Forums > Social Chat > Is London the greatest city in the world? Who's got a better city and why?

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The_Pirate_Dyke_BoyHOP Lord of the Pirate Admiralty
1,079 posts
Location: Canterbury, UK


Posted:
In my personal opinion London has to be the greatest city in the world. No where is like it. Here is why.
1. The History. No other city in europe has as many ancient buildings on its streets, because of the fact that no armies fought over it in WW1 or WW2
2. The Markets. The markets in London are the best, most varied and the coolest in the world.
3. The streets. You could walk along the winding streets, lokking in shops, and architecture for hours, and never get bored.
4. The Thames. All those bridges, and Reclaim the beach! nuff said
5. I LIVE THERE!!!

If you wanna agree with me, please gimme 5 reasons why you agree (they can be repeated) or if you disagree tell me your fave city and give 5 reasons why its the best city in the world!
laterz

D.B.
X x X x X

Ship off the starboard! sound general quarters! noise and light discipline! man the cannons! GET ME THE RUM!

Master of the Free Hug Program


Magnusmember
279 posts
Location: Bath, UK


Posted:
I like Bath. London is big and smelly.

Magnus... pay it forward


KatBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
2,211 posts
Location: London, Wales (UK)


Posted:
Lesbian Lover.

London has loads of great stuff, most definitely.
But for me I would not give it the accolade of best city in the World - Nay! But then thats probably cause I prefer smaller City life. I have never gone 'WOW' in London like I have in Tokyo, walking out into Shinjuku or Shibuya for the first time.

Other things like constantly cancelled trains, rude people, expense of living, rain get me down.
The amount of racism that exists underneath the surface over here is also pretty depressing. The fact that my boyfriend and I have had a tough time in London has probably meant that I love London less than I would if we had a lucky break when we arrived here

But I do love the museums, markets, parks and the fact that there is always so much to do and lots of poi stuff going on! And the fact that sometimes you can be lucky enough to meet some truly extraordinary people and have cool experiences.

My fave cities if I was to choose to live in a city would be

Kyoto
1 - Mixture of traditional and contemporary architecture, very diverse
2 - Great food (yummy)
3 - Geisha!
4 - Festivals
5 - Vending machines where you can buy beer and smokes on teh street
6 - Safe

Akita
1- Close to the mountains so you can go snowboarding and to onsens every weekend in winter, hiking and to onsens in autumn, to the beach in summer, sit in the park admiring the cheery blossoms drinking sake in Spring
2 - Has a really good dance culture (not jaded like London
3 - - Has the best sake and food (Japanese, Indian and Asian fusion (Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian) I have ever ever tasted
4 - You can get around everywhere on your bicycle
5 - Trains run on time even in winter when snow is piled everywhere
6 - Safe

Galway
1 - More like a town than a city
2 - You can get around everywhere by bike
3 - Close to Connemara
4 - The 'craic is mighty'
5 - 2 of my sisters and 1 brother live there!

I have been living in London just over year now, and after a cracking summer I am really enjoying my experience in London. I don't agree with the 'if you're tired of London, you are tired of life' quote, but I don't see how anyone could possibly complain of being bored living in London.

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats


Trippie HippieBRONZE Member
old hand
733 posts
Location: Bewildered state of nothingness, United Kingdom


Posted:
I like Cheshire it's Green, and it's where i call home


Trippie Hippie- Monty Dons secret love child

Fly like a mouse, run like a pillow, be the small book case.

"Last night i met some pixies and we danced around a stone".

Because dressing up is fun.


_Stix_Pooh-Bah
2,419 posts
Location: la-la land


Posted:
IMHO - the only great bit about London are the nice green bits around it. London is great if you are a city mouse.. I'm a country mouse. I like green stuff.

I think all big cities have their oun charm, I used to live in Antwerp in Belguim and that city is small but full of the most fantastic achitecture..

I honour you as an aspect of myself..

You are never to old to storm a bouncey castle..


queen of wandsmember
127 posts
Location: Melbourne


Posted:
quote:
I have never gone 'WOW' in London like I have in Tokyo, walking out into Shinjuku or Shibuya for the first time.

Neither did I! I come from melbourne - approx 4 million people. Tokyo - approx 18 million people... The whole population of my country in a single city! It was pretty hardcore, but I came back feeling so appreciative of my personal space and fresh air more than anything else. One thing that really scared me most was that the sun had no clear outline, even in the country... It was just a mushroom pink blob in the sky...

Kyoto has to be my all time favorite city in Japan though... the juxtapostion of the old and new in such a post-nuclear country like Japan was astounding and sometimes surreal. I don't know about you, but to me it is a country that gets in your blood and refuses to let go. I will be back there, one day...

I'm not vegetarian, but currently I'm off my chops!


KatBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
2,211 posts
Location: London, Wales (UK)


Posted:
Too true Queen of Wands! Japan is my second home and if it was not for my family would be my permenant one

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Amsterdam. Because it's Amsterdam.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


SmallBoy - xCarpal \'Tunnel
2,737 posts
Location: London


Posted:
Amsterdam rules, but I iz liking London lots coz it has London poiers in it (Well most of them) and I wouldn't be without them.

Small Lardy Person In Disguise


Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
sydney would have been a contender for 'most liveable city', but it had a way higher crime rate than the tied winners Melbourne, Australia & Vancouver, Canada.
They aint the biggest of cities.

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


Raphael96SILVER Member
old hand
899 posts
Location: New York City, USA


Posted:
New York City. There are many other pretty places in the world, but nothing comes close to the endless possibilties that is the jewel in the crown.

I NY!

Raphael

NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
You'd think I'd be all "NYC!" and stuff and in a way I am..

If you're really looking for a true metropolis with anything and everything you could possibly want at any time of day, you simply can't beat New York City. It's a completely different town if you're a visiting tourist (most native New Yorkers have never seen most of the tourist spots anyway.)

I'm open to finding a city that parallels it. I just haven't yet. Chicago comes close in some areas but totally sucks in others.

Is there any other place in the planet that's more culturally diverse? Not a rhetorical question... If there is, I haven't been there.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
"Welcome to the Empire State. Home of the World Trade. Birthplace of Michael Jordan. Home of Biggie Smalls. Roc-A-Fella headquaters... Brooklyn, Harlem World. Welcome to New York City, Welcome to New York City!" -Jay-Z

Representin' BK,
-NYC-

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


Jomember
517 posts
Location: Sheffield, England


Posted:
You'll laugh...

Madison, WI. That town has such a nice vibe with plenty going on in the streets etc.

I would say Sheffield but the weather is far too bad. And London is WAY too unfriendly (not including the poi people obviously )

Educate yourself in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


RoziSILVER Member
100 characters max...
2,996 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
Mmmmm, Sydney is beautiful in spring. Warm, sunlight, happening, heading into free festival season.

But I must admit, cos I am a winter person, I love Melbourne. I have noticed something about it too, see if you can spot the connection. They have fantastic food, they have size 16 clothes in the designer dress stores, and no one jogs....

It was a day for screaming at inanimate objects.

What this calls for is a special mix of psychology and extreme violence...


Fire_Emanatormember
96 posts
Location: Australia


Posted:
London is smelly and full of miserable people, no view...Sydney is nice, but full of stuck up babylonians who are all obsessed with looking like the cover of the latest "Seventeen" Mag.
Prague is beautiful, cheap and has loads to do...great city. But Cape Town takes the Cake...Beautiful city nestled in Table Mountain, you can go clubbing, nip out drive up the mountan, swim in a mountain lake, then hop back down to he clun in time for a chalice out back in the time it takes to crush a pipe! It is also not so full of whiteys, and has that nice edge you always get from a city with a high crime rate! South African Girls are beautiful and full of beans, sydney girls are beautiful and full of Jim Bean, London lasses are tarts full of lager and Prague girls are just beaiutiful...

Come to think of it.....!!!I rather like Lagered up tarts...in fact..any lager tarts out there want to go for a lager in Sydney some time!!

Free your mind and your ass will follow!


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
I've actually heard really nice things about Madison, Jo. I just don't consider cute, quaint, urban conclomerations "Cities"... I really liked Montreal if you want to go cute and "small"... I know there are some other lovely Canadian cities that I haven't visited.

I'd like to get to Tokyo too, just so I can feel crowded and lost like a tourist does in NYC for once. But that's all the way over there.

Austrailia and New Zealand really suck though. Simply because they're so damn far away.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


Raymund Phule (Fireproof)Enter a "Title" here:
2,905 posts
Location: San Diego California


Posted:
I gotta put my home town in, Portales New Mexico. Once you get over the Dairy smell you will see the beautiful sunrises and sun sets, the dance of the winter wheat in the early morning breeze. The vast open skys. The friendly people, the smell of the peanut mills and corn sales in the fall. Nice wide clean streats down to earth folk that wave to eachother as they pass eachother driving down the road.

Little league baseball, highschool football games.

We dont have the history places like London but the town is only 150 years old heck its still leagle to carry your pistol with you everywhere but school grounds hehe.

Some Jarhead last night: "this dumb a$$ thinks hes fireproof"


pantsonfirethe man with the flaming pants
148 posts
Location: Brisvegas, Aust


Posted:
i'd love to be able to say brisbane is the best city, but I have only ever been to a handful of cities all in Queensland, so the biggest is brissy which is about 1 million people i think, I love the Brisbane, however I really cant comment! Wishing to travel!!!

It's all good


DomBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,009 posts
Location: Bristol, UK


Posted:
If we're talking about cities London is the most awful place in the world. It's also the greatest place in the world. That's what makes it so cool and interesting.

CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
London is claustrophobic, over crowded, polluted, expensive, grossly over rated, way too geared towards the ill judged, badly planned, ill conceived tourist trade
and full to the brim with people from London.That said I have encountered some plus points there (in no particular order):Small BoyJezDomGlasssnow leopard peltsPink PoiPink FlagsDFQBam BamTo name but a few.

Meh


Nephtysresident fridge magnet
835 posts
Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands


Posted:
Barcelona!! Why has nobody mentioned Barcelona yet? Or Rome!? Or Antwerp!? I really couldn't choose, I do love London (what I've seen of it, which was, admittedly mainly Camden, some of the museums (wow) Highgate cemetary and Hyde Park), but Barcelona & Rome are beautiful, Amsterdam is fun (but I wouldn't want to live there) and for living in, I really love the place I am now: Utrecht (also with a beautiful ancient town centre, but tiny compared to London, for all that it's one of the biggest cities in the Netherlands).... Aargh, i just don't have a fave city! They're all lovely! As are all places you go to get away from cities!!



Charlotte

everyone's unique except me


CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
I think they would've mentioned other places if I hadn't been and gone and killed the thread.

Well done for bringing it back to life.

[ 09. November 2002, 11:53: Message edited by: C@ntus ]

Meh


Spit-roastmember
13 posts
Location: sizzlin' on da fire!


Posted:
As far city's go all have amazing, good, bad and amazingly s**t points 2 them.
London's clubs, pubs and all it's night-life I love but change is good 2. So forget city's and say we all live on the best damn lifesustaining planet in the solar system, apart from mars, I hear its quit nice this time of year

trust no-one except who u trust


The_Pirate_Dyke_BoyHOP Lord of the Pirate Admiralty
1,079 posts
Location: Canterbury, UK


Posted:
Guys thaks so much for the input. i find it fascinating to hear of other people's views about the city i live in. It is true that it is geared to the tourist industry, but WHY... believe me you'd complain otherwise. Also You see london as smokey and grimey, but thats because of the myth of "The London Fog", but that fog moved to San Francisco with the Quakers (who's HQ is in London...). London is one of the greenest cities on the planet, with more parks and greens than any other city in at least europe. I felt choked in Paris because of its lack of parks like St. James, Regent's or Hyde park. Yes people can be unfriendly in London, but at least they move with a purpose (unlike Beijing) but they're not as aggressive as Calcuttans.
Perhaps the reason London is so incredible is that underneath all the crap you guys mentioned, it is still easy to find some truely beautiful places, walk into the right bar on a friday night and gain a whole new set of friends. rent a peddle-boat out onto the Serpentine and lie back in the hot summer sun. Head down to Camden lock for a spinning sesion and you suddenly your surrounded with poi, staffs, diablo's, everything. The fun in London is finding that incredible place, cuz when you do, you'll love London forever.

Keep them coming guys, luv u all

D.B.
X x X x X

Ship off the starboard! sound general quarters! noise and light discipline! man the cannons! GET ME THE RUM!

Master of the Free Hug Program


the mind gap.old hand
829 posts
Location: Brigadoon


Posted:
the only good thing i ever saw when i've been to london is the way out

all cities are dirty, smelly, polluted in uncountable ways and full of people who don't seem to understand why anyone would want to live anywhere else - it's because everywhere else is nicer than city life in every respect.

and london is the worst of all.
evil evil EVIL

wherever you go, there you are.


TheBovrilMonkeySILVER Member
Liquid Cow
2,629 posts
Location: High Wycombe, England


Posted:
I love London, but that's probably because I don't live there .

Living where I do, I don't get to see much of city life, and it's still very much new and interesting to me. Because of this, I tend to wander around London in awe of everything.
Having said that, I bet I'd start to miss living somewhere that doesn't have really tall buildings, or loads of pollution if I moved somewhere like London though - I'm generally a country mouse too.

Edinborough struck me as a nicer city, despite the killer hangover I was nursing when I visited (it was the day after my 19th birthday and I'd been hitting the spirits hard).
I was only there for one day though, and only saw the very centre, so my image of it might be skewed somewhat.
The same is true of Dublin actually.

I'd really like to visit some other cities, just to have a look around, but I don't see that happening in the near future, I just can't afford it right now.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.


The_Pirate_Dyke_BoyHOP Lord of the Pirate Admiralty
1,079 posts
Location: Canterbury, UK


Posted:
Hey, not all cities are evil. I myself was born in and spend a lot of time in Falmouth on the south coast of Cornwall. I love the country. When im there i love the laziness of my mates down there, the casuality of people expecting you to arrive late, no rush, clean sea air. But i love getting off the train coming back. gettinhg down onto the tube and re-imersing my self in city life.
Both are brilliant and both have up points and down. BUT I asked about cities and why you LIKE them.

Its all cool though

D.B.
X x X x X

Ship off the starboard! sound general quarters! noise and light discipline! man the cannons! GET ME THE RUM!

Master of the Free Hug Program



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