This definitely is a “racey” question!
Those who would chide Americans for wanting ice, in violation of European norms, should bear in mind that tourists might not be accustomed to local weather, such as hot and humid summers, that we might be particularly active, or that we might carry medications that need to be kept cold.
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My parents first took me to Europe when I was nine. I grew up in Canada, so I was already more restrained than Americans. (Canada was very British in those days. Most Sunday shopping was illegal in Ontario, the national and provincial broadcasters beamed moralistic, shame-based TV programming, and you felt like Oliver Twist if you asked for anything.)
Despite thoroughly enjoying my first six weeks in France and Germany, I remember remarking to my parents, on the flight home, that Europeans must not get thirsty the way North Americans do. At nine, I had already noticed that refrigerators in European homes didn’t cool well (or were so small that items had to be left out), that cold drinks were served warm, and that beverages for me (i.e., not wine or beer) came in tiny bottles. I might have to sip 200 mL of warm “limonade” (at a menu price of 15 francs!) for a half hour in blazing sun while grown-ups enjoyed 750 mL of beer (at a lower price, although the beer probably wasn’t much colder).
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I haven’t spent much time in England, but self-service ice remains unusual in France and Germany, too. I’d still be embarrassed to ask for ice at a European hotel. At least refrigeration technology has caught up in Europe, and I can buy whatever size of beverage, or whatever number of small bottles, for myself.
I walk a minimum of 15 km every day when I am Europe, so I get warm even during the shoulder season, or during today’s increasingly mild winters. In January/February of this year I was drinking about 3 L of water a day. Shopkeepers noticed when I kept coming in for cold bottles.
Last fall, I stayed at a Marriott hotel in Paris. Normally I avoid US chains in Europe, but I wanted to see what had become of the PLM Saint-Jacques, France’s most modern hotel when it opened in the early 1970s, and still remarkable when I first stayed there in the mid-1980s. I knew there was an American influence the moment I saw a giant glass dispenser filled with ice water in the lobby. For all that I speak French, cultivate relationships with locals, and try to blend in, I didn’t feel guilty in the least for enjoying a cup of ice water every time I returned to the hotel. (Two other unusual features were air conditioning that still worked during the shoulder season, and fire sprinklers — uncommon even in newer European hotels, despite some terrible fires, particularly in France.)
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