One fun thing Tom and I did, when we had time in Europe, was check out the local grocery stores.  We learned to recognize several of the big chains, especially Tesco and Sainsbury’s in the United Kingdom, Meny in Norway and Netto in Germany and Denmark.  We liked walking around looking for things that we recognized as well as things we didn’t.

Kellogg’s is a big brand in all the grocery stores we visited.  Kellogg’s has been making cereal in the United Kingdom for over 60 years and recently opened a new European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.  We saw some cereals that were familiar to us – Coco Pops – as well as some that were unfamiliar, such as Tresor.

When I was in Europe as a teenager, I really enjoyed Weetabix for breakfast.  I found out it is just as popular today as it was then.  When we were on our tour in the United Kingdom, most hotels offered Weetabix for breakfast.  Sometimes they were individually packaged, which I preferred.  Sometimes there were two in a package.  Our tour director Nigel liked Weetabix for breakfast because it was one of the few things that was individually packaged.  He didn’t like food that everyone had breathed all over.  One Weetabix with yogurt and some fruit was a perfect breakfast.  We found them in every grocery store.

Pringles is a snack food I consider very American, but we saw cans of them in every grocery store.  Some of the flavors were a little unusual:  Prawn Cocktail, Tzatziki, Pepperoni Pizza.

Most grocery stores had a bakery with breads, pastries, and cookies.  There were also meat sections where we played guessing games as to what meat it was.  Most of the time we could figure things out from the pictures on a package, but sometimes we were at a loss.

And then there are the things you would never find in grocery stores in the United States.  Yorkshire pudding in the freezer section.  Roulade in the bakery section.  Fish soup in the refrigerator section.

Tom and I didn’t spend much time in grocery stores, but we were always on the lookout for good cookies.  For some reason, the ship did not have good cookies.  They were always crispy and burnt with odd flavorings.  So Tom and I learned to pick up some cookies at bakeries or in the grocery stores to take back to our cabin.  Digestives became a staple that we always had with us.  Perfect when you want just a little sweet with some chocolate.

Supermarkets have become much more common in Europe but people also shop more often.  Checking out the grocery stores was a fun way to notice differences and similarities between the United States and Europe.  We always found something we would like to eat and something we wouldn’t.

And, with this post, I have finished writing about our European trip.  Whew!  It was a great trip with lots of wonderful adventures and even more wonderful memories.  I hope you enjoyed reading about it.  Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.