Travel GURU??? Maybe it should be TravelNoKnow

Dublin has the largest enclosed city park in Europe. The Phoenix Park which is 2 miles west of the city centre is 1760 acres (712 hectares) in size and has very many trees. Among its other attractions is a herd of deer which has been there for over 400 years and some of whose members sometimes walk on the main road through the park.It does tend to keep the speed of the traffic down a bit.

Amsterdam is known the world over for a variety of things — but few people will think of its trees first, if at all.

Yet with 400.000 trees Amsterdam is one of the most tree-rich cities in Europe. By way of comparison, Paris has only 95.000 trees.

In the year 2005 Amsterdam was declared the Elm city of Europe, owing to the fact that the city’s streets and canals are lined with at least 75.000 Elms — many of them between 80 and 100 years old.

Small wonder, then, that Amsterdam employs a professional tree consultant, Hans Kaljee."
Amsterdam publicity

Tune in next week when we ask the questions:

How many IDs does travelguru1 have?

Why did travelguru stop posting under the screenname distant traveler?

What ever happened to Idaho-Jane?

>Idaho-Jane?
Was attacked by drunken Americans in Munich wearing her dirndl at Oktoberfest. Never seen again since then.

Westchester is not a city it's a suburb. And you'll find areas with lots of trees around many europena cities.

You'll alsoo find that most cities have large parks - a la Central Park in Manhattan. That's why it's called it city.

Please - try to use coparisons that make some sense.

And if you hated so much about europe - from the lack of trees, to the unfriendly people to the missing amenities in hotels and the poor food - and like the US so much better - I really suggest you stay here where you're so perfectly happy - idiotically grinning and becoming best friends with all the servers from one chain restaurant to another.

I'm surprised to read Paris has under 100000 trees. I think of it being green and park=ish. But greater Paris does have it's sprawl, covering a huge area with a huge population.

As far as Manhattan ... since I live smack between Riverside Park and Central Park, I think of NYC as a nice green place (with lots of sidewalk trees, too)

from about.com:
"The city estimates it has about 5.2 million trees, covering about 24 percent of the five boroughs’ land mass. New York City's Central Park is possibly the largest "urban forest park" in the World with more than 125 tree species.

We are currently fighting an invasion of the Asian Longhorn Beetle - it's said as many as 2,000,000 trees may be at risk.

I will love coming to Dublin! And yes,, I do think of Amsterdam canals as tree-lined.

And I always thought Atlanta was known as the most tree-rich US city.

Wow. I have always thought the opposite. I am always surprised at how many trees are in European cities compared to where I live! I live on the Canadian prairies, however, so trees are almost a rare commodity here. Wherever we go in Europe is a treat as the trees there are so huge, majestic, regal, ethereal and lovely. I can never, ever get over how many trees we see there.

This is one of the more bizzare trolls I've seen on this board. I think it tops, "what should I wear on Friday in Paris if it is raining?"

"So what Cities in Europe have a good sized urban forest?"

Um, off the top of my head, Brussels. The foret de Soignes (a beech forest) covers about 5000 hectares (just under 20 square miles) and is very much a part of the city.

Paris has 490,000 trees.

Approximately 100,000 of them line the streets and the others are in the parks and gardens.

Details in French:

La Ville de Paris a ainsi planté en sept ans (2001-2008) l’équivalent de ce qui a été planté auparavant en près de 40 ans, soit plus de 6 400 arbres. D’abord exclusivement plantés sur les grandes artères, les arbres trouvent désormais également leur place dans les petites rues. Avec déjà près de 97 000 arbres en ce début 2007, on peut dire que l’objectif des 100 000 arbres sera atteint fin 2009. Ensemble, les arbres d’alignement représenteraient 250 ha de surface plantée !

Plus globalement, Paris compte près de 490 000 arbres si l’on considère les jardins publics et privés, les cimetières, les talus du périphérique, les cours des écoles, les stades et autres complexes sportifs et, bien sûr, les deux "poumons verts" parisiens : les Bois de Vincennes et de Boulogne. En 2000, il n’y avait que 478 000 arbres ; l’accroissement total atteint 12 000 arbres.

>Idaho_Jaane?
Was actually deported to Oktoberfest in a Dirndl by the moderators of this forum, who also informed the drunken Bavarians what to do with 'her'.

Will probably reincarnate as Idaho_Jaaane some day.

Barcelona has a great amount of trees, on avenues, streets etc.

You are right there are some trees that were planted along the road and in parks in many European Cities but there are not many trees connected with private property in the cities and towns in most of Europe. Here in Westchester Co New York we have a million people, but if you fly into White Plains NY Airport you think you are going into a huge forest.

Find me a City or town of any size in Europe that has as amny trees as the Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Raleigh or Nashville areas.

It is difficult to grow trees when all you have is a window box, which if you live in a flat is all you have if you are lucky. Most city dwellers live in flats not the houses and spacious gardens of the suburbs. You are not comparing like with like.
Ok, you live outside of New York. I live in the equivalent area in relation to Amsterdam. I am surrounded by woods, trees in private gardens, etc. Vast areas of woodland. Look at Google Earth and you will see how much woodland there is. A lot is state owned it is true, but that is because the Dutch do no generally have massive gardens which can hold large trees.
The same is true of London. It is very wooded in the suburbs, very green in the centre too.
Spain is not so wooded, but then again nor is southern California - maybe the climate has a relationship to these things don't you think? If you live in an area with rain you get green trees, if you live in a hot dry area you don't.

I would suggest since you were so disappointed with your trip that you stick to the NE corner of the US in future and leave Europe to those who do appreciate it, it's scenery and it's friendly people.

Is this a contest, TG?

We'll have to take a look at these American cities when they are about 500 years older to be able to compare.

I haven't flown into Westchester airport, but I've flown into LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, OHare, LAX - not exactly the "landing strip in the forest" feel!

Let's not forget that when Europeans came to the new world, much of it was virtually covered with forest. The majority of old growth forest on US land was cut long ago, even if some has been replanted. As in Europe earlier, it was used to fuel the economy and build the country. The rate of sprawl and general expansion of our urban, suburban and ex-urban areas serves as a warning to preserve not only our remaining parks and woodlands but also our farms and meadows. With a trend toward developments where every house has an acre or two - a false kind of openness - we're losing open space at a quick pace. Look at the ever more sprawling distant suburbs of any average US city to see this.

I think that the 'old city' or historic centers of most European cities and towns are pretty much stone or brick, with very little greenery. These areas were built hundreds of years ago when greenspace was not part of the culture. Neighborhoods made up of narrow cobblestone streets and 15th century
buildings are very scenic and unique to an American who is used to cities with a mix of 20th century architecture and lots of greenspace. Of course cities such as Paris,London and Rome do have some beautiful tree lined streets and parks, but there are many urban areas in Europe that are nearly all stone.

If you hadn't rushed thru Europe doing 9 cities in 20 days and got off your tour bus for awhile, maybe you would have been able to spend time in the great green spaces, parks, and gardens offered by every single major European city.