Comments

1
agreed.
2
Greetings from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Charles,
Just a quick missive. Um, it 2 political camps aren't forming in this fine metropolis. I may as well be in the Capitalist not Socialist Republic of Vietnam. My biggest complaint of HCMC is, it is NOT pedestrian friendly at all except for the financial district. It is motor scooter heaven/hell! Tens of thousands of them dominate the streets. Quite the trick to cross a street. Can't imagine riding one. HCMC has no fixed rail public transit.

Having a fine time. Off to Nha Trang tomorrow.
3
Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France with a population of over 800,000 in the metro area. Strasbourg is the eighth largest with over 400,000.

Are these dwarfed by Paris' population of 10,000,000? Yes, of course. But places that are not the largest city and dominant location in politics and culture are still cities. To suggest otherwise would be to say that because Seattle doesn't even make the top 20 in the US, it's not a real city.

There is a real problem in France, with rural areas claiming to be more authentically French than the cities with their large immigrant populations and therefore demanding tax money to preserve this authenticity. That deserves more attention. Municipal (from the Latin municipium meaning free city) elections are not the issue.


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