It's official: BXL tops A'dam

[Stig]

Baba I suggest you come over to Twente (where I come from) and visit the real small villages. They are no-where near Amsterdam, Brussel or even The Hague (tho that isn't a city, doesn't have the rights). To me all of Rotterdam looks like the Groninger Museum ... well maybe not that bad but it just lacks atmosphere, just how I would say that New York doesn't have atmosphere, like the Docklands in London don't have atmosphere, while the City does. For me Rotterdam just lacks that city-ness which makes the city nice to me. I'm from the countryside, it's not like I want to stay there, but if possible I want to affoid the Randstad, give me the countryside, I prefer the small villages here, I like the fact that I had to cycle 8 km to school everyday, and you still had to go back then, I even like the language they speak here, tho it can be irritating when talking to "Hollanders" (everyone west of the IJssel).
When I think of a city, I don't think of New York and anything else with far more then 5 million inhabitants, when I say "city" I say: Prague, Vienna, Rome, London, even Amsterdam or things like York, Brugge and stuff.


And Brussel is the most important city in the EU

[The Wizard]

As I said... to each his own.

But I live smack dab in the middle of the bloody Bible Belt, on Goeree-Overflakkee, as rural as it gets (though you can usually find me in glorious Rotje Knor), and the core of our village looks almost exactly the same as the core of Amsterdam save perhaps the height of the buildings (in Amsterdam they're marginally higher... wow).

I just find that most Dutchmen -- that is, those not from Rotterdam -- view the concept of "city" exactly like they did five centuries ago... yawn. Real cities are Rome, Istanbul, NYC, Paris (though everybody knows it's crackin' in Paris outside of the city core! ), Miami, and yes, Rotterdam... that's where it's up. Amsterdam, Utrecht -- anything in the Benelux not Rotterdam... it just looks like a freakin' village! Get me outta here and back to the urban environment!

And Brussel is the most important city in the EU

For political reasons, maybe... economically (but not only that!), I fear Rotterdam is simply the EU's most important city by quite a margin -- all thanks to its harbor, the gates of Europe. 'Course, you could argue that that has little to do with the real city of Rotterdam (the Europoort is ten kilometers away at the least), but most of the riverboats are near the city core...

[Vladimir]

But I live smack dab in the middle of the bloody Bible Belt, on Goeree-Overflakkee, as rural as it gets (though you can usually find me in glorious Rotje Knor), and the core of our village looks almost exactly the same as the core of Amsterdam save perhaps the height of the buildings (in Amsterdam they're marginally higher... wow).

I just find that most Dutchmen -- that is, those not from Rotterdam -- view the concept of "city" exactly like they did five centuries ago... yawn. Real cities are Rome, Istanbul, NYC, Paris (though everybody knows it's crackin' in Paris outside of the city core! ), Miami, and yes, Rotterdam... that's where it's up. Amsterdam, Utrecht -- anything in the Benelux not Rotterdam... it just looks like a freakin' village! Get me outta here and back to the urban environment!

I agree with your opinion of cities. They should be a center of modernization and not quaint little things that would look good in a museum.