One on my favourite foreign cities is NYC, i've been there twice, always loved it.
Not sure i'd like to live there though (i feel the same about Paris).
Istanbul is also beautifull

I really love Aix en Provence, i was born and lived there 25 years. It's an average french city (pop 130 000), under the sun and lovely colors of provence.
It's an old city, with lot of roman inheritage.



Now I live close to Bordeaux, which is also a fine city (pop 800 000)

Great idea for a new thread!

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Ghent, home of Charles V:











http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Korenlei_1.jpg

http://www.backgroundpictures.org/p/...ium_ghent.jpg?

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Is that in the Dutch speaking part of the country?

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

Yes, it is.

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Yet another city to add to the list of places I want to visit.

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

Gotta pimp my town; Minneapolis



IMO, Minneapolis is still one of the largely unknown gems in the United States.

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

If you like the 'medieval' thing going on, Bruges will fit you even more. But I prefer Ghent (I study there) because of the peaceful, friendly atmosphere. The city centre of Ghent is medieval but the city is very much alive and vibrant.Bruges is almost an open air museum.

Bruges:

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I fear I have to disappoint you, thats the Zentralfriedhof you refer to. On my picture above you could see the Hernalser Friedhof on the other side of the city but with a very nice view.

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""Even though our unity is our strength, our diversity remains our wealth,""
Herman Van Rompuy

I liked Capitol Hill and the view from the old post office. The best view in central DC you get for free. Of course the amount and quality of free museums is just breathtaking but I had to little time to see more of them than the Air and Space Museum.
The way the subway fee system of DC works remains a mystery to me btw.

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""Even though our unity is our strength, our diversity remains our wealth,""
Herman Van Rompuy

This thread is about great cities of the world. I would like to mention what is said to be a "rough" beauty. The capital of Belgium and (de facto) of Europe: Brussels

I have heard its chaotic , rich, poor, old, new, breathtakingly beautiful and mindbogglingly ugly at the same time. It is an officially bilingual city (French, Flemish/Dutch) and a national capital of a nation many doubt that it exists in first place, Belgium. About 100 thousand people are said to either work directly for the EU or make a living in a job related to the EU. Add to that number those who are working at the NATO headquarters and don't forget the officials working for the Belgium government and you realize that this is a true global capital of bureaucracy.

At the same time, the city features all that Belgium is famous for a great and rich beer culture, for being a chocolate lovers heaven and also for Belgian comics. From what I have heard, after the first shock people find out that you can make a quite good living in this city, which is lying on so many cultural crossroads that it truly deserves being the political centre of Europe.







European Parliament

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""Even though our unity is our strength, our diversity remains our wealth,""
Herman Van Rompuy

I'm going to big up two cities, both of which are almost certainly undiscovered delights (Actually, one of them isn't a city...) for most people. First off, Nottingham; when most people think of it they think of gun crime and the meadows estate but its also the most beautiful city in England;

Market Square; the biggest square of its type in Britian with the beautiful city hall in the middle.


The City Hall;


The Olde Trip to Jersulum, the oldest pub in the world in its original C11th building-carved into the rockface of Castle Hill. If you ever get a chance to visit it, do...


Nottingham Castle, where the King Charles raised his standard to start the Civil War;


The Castle and the famous Robin Hood statue;


Jubalee Campus, at my university;


Nottingham University, Trent Building


O' the mist blowing in o'er trent, I disire, is only to be at O' City Ground, O' City ground, O' the mist blowing in o'er trent...

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What a pleasure to see all of these responses!

And Denis has returned to the forum. Very nice to see you again, sir.

There are so many interesting and thoughtful posts, and so many cities, that I will have to take the time to look carefully through all of them.

I will mention briefly that Ghent looks like a perfectly preserved masterpiece.

Very nice. I thought Bath and Wells were both interesting and beautiful.

I have also heard that Lincoln is an under-rated city as well.

Again?
Maybe one day
Anyway I've seen it and it was nice as long as I could stay, but honestly that wasn't too long as my kidney stones just started their funny trouble there. Weired how such little thing like a kidney stone can cause pain.

Somehow the Japs felt it was necessary to send me to hospital and given how efficent and cheap (compared to Germany) the system worked, Kyoto (or more precise the kidney stones) provided another interesting expierence.

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"Homo Homini Lupus"
Thomas Hobbes