I have to agree with beetle also, the nicest foreigners I met in Europe were Australian
The train from Paris to Amsterdam was packed, and many people just piled their luggage in the entrance ways blocking one side exit of the two on many of the cars. The call went out to move the luggage. In typical American fashion no one responded (funny given the majority of native Europeans on the train) except my wife and myself (yanks), an older man and an Australian bloke who moved his luggage and then helped us and the gentleman maneuver our luggage into the cramped overhead bins.
Don't get me wrong, England, France and Holland were great at many levels -- from food to culture. But the people (gasp) were not all that different from Americans. Most were friendly, and some were just plain rude. When I returned I wrote up a glowing travel log for the bbs. There were minor "issues," but so what. I have just as many issues (though perhaps of a different specific variety) vacationing at a spot in the US. However, if I wanted to stereotype, then:
-- Brits go to Holland in large groups to get very rowdy in bars and drink lots of beer until they get pissed drunk. American's go to smoke pot and wander around all happy and stuff. [edit: you also don't see too many signs in US establishments saying: not allowed in in large groups or wearing football jerseys.]
-- Service is a problem in London. Where else does a concierge show up for work at 3:00 pm, if they show up that day (fairly expensive hotel). Same hotel had dry rot in the windows, flaking/faded paint, 60's décor, uncomfortable mattresses and stained carpeting. Maybe I'm being an arrogant Yank, but when I pay $200 a night for a room I expect better (except I already knew what to expect). The Americanized hotels seemed much better, but I can only imagine how much they would have cost.
Contact with service personnel was generally somewhat rude, and not because we were ourselves obnoxious or out of some knee jerk reaction to our being Americans. I was having Faulty Towers flashbacks, only without John Cleese. Is it really that hard to find someone who is happy doing their jobs in the service trade?
-- Northern Europeans don't seem to mind cutting in line. They pretend they don't see you somehow, at least two or three individuals did. I hope I'm not generalizing here, but even if it is a common trait it hardly ruined the overall experience. So far, even in America an individual blatently cutting in line is exceedingly rare. Now on the highway...
-- France was fine. Paris was interesting but not as interesting as London with it's depth of history. Gotta watch out for the loads of dog sh#t though in Paris - no pooper-scooper laws there. The language barrier was a problem, but more on my end then their's. I didn't detect any overt rudness. I even got to use a mouldy French phrase or two without getting laughed at. The food was good (best meal I had was in Amsterdam though) and the wine was wasted on my pedestrian palet.
-- The Dutch seem to like Americans better than the French. I actually caught French tourists getting discriminated against.
-- Female beggars (using their childern -- Mercy! Sir, Mercy!) and pickpockets that would put NY or Chicago to shame.
A bunch of other nitpicks. I could also comment on the flood of British tourists in Orlando Fla. when I was there recently at a conference. They were virtually indistinguishable from the American tourists. Hey, black socks and sandals must be universial
There are American jerks and European jerks. The teeth jokes, and obnoxious "ours is bigger" types embarrass me as an American on occasion. Even "bomb France" is starting to get old
But, a lot of Europeans seem to be hung up on their nationalism as well, and some of the American criticism comes off as jealousy from people living in a position of comfort where $$$ and lives are concerned. Nationalism in Europe? WW1, WW2, and a host of previous wars throughout the centuries would seem to indicate that it is not an alien concept. Frankly, I'm amazed the EU is moving along as well as it is.
While our European friends likely have some valid reasons to criticize US foreign policy, you didn't hear much about it when it was our huge chunk of the GDP out there putting armored divisions at the Fulda Gap during the cold war. Or dealing with Korea for 50 odd years (and now Korean nukes). Or the real war on terrorism (as opposed to the Iraq confusion). Or, why wasn't there a European-led solution to the Balkan genocide? Too messy? Too expensive? Too risky? The US acts in it's own interests? Show me a country that doesn't.
Overall, far more similarities than differences. A more materialistic society vs. one with more value placed on personal time. A generally similar level of Western cultural norms. Hard for me to really say one is better than the other, just different with pros and cons for each.
Charon
