surprises about a country

[Jar-Ptitsa]

What has surprised you about a country?

I was surprised that there are some parrots in London. I don't mean in the zoo, or birds' park, but in the wild. They are in the trees, and they fly in groups.

[aabram]

What surprised me about Latvia was that there are freshwater turtles in the wild there, namely European pond turtle. If I think about turtles I think of tropics or at least someplace warm but apparently they're tough little buggers. Latvian-Estonian border is about as far north as they go so they may occasionally venture into south-Estonia too but that's about it. They're very rare and nearly extinct sadly.

[Cavesa]

The weather in southern France. I knew about it theoretically and was looking forward to it. But it still felt awesome and like a surprise that it was still summer in September, autumn till December, cold autumn till February, and then spring and nice weather again. It was real! The fogs were surprising too, and the strong wind, both during the "winter". But it was so awesome. No wonder our civilisation started in warm regions, the rest of the world's population was too busy not freezing to death.

[Jar-Ptitsa]

What surprised me about Latvia was that there are freshwater turtles in the wild there, namely European pond turtle. If I think about turtles I think of tropics or at least someplace warm but apparently they're tough little buggers. Latvian-Estonian border is about as far north as they go so they may occasionally venture into south-Estonia too but that's about it. They're very rare and nearly extinct sadly.

Yes, that's surprising, I think of the hot countries for turtles as well. It's sad that they're nearly extinct, I think turtles are so cute, and tortoises also.

The weather in southern France. I knew about it theoretically and was looking forward to it. But it still felt awesome and like a surprise that it was still summer in September, autumn till December, cold autumn till February, and then spring and nice weather again. It was real! The fogs were surprising too, and the strong wind, both during the "winter". But it was so awesome. No wonder our civilisation started in warm regions, the rest of the world's population was too busy not freezing to death.

The wind in the south of France is very famous, (or at least in Belgium it's famous). Such a short winter would be perfect: for Christmas and then spring



A surprise about The Netherlands: the famous windmills don't exist in the reality. They haven't got the nice old windmills, but the spooky new ones that look horrible, I mean the eco versions to make electricity. Of course other countries have got the modern type, but Holland should have beautiful historic windmills!!

[PeterMollenburg]

A surprise about The Netherlands: the famous windmills don't exist in the reality. They haven't got the nice old windmills, but the spooky new ones that look horrible, I mean the eco versions to make electricity. Of course other countries have got the modern type, but Holland should have beautiful historic windmills!!

While this is true, there do remain some good examples of the old windmills in Volendam, NL, which see throngs of regular tourists visiting regularly.

[Adrianslont]

What surprised me about Latvia was that there are freshwater turtles in the wild there, namely European pond turtle. If I think about turtles I think of tropics or at least someplace warm but apparently they're tough little buggers. Latvian-Estonian border is about as far north as they go so they may occasionally venture into south-Estonia too but that's about it. They're very rare and nearly extinct sadly.

Yes, that's surprising, I think of the hot countries for turtles as well. It's sad that they're nearly extinct, I think turtles are so cute, and tortoises also.

The weather in southern France. I knew about it theoretically and was looking forward to it. But it still felt awesome and like a surprise that it was still summer in September, autumn till December, cold autumn till February, and then spring and nice weather again. It was real! The fogs were surprising too, and the strong wind, both during the "winter". But it was so awesome. No wonder our civilisation started in warm regions, the rest of the world's population was too busy not freezing to death.

The wind in the south of France is very famous, (or at least in Belgium it's famous). Such a short winter would be perfect: for Christmas and then spring



A surprise about The Netherlands: the famous windmills don't exist in the reality. They haven't got the nice old windmills, but the spooky new ones that look horrible, I mean the eco versions to make electricity. Of course other countries have got the modern type, but Holland should have beautiful historic windmills!!

I saw two old windmills in the Netherlands just yesterday!

[Jar-Ptitsa]

A surprise about The Netherlands: the famous windmills don't exist in the reality. They haven't got the nice old windmills, but the spooky new ones that look horrible, I mean the eco versions to make electricity. Of course other countries have got the modern type, but Holland should have beautiful historic windmills!!

While this is true, there do remain some good examples of the old windmills in Volendam, NL, which see throngs of regular tourists visiting regularly.

Old windmills in only one place that isn't enough, but it's better than none of course

[Adrianslont]

A surprise about The Netherlands: the famous windmills don't exist in the reality. They haven't got the nice old windmills, but the spooky new ones that look horrible, I mean the eco versions to make electricity. Of course other countries have got the modern type, but Holland should have beautiful historic windmills!!

While this is true, there do remain some good examples of the old windmills in Volendam, NL, which see throngs of regular tourists visiting regularly.

Old windmills in only one place that isn't enough, but it's better than none of course

Your comment about no windmills in the Netherlands surprised me as I had seen two just the day before and I had been there less than a week and I wasn't particularly looking for them. So, I went to Wikipedia and found there are actually 1200 old style windmills remaining, spread across 11 provinces.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... etherlands

I bumped into a couple more in the next few days, too.

The modern windmills aren't as charming as the old ones but they are more attractive than a coal power station.

[Gomorrita]

What has surprised you about a country?

I was surprised that there are some parrots in London. I don't mean in the zoo, or birds' park, but in the wild. They are in the trees, and they fly in groups.

Many European cities have them now and the populations are growing fast. They are all over The Netherlands too, I see them quite often around The Hague. I heard the biggest populations are in some big Spanish cities.

[aabram]

Just came back from trip to Prague and was taken by surprise by the sheer number of Vietnamese restaurants there. Turns out there are over 80 000 Vietnamese in Czech Republic and they're third largest minority group after Slovaks and Ukrainians.

According to Wikipedia:
"Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the Czech Republic during the Communist period, when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. Migration was encouraged by the Vietnamese authorities, with the intention that the migrants would return with skills and training. Following the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia, many Vietnamese decided to remain in the country rather than return home."

Totally was not expecting that. I did have some very nice Vietnamese meals in Prague and can recommend small Vietnamese restaurant in Old Town: Bánh mì ba. There's a Korean restaurant just across the corner there as well and they have many Korean dishes usually not seen in Korean restaurants in Europe, such as tteokbokki, but flavour of the dishes is slighty milder and sweeter than you'd get in Korea. But that Vietnamese place is so good! It's really tiny and crowded at lunchtime, but well worth checking out.