Beth

When we as Americans visit European cities that we consider quaint, do we have double standards? We see small houses with peeling paint, say how quaint, and go home and paint our own homes at the first sign of a chip. <BR>We walk on cobblestone streets, then come home and complain if our local sidewalk has a bump in it. We sleep in sloping beds in sloping rooms in sloping hotels and....well you get the point. Am I right?

Demi

I get your point, it's too bad some people are so literal and don't know an example when they see one. It is also sad that at this lovely time of year some have to be nasty for no good reason.<BR><BR>I agree with you , as much as I find those little villages and out of the way places charming, God forbid you'd ask me to live in 1 for long.

Joe

Beth, a good post. It's the attraction of opposites, I suppose. When we were living in a run down row house in Philadelphia that we were slowly restoring, we would go to Cape May and rent one of the new condos on the ocean - - anything to get away from cracked plaster and leaking roofs. Now we live in a new town house in Silver Spring, and we stay at the Victorian B&B's that Cape May is famous for.

kit

Joe said exactly what I was planning to.<BR><BR>I grew up in the midwest but have been living in Manhattan the last several years. Now I am back home for Christmas and notice that all the formerly "awful" buildings in downtown KC are suddenly historic and beautiful to me. <BR><BR>

elaine

IF this is a genuine question...<BR>You're mixing apples and oranges imo.<BR>For me there is a difference between a 1960s split-level ranch with peeling paint, and an old church with sloping ceilings and brickwork that needs re-pointing.<BR>And in between those extremes<BR>are the historic buildings that, sadly, need funds to set them right, the genuine 18th century buildings (as opposed to ersatz "ye olde shoppes",) and the <BR>small hotel rooms carved out of<BR>historic mansions (as opposed to rooms in Motel 6). Not to mention modern asphalt potholes vs<BR>uneven hand-hewn cobblestones.<BR>And in those differences lies the charm and quaintness one finds in ANY country, or any section of any city.<BR>In fact, those differences exist in MY city in the US. <BR>European cities aren't theme parks,they're living breathing places where often you can find the old and new together, if the old wasn't destroyed in war. If you admire what's old in any place, then imo you have to accept it on its own terms, sloping ceilings included.

xxxxx

Alot of these old, old places in Europe smell and look old, old. That is because they are old, old. I find it nice while I am visiting, but I wouldn't let my own house smell and look old, old. Double standards, yes.