Where is the best place to live in Europe?

Sure thing, Calamity. I'm looking for a city with a thriving arts community. I'm a theatre artist/singer and need a place where I can persue that. Climate's not too big of a deal for me; I've lived in all climates. I speak some Spanish and have started studying Dutch. I'm also planning to give French a go next year. I'm hoping to stay indefinitely, but at least two years. This of course depends on life, you know. The reason I left it so vauge was that I'm not too concerned with staying in one place the whole time. For example, I have family in Holland, so I know I'll be there for a period of time. And I was just curious about what people's initial thoughts were when asked the question. I know it's a very different thing, visiting a place and living there, but I figured someone here had made the transition themselves. Or at least been very tempted to extend their vacation forever.

Now then, we were right with Barcelona, which should
give you a wide perspective of the artist and theater scene,
and as an alternative city would Paris probably be a
better choice than the Tuscany.

You might ask Francis to give you recommendations
about Paris.

shasser wrote : "I'm a theatre artist/singer and need a place where I can persue that".

have you considered VIENNA at all ? i lived in vienna for a year as a boy and we stayed in vienna for a three week vacation in the fall of 2001. we really fell in love with vienna.
it seems to have a great artist community. vienna really is about music and theatre.
cost of living seems reasonable when compared with similar european cities.
it's centrally located to other european arts centres with goood train and air connections.
it's a very beautiful city, lots of churches, museums and other attractions.
we have found the viennese to be very friendly and helpful.
we also enjoyed the middle eastern influence in the life style (i'm not sure the viennese would agree), and this is an influence that dates back centuries.
we enjoyed the food, beer, wine - all at fairly reasonable prices.
climate is fairly moderate - no extremes of heat or cold weather.
public transportation is very good. since we did not have a car during our stay - would have been useless anyhow -, we used the subway, streetcars, buses and suburban trains several times every day.
during our three-week stay we went to a musical performance - including vienna boys' choir -, the theatre, museum, church ... every day without having to break the bank.
so to sum up : vienna gets my vote !

perhaps urs can add some more information.

remember : vienna = wine , women and song(well, for me it's wine and song, it'll do me just fine)send us a postcard when you get to vienna. hbg

Spain seems practical to me, since you already know spanish, and you could use it as a base to check out other places, and go on from there.

I also think of Berlin - I've never been to Spain or Berlin, I'm just the italy freak here - I bet Berlin has a thriving art community.

we visited berlin for a week in 2003. while we did enjoy our stay, both mrs h and i feel that vienna is a much more 'liveable' city.
i think one would find as large an art community in vienna as in berlin. since berlin is much larger than vienna, we also found it a little more difficult to get around in berlin (but wouldn't mind going back).
vienna seems a more 'liveable' city; there is more 'gemuetlichkeit' (easy kind of living, soul over mind and business) in vienna.
of course, i should also praise my own hometown : hamburg, the birthplace of brahms and mendelsohn-bartoldy.
a great place for lovers of organ music. some of the famous old north-german organs are to be found in the churches in hamburg and surrounding area. i guess we all need to win in the lottery and try out the various places - i'm available on short notice. hbg

best place
church of st. jacoby...SCHNITGER ORGAN...built in 1693. beautiful sound.
click on thumbnail for full picture.hbg

Yep - I must gree with hamburger about Vienna over Berlin. It just seemed nicer, and easier to live. Less aggressive, perhaps.

Mind you - I couldn't consider living there - just too bloody cold!

For lifestyle, food, weather (exclusing mistral!) proximity to coast and other fun things (e.g. Spain and Italy), and I speak a little of the language, it still remains south of France to me.

Well, I have not been to either and would like to visit both. I suspect the arts are different, re cutting edge elements, but I don't of course know that. And it would depend I would guess on which direction re the arts you are interested in, Shazzer. I am have pretty traditional interests myself, but not entirely.

My business partner's husband was born in Vienna and they visited fairly recently.
Some here know, since I have mentioned it before on a2k, that he was from a wealthy family, one that moved to the countryside in the summer, and took the grand piano with them... they fled to Amsterdam in the late thirties, and his father died shortly thereafter.
W. has deep love for Vienna despite that; he has visited fairly often over the decades, and she went with him this last time and they both loved it.

Ul lives in the Vienna area, I believe. Perhaps she will find this thread and post on the arts and cost of living.

Dag, do you know about theater in Slovakia? Prague might be a happening place..

It is interesting, re touring and living in a place.

I have told on a2k several times how happy I was to be in Parma. There was an elegance of place to me, then. Fbaezer has said it is less interesting than some other cities in the region, and he has lived in a nearby city.

I have a book somewhere in my pile of books on italy by an american woman who married a professor from Parma and felt entirely stultified in the community for decades. That's one of those books I almost but not quite finished. Within her social milieu she felt very constricted, with no idea of what she was walking into when she married.

No doubt there are several sides to that story, but I use it to notice that some places are more closed that others.
That was for a long time marriage. Dabbling in cities - one could go anywhere and not care if so and so didn't approve of you.

Shazzer, have you googled to check about theater arts in different cities?

(Anyone seen Minouskine's Moliere movie?)

Generally, I suppose, every city/town has its pros and cons.

And then, most what we know about other places is either by hearsay or from a holiday stay.

If climate is top on a list to be considered, here is a site for that.

Personally, I think, Vienna, Munich and Berlin are in same legue re art/theater etc.
Vienna is a bit more "provincial" and more expensive than the others. [Although, I've made different experiences, but since I didn't stay there for months or even longer ...]
[Ul lives in Vienna as does one part of my family.]

Language might be a problem, though I don't think so re the above mentioned cities.

re. mercer cost of living index :

it's importatnt to keep in mind that the mercer index was developed for a very specific purpose.
as they state in their introduction :
"Our survey methodology
Mercer's Cost of Living Reports are designed to measure the differences in cost of living that international businessmen and women and their families encounter when transferred abroad."

one might get a different reading when measuring living costs for locals or tourists. the mercer index can be used as an initial guide, but more data would be required to adjust for individual conditions.
it's like most statistical data, you have to do some digging to make sure it fits a particular purpose.

having worked in the life insurance industry for most of my life, we had a lot of jokes about the "actuaries"(the mercer consulting firm has a lot of actuaries on staff).
here is one i remember : a group of actuaries went for a walk through the country side. they came to a small river and decided that they wanted to cross it, but only after having made appropriate calculations about the depth of the river - since none of the actuaries could swim (a safe assumption). the calculations - approved by the senior actuary - gave the average depth of the river as five feet. since the smallest of the actuaries was five-and-a-half feet tall, they agreed - after some further calculations - that it would be quite safe to cross the river.
question : how many actuaries made it across the river safely ?

(i hope no actuaries are reading this. p.s. some of my best friends are actuaries). hbg

probably none!

C'mon hamburger -- answer please~

none of the actuaries made it across ! remember : they calculated the "average depth" only; the actual depth may have ranged anywhere from one foot to twenty feet or more - sorry, the actuaries aren't available for questioning any more.

here is another "actuaries' joke" : compare the management of a life insurance company to driving a car. how can it best be described ?

-company president : looks straight ahead at the road and has hands firmly on the steering wheel,
-sales vice-president : sits on the floor of the car and pushes firmly on the accelerator,
-vice president - finance : also sits on the floor, trying to put as much pressure on the brake pedal as possible.

where is the vice-president and actuary ?
oh, there he/she is, looking out the "back" window and shouting driving directions at the president.

(i think my membership in the life insurance management institute has just been cancelled). hbg

I would probaly live in Portugal, England, Sweden or Northern Germany....
I'm leaning more towards England; I always wanted to buy a castle there and live happily ever after.

duke : when you have bought your castle, will be invited to your "installation" ? hbg

I didn't understand your question. Did you mean if I would ever invite you to my castle??

I didn't understand your question. Did you mean if I would ever invite you to my castle??

hi, dukie : "if I would ever invite you to my castle?? " ...
i don't particularly like seeing two question marks. i guess it means the invitation is not on. you can't blame me for trying.
yours respectfully etc. etc, hbg

No, You're more than welcome to come visit me at my castle.
I just didn't understand your question. It was grammatically incorrect, maybe it was a typo.
But not, you' can come to my future castle at any time.

thanks, duke ! the dupont castle in wilmington, delaware would be to my taste - should i get my tuxedo dusted off promptly ? hbg