Culture
The Real Rules of Engagement on the Subways of Europe
This summer travel season, don't forget that metro etiquette varies widely between cities.
“Is it just me, or was that really rude?”
Gauging what good manners mean in a foreign city is always a tricky business. Personally my travels around Europe have been a long trail of social faux pas. I’ve been scowled at for using the informal ”tu” to an older Parisian woman I asked directions from, laughed at for carrying a 24-roll pack of toilet paper on Milan’s metro (I still don’t get what was wrong with this), and raised eyebrows by absent-mindedly addressing a ticket inspector on a Krakow tram as “Mummy.”