traveling in europe

Damian Comito remembers ordering a coffee at a restaurant in Rome recently. Instead, his server brought him a steaming plate of fried zucchini. Cominto, who owns a limousine company in Perth, Australia, has no idea how the server thought he wanted a plate of frittelle di zucchine instead of a cappuccino.

I don’t know what I’d expected – all roads and recommendations had led us to Chez Gladines, a Basque-style restaurant in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. We’d gotten there early and still had to wait an hour outside for a table. After days of sightseeing fueled by crepe stands and baguette sandwiches on the go, a sit-down meal out of the tourist’s path was a welcome change. I carried a post-it note in my wallet, written on it the most important French phrase I hadn’t thought to learn before we came here: Je suis végétarienne. Que conseillez-vous?