I have found myself in the Midwest. A place that could have quaint small towns. Or at least cities that actually were cities instead of ghost towns. The East Coast is similar to Europe in that the cities can seem similar to those in Europe, except there are skyscrapers. Especially skyscrapers inside of cities. Philadelphia didn’t have them and Washington, DC still doesn’t. Midwestern towns seem to be that people just threw buildings wherever. Malls, Strip malls, and parking lots make up what I see of cities in this area.

Which gets to my next gripe: next to no public transportation. Driving in traffic is frustrating. Even more frustrating when the other drivers are impatient. Toss in that either a tram (light rail, trolly), metro (“subway trains”), or even trains in general can get you places much faster and efficiently than driving in a car. Also, a train can go from centre city to centre city, unlike a plane which requires an airport outside of town. Which requires some way to get into town.

There are a couple of reason I find myself finally writing this post. The first being that I am in the Midwest, where the sprawl will end up becomming decay. And looking at the landscape taking off from Frankfurt Airport. Like Paris, Frankfurt is an urban airport, but both of them are not found in sprawl. There are in rural areas.

Unlike the East coast, Europe has a difference between urban and rural. You watch a European show and see something which would look like it was far outside of town in the US and the town isn’t. You see small farms, towns, and cities when you fly over Europe. OK, not so much when you go to London, but I Brexited. Still, you can get into rural without having to drive a couple of hundred miles.

I prefer to keep my rural rural, and urban urban.

Food is less of an issue except in the midwest. I am a total baguette snob and finding one that is acceptable outside of France or Belgium is really hard. There are some that come close. Likewise, steak frites should be hanger or skirt steak, not strip steak. And no hope on moules-frites. But the beer can be pretty good.

But my real problems with the US are transportation and land use (urban planning).