r/AskReddit • u/danielsoft1 • 12h ago

"those little differences" Americans who visited Europe, what was surprisingly different for you?

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18

u/ocschwar 11h ago

Graffiti on old structures.

In the US, we tolerate graffiti on this that are 1. new, 2. functional and 3. ugly.

If a structure was built before 1850, tagging it will probably get you beaten within an inch of your life.

In European cities, I routinely saw graffiti on medieval and Roman walls. I was appalled .

25

u/Gericht 10h ago

Heck, in Pompeii you can find Roman graffiti on roman walls :)

8

u/StressOk2675 9h ago

Some literate Viking carved 'Halvdan was here' in the walls of the Haga Sofia. So, it's been with us in all ages.

5

u/Local-Put8 8h ago

I know it’s horrible but then again in Europe history is everywhere and is genuinely old unlike in the US where anything before 1900s is history so I can see why they don’t care a lot

1

u/El_Lasagno 5h ago

I live in a house older than the USA. Just saying. And not by years but by centuries.

-2

u/CommitteeofMountains 3h ago

I'm older than Eastern European countries.

3

u/JM-Gurgeh 6h ago

"Romani ite domum!"

2

u/ee3k 8h ago

kilroy hic erat 

1

u/mightbone 6h ago

I was in Barcelona and Madrid recently and saw this as well. Graffiti was extremely common on roadways but also occasionally on really old churches and other buildings.

But then again we dont have that many old buildings to graffiti in thr US anyways.

2

u/ArchibaldMcAcherson 5h ago

You have that nice concert venue with the white marble some idiot slapped his name on.

1

u/ocschwar 4h ago

Built with Italian marble too.. Fuck that guy.

1

u/Keffpie 4h ago

To be fair, some of the graffiti on the old Roman ruins is literally from Roman times.

1

u/Square_Desk946 1h ago

Have you seen the movie “Life of Brian”?…

-1

u/Extension-Maybe3736 2h ago

It’s also ugly as hell in Europe