continental europe > ireland

that was my point exactly! My hometown has about 90 000 inhabitants, and public transport is pretty bad as well...maybe not as bad as in Galway, but pretty bad. Then again, we do have the autobahn really close by, and they're currently building a bypass (which took them 30 years to decide on, and to subsequently build) - there's a little Ireland even in the most German of towns...:D

But the trains are mostly on time!

I've also been to Paris countless times without issue. I've been pickpocketed in Madrid and Barcelona though, more than once, and have witnessed (and on occasion foiled) several other attempts in both cities. These are actually the only two places (besides Dublin) in over 20 countries that I've either fallen victim or witnessed pickpocketing (and this would include the likes of Naples and Tangiers.) Barcelona is certainly the single "dodgiest" place I've ever been with Madrid a close second; still love both cities.

Germany is amazingly underrated as a tourist destination; great food, great beer, great white wine, great shopping, friendly people and it's cheap. And I being a cyclist I just love the bike usage levels.

I wouldn't have thought taxis in eastern Europe more expensive than Dublin; it's just that they can have a tendency to not take you quite the most direct route (as anywhere can with foreigners.)

14. the tab system in bars. its so much simpler and it results the scabby bastard losing out rather than never having to buy a round.


I dont understand explain please?

mikedragon32 wrote:

I love that even though my German is crap, bartenders, waiters, shop assistants etc. will humor me in my feeble attempts to buy something!

English is part of the curriculum there, so the peoplehave a basic grasp. Plus it's a fairly international language.

mikedragon32 wrote:

Isn't it great that you can get on a train in Paris after breakfast and be in Brussels for lunch? That you can drive across borders within the EU without need to stop and present passports, with the exception of occasional spot checks by customs??

Are you actually complaining that we live on an island? spose we should blame ff for that one. We have the same laws re travel.

mikedragon32 wrote:

Isn't it great that you can buy a can of beer in a supermarket for about the same price as a can of Coke? That when you go into a supermarket you can actually SMELL the food you're buying. That, if you want to, you can go to seperate shops for your bread, meat, cheese, poultry etc., without having to go to a shopping centre?

We have bakeries, butchers off licences here too you know. I dotn know whether a cheese shop would make money here or not.

They dont have chippers.

Dont get me wrong , I'm half german and have spent a lot of time over there. It's just one of those place that it's nice to visit but I'd NEVER want to live there.

thats it im opening a tab from now on, I know so many people like that:o
Do you not get the really sad gits trying to work out their share like when you are out for grub?

toomevara wrote:

to be honest I don't know why anyone bothers to live here...and why oh why is half the population of Europe queuing up to get in here and work, I mean its unfathomable.....oh wait...must be something to do with the rocketing economy, our totally open labour market, free and relatively uncorrupt political system and refreshing absence of bureacracy and state control (dont believe me... just try and open a business in France, or for that matter fire an incompetent employee, its about as easy as finding a pauper in the fianna fail tent at the Galway races) not to mention the vast personal wealth its possible to accumulate with a little hard work.

Oh and then there's the live and let live attitude of the vast majority of the people who live in this beknighted place...no society in western europe has ever undergone the type of demographic and cultural change Ireland has undergone in the past 10 years..we are a giant experiment my friends and guess what? We're doing really, really well. Now I know thats not what you want to hear but just 20 years ago this was to all intents and purposes a quasi-third world backwater with f**k all to offer except the ferry/plane out.

yeah yeah sure we've got problems, crap health sytem, feral skangers , huge growth in wealth disparity...but France..ha! economically stagnant and a racial timebomb (dont want to share their fabulous republican ideals with those dusky foreigners you see and if your under 25 a 1 in 4 chance of being unemployed, yep, i in 4, insane!!!!! Germany also stagnant and ageing with no social mobility. Italy...hopelessly corrupt and run by cartoon characters. appalling...
Yeah sure, the trains run on time but frankly so f**kin what....

All of old europe is failing, sure they may have nice transport services, but there is zero dynamism and only pessimism about the future....

....so yeah continental europe...its Great!!! Will the last one out of Ireland please turn out the lights....

Well said!

E.

Living in Cologne at the moment, but I'm moving back home for good in 2 weeks (was just studying here for a year). It has almost the exact same population as Dublin so I guess it's good for a comparison.

Transport is so much better, there's just no point comparing it with Dublin. I won't even bother.

Food etc. in supermarkets is alot cheaper, as is eating out. Booze in supermarkets is ridiculously cheap. 25c for 500ml, tastes a hell of alot better than Hollandia as well. Drinking in pubs isn't that cheap, a pint could cost you around €4.50 but sometimes about €3.60. Depends where you go really. However if you want to go out on a big booze up then this is the country for you. Just buy some cheap beer before you go out (like you would in Ireland, except not €10 for 6 bottles). You can drink on the train, in the streets. Buy beer from Kiosks and drink it outside clubs before you go in, the bouncers don't care. It's common practice. As a student you can go out and spend about €10 here and have a great night. Also the beer here is 50 times better than anything you get in Ireland. I will most certainly never drink Miller again. I much prefer going out in Dublin for the atmosphere though. The pubs here have no atmosphere whatsoever.

Managed not to get in trouble with the police (did come close on a couple of occasions), and avoided a trip to the hospital so I can't comment on that.

The people? Wouldn't say anything about them either way. Seem a normal bunch of city folk. Too much is made of 'this race is friendly, and this country is full of assholes' because somebody went to a country once and had one or two good/bad experiences with the locals. A bad experience being one person slightly bumping into you and not apologising for it. There are assholes everywhere, there are nice people everywhere. I've never had a bad experience with the locals nor have I had a great one. You do get knackers over here, and the german-turk youth population can be a pain in the ass but compared to the amount of knackers you get in Dublin it's not much to worry about.

I haven't been working here so I can't comment about tax or wages. The economy does kind of suck in Germany so I suppose that would be a big con for the country if I were looking for a job. I can tell you UCD is actually 10 times more organised than the University of Cologne. German efficiency is a myth, in Cologne anyway.

I'm a big football fan and will miss watching Fc Koeln, very nice to have a top division team with a great stadium you can watch every 2 weeks.

I wouldn't say one country is better than the other, and I'm only comparing Dublin and Cologne here. There are things I prefer about Dublin and things I prefer about Cologne. But I reckon most people who go on about how shít Ireland is are just whiney bastards (probably in the age group 18-21) looking for an excuse for having a boring, shít life. Or they just like moaning in general and Ireland is an easy target. Every country/city in the world has problems. The only thing we have a real right to complain about in Ireland is the weather, that does suck.

julep wrote:

so scum only come from poorer areas. interesting to know that.
i think i'll move out of this council estate that i have called home for 30 years and move to one of the private estates up the road. i really need to get away from all my neighbours. i mean, they live in a council estate, so they must be scum.
oh crap. wait. that must mean...

Whenever this arguement comes up its always people talking about big cities but lets honest big european cities are enormous when put up against anything but Dublin and Dublin is coming up in the world. Ok here in Limerick the transport system is sh!te but i bet if you look at a town in europe of a similar size you will see the same.

Rite we always give out about stuff its the Irish way but again you cant be comparing beer now i mean the substance not the price Stout suits Ireland and lets be honest weak god awful lager suits the sunnier climbs in europe. Personally I dont think a pint of plain would be very nice in a 40 degree heat.

Ok the Gards aren't armed but does anyone really see crime going down if they were I personally dont.

Brian Capture wrote:

yeah julep

all scumbags and thugs in Dublin are rugger buggers and come from the southside.

everybody from the inner city / council estates is the 'salt of the earth' :rolleyes:

i never mentioned Dublin.
I live in Kildare.
i can't comment on the situation in Dublin council estates. well, aside from the fact that i worked in a few in clondalkin and the people there are good tippers. but that's another story altogether.

the majority of the scum in Leixlip come from upper middle class backgrounds.
i've lived here all my life and know many of them and know of their backgrounds. this is something i feel qualified to comment on.

full of scumbags heading to river forest.

i recall seeing some english cops on the tv. they were dealing with the english fans over there. i also remember reading something about polish cops being present too. i don't know about the uniforms though. all i saw of the english cop was his head. he wasn't wearing a hat, so i can't tell what sort of uniform he was wearing. (the riot shield told me he was a cop and the accent told me he was english.)

EDIT: linky