What countries do you like best?

[Imperialmajesty]

No love for the Swiss :-(

 

[aronnax]

I've never understood why people find it "the most beautiful". It's nice, but the most beautiful? Come on.

Anyway, the Nazis (and the Allies) did some damage, but the real blow was delivered by the Commies.

Well its much better than the other European Cities I have been too. IMO, the following cities are...uh
Observe.

Rome : Every wall has graffiti, even the Roman momunments. Beggars throng through the streets. A lingering feeling that my bag has been ripped apart.

Paris : Very Pretty but in neighbourhoods further away from the river and the Lourve, the more replication each street gets. Too tourist-ty, they seem to be everywhere. Same reason why I find Charles Bridge very annoying. At some places, very dirty. I feel there are more cars in Paris than all of France. Though in this case, the content beats the packaging (the musuems are awesome! Plus American tourists hate musuems!), if you can run away from the tourist groups fast enough. Love the cafes too. Plus despite being 15, I was able to buy pornography and was invited twice to watch a strip show.

Madrid: Pasty brown buildings seems to be the base design of all the Spanish buildings. The Streets are for people who made peace with god. Crossing the road is scary.

Barcelona: See Madrid, I thought that huge church they were building was rather ugly.
NOTE: I did not have a good experience in Spain, my tour group apparenly arranged a pilgrimage to every church between Gilbratar and Barcelona. I did not like it. After that trip I never went on a tour vacation again.

Naples: Naples? Naples!!?? NAPLES!!!???? Please. The Pizza and coffee was good though.

Istanbul: All so beautiful but all the people are like ants crawling over the cities. There are people EVERYWHERE. Half of them tourist. When I went to the Topaki Palace, it was like entering a shopping mall. But Hagia Sophia was so awesome that I nearly wept a tear.

Athens: Athens was...dusty. And a little plain in terms of design. But it was fun. My mum got drunk drinking there.


Prague on the other hand, is so...shiny. Okay firstly, its very easier to walk around the city. Secondly, traffic is very quiet. I was amaze at the lack of traffic in Prague, it was as if I stumbled into some car-free zone.
The city is very bright with colour, rooftops of shiny red and orange, the walls seem to alternate colours. Sure at some places there are a lot of people such as the Bridge (God I hated walking through there) but it is not as bad as Paris or Rome. Novi Mesto and Hdacardy(???) have very little tourist and alot parks and squares. Prague is also full of hidden alleys that contain little treasure. I had such a great impression on Prague compared to any other European city. Plus again, as a 15 year, I got into a gay club near my hotel without any ID. Do I look that old in Europe?

 

[Bill3000]

Top 3:

1. USA
2. Germany
3. Greece

Bottom 3:

1. United Kingdom
2. China
3. Singapore

 

[aronnax]

Top 3:

1. USA
2. Germany
3. Greece

Bottom 3:

1. United Kingdom
2. China
3. Singapore

I disagree. Malaysia is like a giant version of Singpore. Singapore is the 2nd worst country in the world... Malaysia the worst.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

My favorite countries tend to be fictional. All real countries have significant failings.

Also, I've never left the US so I an opinion would have to be based mostly on hearsay.

 

[plarq]

I disagree. Malaysia is like a giant version of Singpore. Singapore is the 2nd worst country in the world... Malaysia the worst.

Why not North Korea?

 

[flyingchicken]

Dead countries are the best! I like reading books, watching or listening to shows, and playing games about dead countries. I really dunno why. Dead countries are just so cool, I suppose!

 

[Masada]

Why not North Korea?

It's an honest autocracy ?

 

[plarq]

It's an honest autocracy ?

They call themselves a democracy, so no.

 

[Masada]

They call themselves a democracy, so no.

They call themselves a democracy but nobody believes it. Compare and contrast with Singapore

 

[REDY]

Developed democracies only:
Switzerland - unique political system, Alps..different languages...not in EU...purple cows....fascinating
Belgium - nearly best beer + best chocolate...two things which I like best
USA - there is everything what I like and what I hate, but when I will choose...
X
Austria-some their political groups act againist Czechs as they would have some complexes

 

[Shaihulud]

I like Australia and Germany for varied reasons, the country I dislike based on principle would be Saudi Arabia. The country I would hate to be stranded in would be Somalia or some other distressing 3rd world country.

 

[aronnax]

They call themselves a democracy but nobody believes it. Compare and contrast with Singapore

Well you see, North Korea is a descpicable, lying, backstabbing, authorative,totalitarian, evil, manipulative, suspicious, annoying shrew with Korean Culture.

Singapore is a descpicable, lying, backstabbing, authorative,totalitarian, evil, manipulative, suspicious, annoying shrew with a fake culture.

Malaysia is Just a larger version of singapore. Therefore it sucks that much more.

Thats why Malaysia is the worst country in the world

 

[CaptainF]

Switzerland, Canada, Argentina, Spain, India, USA.

 

[raketooy]

In no particular order:

Finland. Ok, I might be a bit biased here, but the welfare state thing works really well here, our education is good and we are good at hockey.
Sweden. A slightly larger version of Finland with different language and legal [wiki]snus[/wiki].
Spain. Nice climate and I like their culture. IMO Barcelona and Madrid are both kick-ass despite what aronnax said. Some of the smaller cities are very pleasant.
Netherlands. If I'm correct, it's a Scandinavian-style welfare state. Cities are close to each other and other major cities of Europe are quite close, too.
Switzerland. Apparently they've got a great quality of living.

 

[Lillefix]

Seems to me Americans in particular are very quick to choose their own country...

In any case. I love France. Not sure why, but I like the language, weather and the highly developed rail transport. Germany is lso okay.

 

[Cato the Elder]

I've never understood why people find it "the most beautiful". It's nice, but the most beautiful? Come on.

Anyway, the Nazis (and the Allies) did some damage, but the real blow was delivered by the Commies.

This is true. Communists were a lot of things, but I think that nearly nobody can deny, that their taste in architecture was mediocre at best.

However, you don't see much of this if you don't go outside of the city centre, which is well, what most tourists don't do.

 

[Shekwan]

The title explains it all. What are your favorite countries? What are your least?

My top fav are...
1. USA! USA! USA! It's a great country!!! The rollin' hills, great history. For those of you think that Bush screwed up the world, so do we. Al Gore actually got more votes, and Bush's approval ratings are 32%. We seriously think he was the worst president of all time.
2. Ireland, it's just a such beutiful country.
3. England. So damn cold, but a pretty cool place.
4. Spain.
5. Japan.

You seriously overestimate Ireland. Probably the most corrupt government in Western Europe, rather limited social scene (just drink!), boring cities, climate is worse than England and you seem to hate theirs.

UK!! God save the Queen!! Scotland the Brave, All that, Sucessor to the Largest, most badass empire of all time. Delicious Scones and tea. My coloniser! Best of all, they have a track record of whopping France!

I've always found it odd that people admire a country that colonised them. This seems to happen a lot with people from Asian countries the British colonised - I used to work with an Indian guy who though that Britain was the centre of the universe and that it was a model for other countries to follow. I don't get it.

Being that I have only been in two countries, my choices are limited. I'll go for my home of the USA, for the simple reason that despite the fact we fall flat on our faces, we can pick ourselves up afterwards and make a serious effort to fix our mistakes.

You think other countries don't try to fix their mistakes?

I too find it odd that people are picking the country they live in as one of the most admirable (Not singling out any nationalities ) I would have though that living or growing up in a country would mean that you're exposed to all the negative aspects of that place, and as such can find a lot to give out about. Meh, I'm gonna put it down to nationalism.

Well anyways, out of the countries I've been to the three that I'd most like to live in are Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

 

[dwaxe]

Top
1. The Vatican
2. Sudan
3. Pakistan
4. Iran

Bottom
4. Norway
3. Japan
2. Denmark
1. Sweden

 

[Elta]

Switzerland, Canada, Argentina, Spain, India, USA.

These 5

Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, New Zeland, Australia, Norway, Sweden, U.K., Ireland, Italy and France.


Haven't been to all of them, but intend too


And in the intrest of being on Civilization centric, my top 5 non Western countries: Ghana, South Africa, Japan, India (again) and China