My current hometown -- Oldenburg -- is a really pleasant little place. It's a town of 160,000 inhabitants (about twice the size of Evanston, my last college town), so it's not a huge metropolis, but it's large enough to have decent services, restaurants, stores, etc. There are bike lanes (which are constantly in use) on every street, and there are forested areas and creeks and ponds all over the place. I mostly use my bike to get around town, but we (students) also have free access to all public transport (buses & trains) throughout Oldenburg and the surrounding region (e.g. we can ride the train to Hamburg for free).
Here are some pics of Oldenburg that I took while biking into the city center yesterday:
House from the neighborhood near my dorm
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Next door to previous pic
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Bakery near my dorm with sign written in "Platdeutsch" (the local dialect)
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Artistic doctor's office facade
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Another medical center
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Downtown square (one of several)
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Grand old building (now used as a telecom company's office)
St. Lamberti church
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It says "Mexican Restaurant"... and it's dressed up like a Mexican restaurant... but unfortunately, their food is only a very distant approximation of Mexican food
Fiddler's Green Irish pub, where we sometimes gather on Friday nights for a pint and some live music
Can you spot the insidious American influence in the distance? (if not, see below)
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Kinda spoils the European charm, doesn't it?
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The "burg" [castle] that gives Oldenburg its name
