I love European cities as much as the next guy. But I do get a bit tired of Canadians going on vacation to a city like London for a week, spending there time in the square mile and Harrod's and then declaring it to be the greatest thing on earth. Urban critiquing by casual tourism just seems hollow to me. I would probably like Toronto more if I got to stay in a hotel and spend my time taking pictures and going to museums.
That's why I am a big proponent of staycations.... I always try to see something new in the city I live in every year.
That being said,for vacation, between Toronto and London, I'd pick London. There's nothing like the British Museum or Library here..... or Covent Garderns or Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, etc. And let's not forget the Tube.
Would I want to live in London? Probably not. My British counterparts at work are absolutely stunned when they visit Canada and see our quality of life. They see what the price of a London flat can get in any Canadian city and are blown away. Heck, they are amazed by the fact that many of us have cars. And that most of us have cable with tons of channels. And that high speed internet is reliable and available in most households around our cities. Services and consumer choice in rural and exurban UK are far below what we are used to in North America.
Sure we don't have great transit, high speed inter-city rail, cheap 3G cellular, etc. but our quality of life is still a heck of a lot better than most of the world and we have the stats to back that claim up. And that's something we should appreciate.
I love Toronto but it's not sexy. Paris, New York, London, San Francisco, etc are sexy.
Agreed. I love Tdot cause its home. I doubt it'd make the top ten list of places you'd want to visit in your lifetime.....
On your list, the one place I'd disagree with is New York. I have never understood the appeal of NYC. To me its like Toronto except with meaner people, stranger smells, more garbage and bigger crowds. And its way more expensive. I don't like vacationing there and I would certainly never want to live there.