City Living: Europe vs Canada

I am looking forward to being home in Saskatoon next week, but I’m also bracing myself for the culture shock of residential streets wide enough to be highways, parking lots bigger than some English villages, and being compelled to drive because of urban sprawl and lack of good public transit.

I’m currently in Lyon, the second largest city in France, and yet it’s easy to get around. I’m staying in a residential neighbourhood just outside the city centre. There’s street after street of high-rise apartment buildings, which wouldn’t appeal to North Americans and their insistence on single-family dwellings. And yet, it comes with huge advantages.

I have access, within 2-3 blocks, to metro, tram, bus, or train. I have a choice of two markets, 5 days of the week, with everything from cheese and bread to fruit and vegetables. There’s an abundance of small supermarkets as well as bakeries, pharmacies, cafés, and restaurants.

I’m staying in a two-bedroom ground-floor apartment with a lovely garden. Most of the apartment buildings have central courtyards and green spaces. European apartments tend to be better sound-proofed than North American ones and some are really large and beautifully designed. In Canada, people often assume that I own a house, and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit I rent an apartment. That wouldn’t be the case in Europe.

So, yes, I’m looking forward to coming home, but oh, I do so wish, we had some of the amenities offered in European cities.