What have THEY Been Smoking?

Proof enough for the French, I suppose. The success of marketing the idea of the nation beyond all plausibility goes on unfettered.

'The French love little window boxes filled with flowers, tidy gardens, pretty sidewalk cafes, and clean streets. Cities are well tended and with little crime.'

To punctuate the silliness of this survey, of the top 25 ranked nations, only 4 aren’t in Fortress Europe. Published by an Ireland based puffy travel magazine, this is by, for and of Europe’s image of self.

One also wonders what USA or Canada they’re looking at, given their breadth and variety, given that 12 of “nations” listed have a population less than that of Metro New York.



The other thing they “love” as much as tidy streets and window boxes, two things that have a museum-like air of rarity in every French city I’ve been to, is to make any attempt possible to compare their high culture to others’ low culture.