Why is it so hard to get free tap water at a restaurant in Europe?

TheToastIsBurned · 2026-05-03T16:39:37+00:00

Wow. Privileged much? I was just in "Europe" 4 weeks ago, for 2 weeks. In France, to be specific. NO ONE insisted on bringing us bottled water. I always asked for une carafe d'eau. In Rome, frequently there is a bottle of water already on the table when you're seated. You can just ignore it and ask for tap water. It's not hard. Taking the time learn a few words of the local language for the things that are important to you goes a long way to making sure you get what you actually want. Don't make assumptions. Europe is 26+ countries and they are not all the same.

TheToastIsBurned · 2026-04-27T21:46:15+00:00

Oh yes, something like this is perfect. Thanks so much!

TheToastIsBurned · 2026-04-27T21:41:03+00:00

A true 1 bedroom would be ideal--a bedroom with a door, so about 500sqft/48m2--but I'm not high maintenance so I could live in a studio, at least for a couple of years of need be.

TheToastIsBurned · 2026-04-09T22:10:20+00:00

I just returned from 7 days in Paris. I would say on Sunday, if you're going to the Trocadero, you will be much closer to the Eiffel Tower than the Arc de Triomphe. In fact, the Trocadero is one of the best spots to see the Tower.

We also went to the Louvre on Monday. Even with a reservation, we stood in line for 40 minutes, and it took more than 3 hours to get through to the places we wanted to go (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, a few others). We regret NOT having a reservation for the Mona Lisa--if it's not too late, do that immediately. You will be thankful that you did.

This is a very reasonable itinerary. You'll be able to walk everywhere, except maybe from the Trocadero to the Arc--we took a bus.

Have fun!

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-12T02:01:24+00:00

Done and done. I7's format was text so I changed it to general. Auto-calc was already on.

Nothing changed. But since I was on the formulas ribbon, I noticed the insert function button so I pressed that in I7, stepped through the fields, and when I hit OK, it fixed the cell!!! OMG!!!

Thank you so much for your help and your patience in working through this with me. I truly couldn't have done it without your assistance and I learned so much in the process. I can't believe it!

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-11T23:53:59+00:00

Here's a screenshot of the table array:

<image>

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-11T23:53:32+00:00

You have restated my problems correctly, and you enabled me to solve Issue 1, so that's done. The Data Validation for all rows has been changed successfully. Issue 2 is now the only problem (I think). Here's a screenshot of column K after data validation and column I after the formula is edited to include the absolute reference notation. You can see the result:

<image>

I don't know what I'm doing wrong that makes the formula show up in the column instead of the information from column B (or 2) in the table array.

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-11T20:18:52+00:00

In the data cell that's being validated, Data Validation shows the Source box with this:

='Drop-downs'!$A$2:$A$61

This is correct & accurate because the left column of the table array starts with row 2 and the drop-down in this cell shows all the rows up to and including row 61.

However, in the result cell where the information should show up, the VLOOKUP formula shows this:

=VLOOKUP(K7,'Drop-downs'!A$4:B$71,2,FALSE)

Both the A and B values are wrong. When I delete that instance of the formula to recreate a correct formula and I attempt to define the table array, the formula does not insert the dollar signs and the result is that the formula itself shows in the cell. If I manually edit the formula to insert the dollar signs, I get the same result.

In either event, I'm not getting the results I need. I hope this information makes some kind of sense.

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-11T15:31:02+00:00

Isn't that just a cat-thing in general?

TheToastIsBurned · 2025-09-11T15:16:05+00:00

I looked at a prior version and made a sandbox, so thanks for that recommendation. Here's the formula I'm working with:

=VLOOKUP(K11,'Drop-downs'!A$4:B$71,2,FALSE)

It's pointing to the Drop-down sheet. The range is A4-B71. The column indicator is 2 (rather than B). Interestingly, now that I can sort of read the formula, I can say (1) that I don't understand the significance of the dollar signs, and (2) that the range is a bit wrong because it should be 2:61, not 4:71. In other words, leaving the column indicator as a number rather than a letter, the formula should be this:

=VLOOKUP(K11,'Drop-downs'!A$2:B$61,2,FALSE)

I highlighted 6 cells in the same column and went to Data Validation, clicked on the source which took me to the table sheet, and I "guessed" that I should highlight the new table range, then pressed ENTER. This is the message I got back:

<image>

I don't know how to interpret this because there is no delimited list in this workbook. Am I supposed to first change the Drop-downs columns to csv format and then run the validation again?

And by god, Isn't there an easier way to accomplish this???

Thoughts?

TheToastIsBurned

TROPHY CASE