterproofPotatoes said:
When a Canadian just wants to use up their points on a travel credit card and/or take pictures for social media to look cultured, Prague or Amsterdam are the likeliest destinations.
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Have always wondered, why in this era of Instagram traveling fake travel providing by professional photographers isn't more common?
 
Frank Hart

Frank Hart

AnonymousSauce said:
"America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland."

-Tennessee Williams
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This implies that there are at least four cities: New York City (NY), San Francisco (CA), New Orleans (LA), and Cleveland (OH).

But Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami, Houston, Jackson, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Detroit at minimum would like a word with you.
 

Michele

NiGHTS said:
I'm guessing something like the blandest suburb would count as Americana.
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Lafayette_ said:
...would you be really be able to differentiate a metropolitan centre or countryside from Bulgaria as to one in Yugoslavia or Austria?
Click to expand...

Jukra said:
IKEA, H&M, GM, PSA, Volkswagen Group, Lidl, Ryanair, everyone staring at smartphones...
Click to expand...

Evidently, it all depends on how cropped the snapshot is. Yes, if you take a photo of a secondary street of averagely recent settlement in a residential middle-class suburb in the USA, it probably resembles any other secondary street of averagely recent settlement in a residential middle-class suburb in the USA. Likewise, if you take such a photo in a similarly defined place in Germany or Italy or Spain or Romania. Then again, if you take a photo of a typical street in each of those countries, you'll be able to tell at least that they are different (you might still think Austria when you see the German photo, or Poland when you see the Romanian one).

Similarly, yes, if you are in a recently-built downtown business district with sleek steel-and-glass buildings and English-language advertising, you might be in Berlin or in Paris or in Stockholm. But that's, what, 1% of the total surface of the continent?

The countryside, finally, comes with climate, weather, typical crops, typical ways of cultivating the same crops, and landscapes. There are areas that are similar to each other, but in many many others it only takes some education to be able to make a guess with decent chances. Again, you might think you're in the French Alps while you're actually in the Italian ones, or in a Greek olive grove while you're actually in Sicily, but you won't think you are in the Tatras or in an Irish potato field.
 
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