I do indeed live in Europe, and I pay for something with cash maybe once every few weeks. ATM (maestro, instant bank account transfer) card is used for everything in my country, from groceries to parking meters, to buying a car. Even random tiny vendor at backwater music festival will have a mobile card machine accepting them. Unlike some other countries there's no minimum acceptable amount for carding.
Credit cards are now accepted in most places as well, but certainly far from all, and there may be an extra fee. It depends on the card machine really, most card payment machines these days (fixed as well as mobile), regardless of the venue, will accept credit cards as long as they have both a chip and the PIN functionality. But every once in a while you'll encounter an old machine, or a machine with a slot that doesn't fit the credit card's extra height due to the relief of the numbers on it.
My American friends keep trying to convince me their credit card system is better, with all sorts of benefits if you play it right, insurance, etc. But we have consumer protections laws here that mean you don't really need that insurance, benefits are just costs siphoned somewhere else, the extra % for the charge is just thrown away money, and I like that my checking account immediately reflects spent funds.
What do I still use cash for? The increasingly rare parking meter that only accepts coins, and for leaving tips. Once in a while I'll pay somewhere in big bills just to get little ones and coins back to leave for tips in restaurants and bars. That is one thing the US does infinitely better: you can write the tip amount on the check. I really don't get why that system hasn't been adopted here, as I (and all the other locals) will always pay with our cards, and if no cash is on hand, no tip will be left (adding the tip to the carded amount usually means the money goes to the boss, not your waiters and chefs and whatnot). Of course, our waiters are actually paid real-people-wages unlike the US, but still.
