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Even Toronto is located along a giant lake....Lake Ontario, which can "seem" like the ocean,
particularly on a windy day when the waves kick up.
London only has a river...Thames....I nice river ...with iconic Tower Bridge.
For over all day to day living...Toronto gets a bit short changed...
it is the least expensive of the 4 (maybe not by much)...and is comparable
mostly with Sydney for livability.
Sydney edges out Toronto in climate ...actually best climate of the bunch.
Toronto edges out Sydney in location....Toronto is only a 1 hour flight from NYC,
and Chicago and Montreal....
Toronto is within 600 miles of over 150 million people.
London is full of lakes, canals and wet lands, whilst as for rivers the Thames is just one of many.
As for location, London is a similar distance to the South of France as Toronto is to NYC or Chicago, whilst you can easily get to most of Europe by air or train, with a vast number of cities on it's doorstep including Paris which is just over two hours away by train.
The weather in London is generally mild winters and cool summers, so it's not that bad and is very comfortable most of the year.
Even Toronto is located along a giant lake....Lake Ontario, which can "seem" like the ocean,
particularly on a windy day when the waves kick up.
London only has a river...Thames....I nice river ...with iconic Tower Bridge.
For over all day to day living...Toronto gets a bit short changed...
it is the least expensive of the 4 (maybe not by much)...and is comparable
mostly with Sydney for livability.
Sydney edges out Toronto in climate ...actually best climate of the bunch.
Toronto edges out Sydney in location....Toronto is only a 1 hour flight from NYC,
and Chicago and Montreal....
Toronto is within 600 miles of over 150 million people.
Just like Shirleyeve you are basing everything you say on assumptions! Everything you say is simply put - not true!
As for the weather London is a pretty dry city (despite its ridiculous stereotype), it gets less rain per year than Paris, Rome, New York and Istanbul, it gets mild winters and pleasantly warm Summers, not as 'nice' as Sydney for sure but certainly better than Toronto and New York. As for your 600 mile comment, thats more than the whole length of England! Within 600 miles of London there is (not including English cities):-
Edinburgh
Paris
Brussels
Amsterdam
Nantes
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Antwertp
Dortmund
Zurich
Bern
Cologne
etc etc
London is less than 600 miles from Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark. its less than 700 miles from Italy, Czech Rebublic, Austria, Poland, Norway & Sweden.
Basically what you and Shirleyeve say about London is equivalent to me assuming that Sydney was nothing but 'outback' desert scrub and that Toronto is just situated in a 'frozen' wasteland!! Both of which would be very poor assumptions on my behalf.
Even Toronto is located along a giant lake....Lake Ontario, which can "seem" like the ocean,
particularly on a windy day when the waves kick up.
London only has a river...Thames....I nice river ...with iconic Tower Bridge.
For over all day to day living...Toronto gets a bit short changed...
it is the least expensive of the 4 (maybe not by much)...and is comparable
mostly with Sydney for livability.
Sydney edges out Toronto in climate ...actually best climate of the bunch.
Toronto edges out Sydney in location....Toronto is only a 1 hour flight from NYC,
and Chicago and Montreal....
Toronto is within 600 miles of over 150 million people.
Yeah, Toronto has a much better location. You have all the Americas, and even Europe is an 8h flight. Sydney is located on the wrong side of Australia. Somewhere like Perth on the west coast is closer to Asia. Sydney is only close to NZ (meh) and Singapore? Lol «*by 8hours*». I love Darwin’s location (Northern Territory). 2hours to Bali, The Great Barrier Reef, Brome, Uluru. 4 hours to Singapore/Kuala Lumpur and everything it offers. However, Sydney’s climate wouldn’t be comfortable like it’s now?
Architecture - New York closely followed by London. My interest is more in the history, architecture and development of modern highrise.
People/Diversity - New York, but this is pretty close all round. All are very diverse international cities.
Food - New York by virtue of sheer scale. Quality is great in all of them.
Nightlife - New York then London. Sydney a distant last.
Standard/Quality of Living - Sydney with Toronto close behind.
Economy - New York, obviously. London is a financial centre, but not of the general overall scale of New York.
Politics - All stable and democratic. All with general annoyances that go with creeping liberalism but nothing that I can't live with.
Climate and Environment - Sydney. I don't really care for cold winters unless it is for a vacation.
Education - London/New York tie. Some of the worlds greatest educational institutions are found in both cities.
Entertainment (museums, theaters, music scene, dance) - New York but London very close behind. Could go either way on this one.
Infrastructure and Transportation - London the Syd and Toronto equally. New York needs massive investment in most elements of critical infrastructure.
Surroundings - Immediate surroundings; Sydney. Access to other locations; London
Fashion - no idea. Irrelevant to me.
Literary/Cinematic/Televisual impact and exports - New York
London is less than 600 miles from Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark. its less than 700 miles from Italy, Czech Rebublic, Austria, Poland, Norway & Sweden.
....And? Australia itself is home to dense forestry, wetlands, scrub, desert, tropical rainforests, coral reefs, mountain ranges and you don't have to cross water to get there. Yes, London is relatively close to a lot of historical and culture places as you have listed, but you are dealing in assumptions yourself, assuming every traveller cares about those places in Europe. Some travellers might prefer the primitive history of the Aborigines and the sacred, mystical vastness of the Outback, to the civilised intellectual societies of France, Denmark, etc.
Architecture - New York closely followed by London. My interest is more in the history, architecture and development of modern highrise.
People/Diversity - New York, but this is pretty close all round. All are very diverse international cities.
Food - New York by virtue of sheer scale. Quality is great in all of them.
Nightlife - New York then London. Sydney a distant last.
Standard/Quality of Living - Sydney with Toronto close behind.
Economy - New York, obviously. London is a financial centre, but not of the general overall scale of New York.
Politics - All stable and democratic. All with general annoyances that go with creeping liberalism but nothing that I can't live with.
Climate and Environment - Sydney. I don't really care for cold winters unless it is for a vacation.
Education - London/New York tie. Some of the worlds greatest educational institutions are found in both cities.
Entertainment (museums, theaters, music scene, dance) - New York but London very close behind. Could go either way on this one.
Infrastructure and Transportation - London the Syd and Toronto equally. New York needs massive investment in most elements of critical infrastructure.
Surroundings - Immediate surroundings; Sydney. Access to other locations; London
Fashion - no idea. Irrelevant to me.
Literary/Cinematic/Televisual impact and exports - New York
In terms architecture London with it's long history and UN World Heritage sites usually wins.
As for entertainment, if you were to include sport London would win by a country mile. However even without sport London's museums are free and it's home to so many world famou schools such as the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall Shcool of Music & Drama, Royal Academy of Dramtic Arts (RADA), The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Shakespreare Company, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, English National Ballet, Sadlers Wells (Dance), Ramberts (Dance) etc etc etc.
London also has two new concert halls planned, one at Winbdeon being designed by world renowned architct Frank Gehry for the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the other at the Barbican which is being designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro which will house the London Symohony Orchestra, whilst the BBC is also constructing a new music centre at Stratford which will be used by the BBC Symphony Orchestra for recodrings. Other large orchestras include the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Philamonic Orchestra housed at Cadogan Hall. Among London's recital halls, Wignore Hall in the West End is a superb venue.
The BBC annual clasic music event in London, 'The Proms' also has a global audience and is renowned across the world.
On top of that London is home to numerous National Museums and Galleries, the US ones are mainly in Washington DC and not NYC, and London's vast collectins are usually free to enter, whilst London is also home to vast numners of historic and religious buildings.
Whilst in terms of theatre, the beautiful Grand Theatres of London's West End are more than a match for Broadway, as are those beyind the West End in relation to the likes of the National Theatre,Young Vic, Old Vic, Globe Theatres; Sadler's Wells, Barbica, Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea etc etc.
As for Popular Music, London is a global powerhouse, and the same is true for literature with London having been home to Chaucer, Shakeseare, Pepy's, Dickens, Orwell and so many others than it would be impossible to list them all.
Finally in terms of cinema and film, again London has studios close by that are some of the largest and most prestigious outside of Hollywood, and Disney, Netflix, Amazon and Sky have all also recently announced major investment. Whilst the UK has also alwats had a strong television industry, with much of it based in and around London.
Last edited by Brave New World; 05-23-2020 at 05:44 AM..
....And? Australia itself is home to dense forestry, wetlands, scrub, desert, tropical rainforests, coral reefs, mountain ranges and you don't have to cross water to get there. Yes, London is relatively close to a lot of historical and culture places as you have listed, but you are dealing in assumptions yourself, assuming every traveller cares about those places in Europe. Some travellers might prefer the primitive history of the Aborigines and the sacred, mystical vastness of the Outback, to the civilised intellectual societies of France, Denmark, etc.
Then they are the odd ones out. France has the largest number of international tourists out of any destination, and there’s a good reason for that. Nothing wrong with that btw, but it needs to be pointed out.
Sydney, and Australia as a whole, by extension are more isolated for several reasons.
For starters, the country lacks a land border with another nation. You’ve got New Zealand to the East but that’s a fairly small country. Indonesia is fairly alien to Australian society, and most Aussies only really explore Bali and Lombok.
It’s also worth mentioning that on this forum over 90% of users are American, while the rest mostly consist of users from the Anglosphere (British, Canadian, Australian), along with some French, German... It means that the vast majority of users are of European descent, so it makes sense that the proximity of Europe vis-a-vis the UK (and to a lesser extent the US/ Canada) is more appealing than Australia’s position with respect to South East Asia.
Architecture - New York closely followed by London. My interest is more in the history, architecture and development of modern highrise.
People/Diversity - New York, but this is pretty close all round. All are very diverse international cities.
Food - New York by virtue of sheer scale. Quality is great in all of them.
Nightlife - New York then London. Sydney a distant last.
Standard/Quality of Living - Sydney with Toronto close behind.
Economy - New York, obviously. London is a financial centre, but not of the general overall scale of New York.
Politics - All stable and democratic. All with general annoyances that go with creeping liberalism but nothing that I can't live with.
Climate and Environment - Sydney. I don't really care for cold winters unless it is for a vacation.
Education - London/New York tie. Some of the worlds greatest educational institutions are found in both cities.
Entertainment (museums, theaters, music scene, dance) - New York but London very close behind. Could go either way on this one.
Infrastructure and Transportation - London the Syd and Toronto equally. New York needs massive investment in most elements of critical infrastructure.
Surroundings - Immediate surroundings; Sydney. Access to other locations; London
Fashion - no idea. Irrelevant to me.
Literary/Cinematic/Televisual impact and exports - New York
While I'm in agreement with many of your preferences, I'm baffled by your choice of Sydney for immediate surroundings. Sydney is one of my favorite cities and i go there frequently for at least a week, but one of the shortcomings for me is that there is such a lack of attraction in its surroundings..So boring. Blue Mountains and some beaches. That's it. Maybe Hunter for wine.
By comparison, For example, within a short drive of New York, is the dramatically beautiful part of the Hudson River (Storm King), the Catskills, Berkshires, Poconos mountains. The beautiful stretches of Long Island Beaches, and the Jersey Shore, and the lovely historic countryside of New England (CT, and MA) studded with beautiful towns and villages.
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