Poland is definitely high on my list of European countries I want to visit.

x2.

I complain about the winter, but I'd probably complain more if there was no ice to play hockey on.

Luckily, as an American, the only stereotype for Poles I have is the screen door submarine thing.

Our best welders/fabricators are Polish, and are highly respected around my place of employment. Also, I frequent a Polish deli that's located in a predominantly Polish area with some real cutie's that work behind the counter. I don't hear the Polish jokes too often, and when I do, it's usually some half wit ignoramus that no one pays attention to anyway.

Heck, my ex was Polish and she was always the first one to make fun of herself, and blame her heritage when she did something of questionable intelligence.

Which she did quite often.

Which is why I now refer to her as my ex.

New York City

Pros:
exciting and high energy
very diverse population
thousands of diverse restaurants
art galleries and museums
great walking city
you can find entertainment and interest everywhere
great music scene – music venues ranging from very large to tiny clubs
Central Park – beautiful, and an endless oasis
Greenwich (West) Village
East Village (the West and East Villages are the best parts of NYC, imo)
the skyline
The Highline
Williamsburg (growing by leaps and bounds musically/artistically; yes, it’s hipster-ridden, but I don’t mind hipsters at all.)
Long Island City/Astoria (growing artistically/film industry-wise)
Upper West Side (there’s a saying here: On the Upper East Side they line their walls with mirrors, on the Upper West Side they line their walls with books. An unusually family-oriented neighborhood for Manhattan.)
Lower East Side

Cons:
hectic working life and everyday life
very expensive – astronomical rents and prices in general
rude people
snooty rich people, especially in SoHo
crazy cab drivers
incredibly competitive in every way
New Yorkers sometimes think the world revolves around them
dirty streets and garbage (much cleaner than it used to be, though)
overpopulated – crowds and lines everywhere
overbuilding and high rents have driven out interesting “mom & pop” stores in favor of chain stores
sardine-can subways
train delays
traffic
tourist trap Times Square
extremes of weather: sweltering, humid summers / freezing winters with dirty snow and ice

This is ****ing incredible! A city that walks! I have GOT to go there! (Or maybe it'll find its way here...)

:D

New Yawk is made for walkin', and that's just what we'll do. One of these days we'll walk to Eire and walk all over you. :laughing:

So, Liverpool is the city I'm from and have lived in my entire life, so the pros and cons..

What I like:

How aesthetically beautiful it is, there are some truly amazing streets and lots of beautiful and imposing architecture around the city.

The layout of the city centre and how accessible it is, you can get from one side to the other in about 20 minutes flat (although where the city centre begins and ends varies depending on who you talk to, I don't think it's as definitive as some places).

How much ethnic diversity there is, but obviously that isn't exclusive to Liverpool and you'll often find that in most/all big cities in the UK now, however I found Newcastle to be very white when I visited last summer..

The amazing culture and how much there is to do, we are spoiled in Liverpool and do very well for ourselves considering we're next door to the 'capital of the north west' (Manchester). We have four amazing museums, numerous amazing art galleries (including a Tate), a beautiful central library, tonnes of great restaurants and some brilliant venues (one of which being the Kazimier which is, imo, the best small venue in the country) and a really great independent scene. And tying in with what I said before about the layout of the city centre, everything is within spitting distance of one another too, you don't have to take a bus or a train or a tube to get from one thing to the next, it's all within close proximity.

How Liverpool has reinvented itself over the past 7 years. If you're from the UK you'll no doubt know that Liverpool was a bit of a derelict hole up until about 2008/2009 when its regeneration really started taking place, the city was crowned Capital of Culture which obviously helped a great deal. Now, the city is thriving and it's the best it's ever been and it seems to just keep growing. The economy is the fastest growing outside of London and there are new and exciting things happening here all the time, it's so lovely to see.

What I dislike:

The fact that you can barely go anywhere without seeing/hearing about something to do with The Beatles. I get that they were huge and influenced a lot of modern music, but come on!

Obnoxious tourists. It's not particularly hard to avoid tourists, you just need to stay away from The Albert Dock and Mathew Street, but sometimes it's just exhausting. Though, without tourism, Liverpool would struggle a lot more than it does, so obviously I understand its importance.

The current rise in crime rates, Liverpool has never been a utopian paradise and anyone that claims it has and ever will be is delusional. It's always had its problems and that will never go away, but lately there has been a huge increase in violent crime and it's getting out of hand. We have our fair share of gang rivalries too and stuff like that happening in the city you live in is just really unpleasant. I've personally never experienced any issues and I feel safe here and have walked around different parts of suburbs in the dead of night and have felt fine, but I know there are some dangerous and awful people out there but I don't know of any major UK city that can say they don't have that, really.

Peoples misconceptions about the city and its people. As I mentioned earlier, before its recent generation a lot of Liverpool was run down and derelict and for years the papers targeted Liverpool for that reason and published a lot of propaganda about the city and how all Scousers are thieves, yada yada. It bothers me that to this day there are still people out there with these views, people who either have never ever visited Liverpool or haven't visited in 10+ years and have no idea what it's like now. People are legitimately shocked when they walk around and see how nice a place it is and how much it has to offer and sadly a lot of people also seem really annoyed that Liverpool has managed to come back from what was deemed the point of no return and become the place it is today. I'm not really sure I can use this point in my dislikes *about* the city, it's more about clueless outsiders, but still.

All in all, Liverpool is great, and I would wholly recommend it to anybody who hasn't visited before or who hasn't been back recently.

No contest for me. I come from a hardy, tough people who can withstand subzero winters and blistering summers, on occasion a few days apart from one another. Detroit was once a beacon in America, setting the stage for factory life, where a normal man or woman could make a decent living without schooling. And its slowly coming back.

Motor city, dude. Member of the speed cult, of hot rods and bikers, of cigarette smoking blue collar men and women with a beer in their hand and murder mitten metal at their regular bars. I might someday leave, but I'll always love my roots, and the stench of exhaust clinging to denim and leather while we meander from city to the rural woodlands in less than half an hour.

I love this state, and no tourist could ever understand.

Thanks for the kind words about Poland, but just in case anyone is confused - I didn't come here to gather praise :D Though I thank you all for it.
Anyway, since everyone is describing their cities, I figure it's only fair I do so too.
Poznań.

Pros:
Kind of a big city in a small package, you get the big city amenities without the big city hassle.
Really pretty
Really walkable
Great public transport
Beautiful parks
Tons of history - to choose only one part, there are 16 forts inside the city, remnants of old fortifications. Some are huge, some are small, all are fascinating.
It's close to everything, you can get to Warsaw, Berlin, to the sea and to the mountains in under 3 hours.
Cons:
The traffic where I live is terrible. It takes me ~40 minutes to walk to work or ~50 to drive there..
The old town square, while pretty, recently became kind of a scary place at night .. unless you're interested in getting your face bashed in by a bunch of football hooligans and/or regular drunk idiots.
You can't order any half decent take out. The choice is between crappy pizza or even crappier pizza .. and that's it. Plenty of good places to eat - but they don't deliver.

What is Polish pizza made with anyway? Goat cheese, raw beef, and sadness?

I'll do two considering my location. This is being doe in five minutes because I have work.

NJ

Pros - Gorgeous lakes. Gas attendants. Less shopping tax. Beaches that don't suck as much as you think. Hiking. You can literally get whatever you want at any mall near you. Bagels. Pizza.

Cons - NJ Drivers. NJ housewives. Passaic County. Road repair sucks. The snow sucks. Christie sucks.

New York City

Ribbons hit it on the head. Literally everything Ribbons said.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't but this wins Trollheart's Post of the Week. For which you win nothing. It will not be delivered by UPS, but will be left in a dustbin you never use, halfway down an alley frequented by drunks and winos and coke ... on second thoughts, maybe you do use it.

Actually,**** it: I'm sigging this.

Speaking of pizza, me and my boss met a customer here for lunch today and chowed down a sausage, pepperoni, and meatball pie. Best NY style crispy thin crust pizza in San Diego.

Pizzeria Luigi - Golden Hill and Northpark- San Diego, CA

:laughing:

i honestly don't understand the goat cheese and raw beef references but for some reason i still found this funny

India
I Like exotic places here, and all sort of different cuisines we have from different region. I love several languages which sound sweet even when being used in arguments. I love Indian clothing of all region & religion.


I Dislike people being egoistic about there caste, creed, status, looks, profile etc. I hate riots been occurred for silly reasons & due different religion. I really don't like arrange marriage system here.

Birmingham:

Pros:

- Basically a smaller London, second largest UK city and far cheaper than the Big Smoke
- The location; the heart of England
- A city of innovators (see: The Lunar Society), more new businesses than anywhere outside the capital
- More universities than anywhere outside London
- Curry capital of Europe, a plethora of cheap, excellent balti houses in all corners of the city
- Food hub, more Michelin restaurants than Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds combined
- Very green city and is now a biophilic city along with Oslo and I think San Francisco
- Home of several sports inc. UK Athletics, the Football League, Tennis and Rugby
- Loads of beautiful parks including possibly the largest city park in Europe outside a capital (Sutton Park), Lickey Hills and the home of the Lord of the Rings, Moseley Bog
- Shopping hub with the Bullring plus Grand Central opening this year as well as Resorts World
- The NEC
- The Midland Metro
- The new NIA (Barclaycard Arena) is fucking sexy
- Spitfires, Minis, JCBs, Land Rovers & Jaguars
- The music is actually a true representation of the demographics of our city; Heavy Metal, Bhangra, Reggae, Ska etc
- Plenty of 'largest' festivals e.g. largest German market outside Germany, largest St. Patrick's Day parade in UK etc
- Cadbury
- Beautiful Jacobean and Victorian architecture
- Best skyline in UK alongside maybe Liverpool
- Suburbs best in UK outside of London; Four Oaks, Little Aston, Edgbaston etc
- English spoken today is derived from Birmingham & the Black Country
- A load of new developments I can't be bothered to list right now
- The accent m8 :cool:

Cons:

- A city of well over a million people deserves a bus system that runs past midnight ffs
- Religious nutters along New Street and outside the TK Maxx store stopping you going about your daily business
- Not much of a strong identity especially compared to the big northern cities
- Not enough high rise buildings though this is more a UK problem than a Brum specific one
- Pessimistic/self deprecating locals
- Doesn't market itself well
- Not a great tram system but that will end this year when the Metro opens
- Furthest place in the UK from a beach? Though we have an artificial one in summer in Victoria Square
- Non Muslims are not allowed in

And just a pinch of prejudice sprinkled on top :D

A Polish pizza ain't bad actually, it's something like this:
http://pizza.e-podhale.com.pl/wp-con.../10/Genova.jpg
Slices of Polish sausage and slices of pickles (potentially with more meat, onions, mushrooms) and it is surprisingly tasty! Well, sometimes.

Edit:
I've never eaten goat cheese, though I do see it on occasion in stores. Raw beef ? Like carpaccio ? I ate it twice, at Italian restaurants :D Sadness - that's true. Major part of our diet, swallowing our tears and whatnot.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2753/4...e0b5b3a09e.jpg

Me neither. Goat cheese just felt right and I once heard a story about some place in Poland where everyone was eating raw beef. No idea if that's even a thing or if this place was an anomaly.

This post is spot on. Only just seen it. I used to have that ignorant opinion of Liverpool (dump, thieves etc) but having been there, it's a really nice place. It's better than Manchester.

Your point about Newcastle is interesting cos that's always been my view of the North East.

Re: Misconceptions, I know that feel. Once you've got it, it's nearly impossible to change.

I live in a suburb of Seattle.

Cool:

- transit to pretty much anywhere during normal hours of the day.
- hella trees and nature and shit.
- you can get coffee pretty much anywhere anytime.
- I don't know, it's just the best place I've ever called "home"

not cool:

- the ocean isn't close enough.
- there aren't any record stores.
- creeps galore, and the homeless population is ridiculous.

Convenience stores in Ontario sell some godawful just-add-water sludge they call "Seattle's Best Coffee". I hope that's not true.

clearly starbucks is seattles best coffee

Seattle's Best Coffee is known as the superior even though it's owned by Starbucks, which is odd.

The stuff you can get here is instant and really watery, so it's probably not up to Seattle's standard. Wouldn't know; I was too young to drink coffee when I visited.

Of course we're spoiled, having Tim Hortons and all.

Sorry man, I don't come on here often, so only just seen this.

Yeah Liverpool is genuinely a beautiful city and in terms of niceness, absolutely knocks Manchester out of the park. The only thing Manchester really has over us is the gig scene there, but that's just down to logistics cos it's bigger and therefore it has more people, more venues, more promoters. Nothing else.

I suppose you're in a similar boat with being from Birmingham, hardly a city with a good rep but it's such a beautiful place and has some of the most imposing, wonderful architecture I've seen. Before a couple of years ago, I'd only ever been to Birmingham to change at New Street on my way further down south or through on the coach and I thought the place was a dump, cos the coach station is in Digbeth (iirc?) and it's just not a nice area at all, but every city has that and once you get past that (and the absolute eyesore that is the Bullring, let's be honest) it's SO lovely. Went to the Institute to see Melvins a few years ago and my friend who's from Stoke and knows Birmingham fairly well took me around parts of the city centre I had never seen before and I was genuinely dumbfounded at how lovely it was.

I'm generally not a fan of huge city centres like London and Manchester and to some degree, Leeds, but Birmingham does it well. I'm just used to Liverpool being small and compact and having such a well thought out layout that other city centres just do my head in.

Birmingham is probably the only city further south to Liverpool that I actually like, though. Well Sheffield too, which I discovered recently is EVER SO SLIGHTLY further south to Liverpool and that blew my head off.


EDIT - with regards to the North East, I've been to Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. All of them are pretty awful bar Newcastle, I've been to NCL a few times for nights out but never really seen the city. Went for a day out there last year and scaled the whole city centre and drove around some of the suburbs as a friend and I were actually considering moving there for a bit of a change as we'd both enjoyed it on previous visits. It's very very similar to Liverpool in lots of ways, we kept noticing similarities and then we'd follow it up with "..but it's just not as good as *whatever we were comparing it to in Liverpool*" - like their Quayside is such a poor man's version of The Albert Dock, their Chinese arch on Chinatown is tiny compared to ours (ours was crafted by 20 craftsmen who were flown over from Shanghai just to build it and is the biggest outside of China, second only to one in Washington) and the Tyne river looks pathetic compared to the Mersey. Even down to stuff like one of their main shopping streets, Northumberland Street, is very similar to Church Street in Liverpool but it's just nowhere near as nice, aesthetically.

One thing I will say though, is Grey Street in Newcastle is genuinely one of the most beautiful streets I've ever seen, even if the buildings along there are a bit repetitive and there is no diversity, it's still gorgeous.

Must say, though, very few streets can rival Castle Street here in Liverpool.

This has been really interesting to read, I definitely appreciate and identify with both your descriptions.

I'm currently situated in Blackpool (which for the benefit of our US buddies is on the northwest coast), but I lived in Liverpool very briefly after I was born and was too young to remember it, but grew up in Birmingham then spent about a decade living in Manchester for uni and afterward. In the process spent a bit of time visiting Liverpool as I met my fiancé while she was temporarily living there.

Interestingly I've lived in both the city centres and suburbs of Birmingham and Manchester so feels like I saw both sides of what each city was like.

I have to say I admire your positive spin on Birmingham - personally I hated everything about it except the only rock clubs at the time which were Snobs and Exells (can't remember how to spell, maybe that's right) but we're talking the early 2000s here. I left pretty much at my first realistic opportunity.

Totally agree with everything said about Liverpool based on my experience, although I'm a bit too biased towards Manchester to say Liverpool is "better."

I'll do a review of Blackpool if I find time later. Oh and for reference I've also lived in Bolton, Salford and Stockport. Let's literally not go there.

My take away from this is that everybody in England hates every English city.

Not at all, I love Manchester as much as I love Thrice. Y'know, the radiohead of the hard rock/metal world.

I'll see you dead.

Technically I live / work in Metro Vancouver but I was born and raised in a small town about an hour away called Chilliwack and have spent every weekend there since I moved for school. I fully intend on moving back there once I'm in the right position to do so, and probably living there, or at least somewhere in the Fraser Valley, until I die. It's basically The Shire, no place on Earth that I've been to has ever come close to bringing me as much comfort and freedom to explore. The town is basically layed out across a flat valley completely encircled by tall mountains with a river bordering it. A 15 minute drive to edge of the valley and you're free to explore an endless labyrinth of trails, private campsites, mountains, caves, streams, swamps, and waterfalls. Here are some pictures I've taken on my cellphone of the town and the surrounding area:

http://i.imgur.com/mDyXzNW.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/nubHrE0.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/LC4CO6G.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/arxdcT1.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/DObaUlq.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/DxMdebs.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/s393Ufw.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/qDHg1ak.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/CPKOKDG.jpg?1

EDIT: Vancouver and the surrounding districts lost their appeal on me within months of moving here. While growing up I always thought I'd enjoy the big city more but the longer I spend here the more I want to move back home. I totally understand that a lot of people really enjoy the service overload of the city, where you can basically get off a bus anywhere and have infinite things to do (provided you can afford it), or the mind boggling architecture, or the feeling of being completely anonymous in a sea of thousands of people, or the near instant access to any food or product imaginable, but coming in from a small town, it just takes the form of a massive imposing grey concrete prison. The metro feels like a can of sardines, the air smells of exhaust and trash, the skyscrapers block out the sun and mountains, your ears are constantly bombarded by engine noises and construction sites, and you'll never have the chance to walk down an empty street at night, nothing ever sleeps in the city. Never thought I'd sound like such a redneck, but living in Vancouver has made me more of a hick than I ever was growing up.

At least it's easy to get a job.

Blackpool, UK

Positives
- By the sea, loads of beaches and fronts in neighbouring Lytham and St Annes etc.
- Old skool Victorian piers, at one point was a real holiday destination
- Has a landmark tower
- Some cosy little rock venues
- Good range of 24 hour supermarkets dotted around
- Not too far from the peak district for hiking etc.
- House prices away from the town centre and front are dirt cheap (see negatives)
- Plenty of decent takeaways around
- Decent shopping precinct
- Not bad if you're into cycling
- Great zoo
- Winter gardens and the tower ballroom are decent venues for the limited acts that play there

Negatives
- Town centre overrun with chavs and drug addicts
- ...plus tourists and drunk idiots at all times of day in the city centre as a popular choice for stag/hen weekends
- ...plus gypsies everywhere trying to take advantage of the tourists
- Too small to have a surprising number of mid-level chain stores
- Only one cinema in the whole area as far as I'm aware
- Entire front and all 3 piers fallen into disrepair so no longer a desirable holiday destination unless you're flat broke and desperate
- Pretty much a regional peninsula so awkward to travel to anywhere else in the UK
- Ladies aren't nearly as attractive as in neighbouring Preston, Lancaster, Liverpool or Manchester. Except Mrs Jonts of course.

Blackpool then:
http://http://www.victorian-era.co.u...op/brit173.jpg

Blackpool now:
http://http://www.johndavies.org/pic-blackpool2.jpg

Dude you live in a postcard, it looks incredible. :yeah:

Great pics EPOCH6. Reminds me of up in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

I spent my first 37 years in Methuen, MA. Small town north of Boston that's 50 years older than the United States (inc. in 1726)

Way back when the towns land was split up between three extremely wealthy dudes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nevins,_Sr.

Edward Francis Searles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles H. Tenney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They each spent considerable amounts of money building their respective homes and various other buildings in the town. They also separated their lands with castle walls. It's like a trip in the way back machine driving around town. Some pics here.

https://www.google.com/search?q=meth...w=1920&bih=956

The town is also home to one of the largest pipe organs in the world.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...1657c64fc9.jpg

As boring as living in Hampton Roads, Virginia can be, the Norfolk Naval Base has ensured that the recession has been relatively mild around here. I understand the idea of reducing the size of the military, but since my area is going to be directly affected by military cutbacks, I have significantly less sympathy for the idea than I would if I lived elsewhere. Seriously, this area lives or dies by the military. I forget what the statistics were, but something like 3/4 of every job around here is either directly or indirectly connected with the military. If you want a non-military middle class job without a college degree, then pretty much your only option is something involving the shipyard.

I guess that's both pro and con.

I thought you were from Florida.

And I thought you were from the Atlantic Ocean. We all have our illusions.

@Epoch - You have some beautiful scenery.

What's the legal drinking age where you're from?

Ah, Blackpool. My auntie moved from here to Blackpool (no idea why anyone would ever do that, frankly) years ago so I've spent a fair amount of time there. It's not the worst place, but it's full of the worst stag/hen do's imaginable and a lot of the residents are awful and seem small minded, as you mentioned. Brilliant zoo, though! I absolutely love that Rebellion is still going strong there too, and to be fair, it seems to be getting better as the years go on! This years line up is great.

The thing with Manchester and Liverpool is really, they're not even comparable as cities, the only reason they're ever paired and put up against one another is because they're in the same region. But like they are SO different it's untrue. Liverpool is more like Newcastle and Manchester imho is more like London or even Leeds so I don't know why they don't get compared as much.

I genuinely do believe Liverpool is a much -nicer- city, though, and I don't even think I'm being biased when I say that and it's got nothing to do with the whole Scouse/Manc rivalry either, because that's just pathetic. If I thought Manchester was nicer, I'd just say, but the truth is I really really don't. I reckon in terms of opportunity if you're wanting to progress in certain occupations then Manchester knocks Liverpool out of the park and as I mentioned before their gig scene is second only to London, but I've never ever thought Manchester was even the tiniest bit nice, the only reason their opportunities are more plentiful and they have so many bands touring there is because of its size and that it has more venues, the crowds in MCR at gigs are mostly awful (I spent probably most of my teens in MCR as Liverpool had a serious gig drought and no one came here for AGES so I had to be there all the time, so it's not like I've just been to the odd show there, I've been to ****ing loads). I also just find it far too big without there actually being THAT much there? And the city centre is weird and I don't even know where it begins or ends? There's far too many awful high rise buildings and flats too, sadly Manchester is a prime example of crass gentrification and so far Liverpool has been lucky enough to escape that on the most part and architecturally, Liverpool shames Manchester. I've also ALWAYS said that the people in Manchester are very stand-offish and cold, considering it's a northern city where, mostly, the people are very welcoming. I think that's why I see it as the north's answer to London, because of its size and how much the people are so unlike northerners in most other cities up here.

You've moved around a fair bit, then! I've only ever lived in Liverpool. Never left the place and I don't think I ever will. If I do, the only place I'd move to would be Berlin. There's not a chance I'd leave Liverpool to go and live in another part of this country. I got close last year when a friend and I were gonna move to Newcastle but it never materialised cos when we went there to visit, as I mentioned earlier, we just realised that there was literally no point. Even though its council keeps making questionable choices and our mayor is a ****ing horrible greedy idiot, Liverpool has everything you could possibly want in a city and I absolutely adore the place, through and through.

Woah, this sounds like a London vs Manchester vs Birmingham vs Liverpool thread to me. It does seem silly to compare them in various contexts but people do anyway.

Personally I gradually moved to Blackpool for the love of a good woman, she got me closer and closer with Salford and Bolton but eventually I relented. Having been here for over 2 years now I'd be curious to know what your Auntie's excuse was, since she was already on the coast?

And I'd forgotten about the zoo! Damn, will have to edit my post forthwith.