The nicest city the most miserable

Mathematical academical life has given me many opportunities to visit cities around Europe, to enjoy more than just a small amount of time there and not to run the usual stressing touristic race around all "must-see" sights.
On the contrary, I was able/had to take the viewpoint of an ordinary inhabitant and take at least a sip of a daily life there. This formed my view on cities in general as well as my opinion on many European metropoleis.

• I have great memories of Amsterdam, (among other reasons) for its public "street night skating" with a friendly atmosphere run weekly (dry streets permitting) all year round.
• I admire Paris for its incredibly dense net of rental spots of city-bikes, that can be used for a very friendly price.
• A great example of competition in public transportation can be found in Catalan metropolis: three different metro/railway systems (more or less successfully) work hard for the comfort of people of Barcelona.
• My biggest impression from my short visit of Zurich were the modern terraces built onto old roofs of almost all buildings around our hotel and people enjoying silent evenings with beautiful views from there.

Of course, for your life (in a city), the thing that matters most is other people around. But should the city be an obstacle for the life of "your community" or a pleasant environment? Should the city serve to the tourists, preservationists, and historicians or to its inhabitants?

So what about "my city"? No matter how hard I think, I can not figure out any reason why should I include it into my nice list. Can you help me somebody, please?
I would love to change my view of the city of Prague as the most beautiful, the most miserable.

The year 2009

My



year 2009 was heaven and hell. It brought me both the best and the worst three months of my life.
My life-time came on winter (math) doctorand course in Barcelona. Let me skip the boring enumeration of factors, that made the unique blend of conditions of my dreams. I just suply you with an evidence of what it meant for my mates there: among the best results of the doccourse were three brand new couples. Considering the usual gender imbalance of math communities, you won't be surprised by the fact that the doccourse pushed the outcome very close to its theoretical heterosexual limits.
The catastrophic period came surprisingly soon - in the summer, not surprisingly it is located in Prague, mostly. If I were to characterize the reasons in one word, I would say frustrations. Frustrations caused both by my stupid expectations/plans and bad planning as well as by unlucky coincidences of failures, external reasons. I don't wish anybody to experience such a black spiral of depressions and lost self-confidence, but as long as one survives, I believe, he can even make good use of such crisis, after all.
Anyway, getting into troubles is always easy, the miracle of the year was definitely my return back to earth. The process was a long and complicated story but if I had to pick a single moment that kicked me most in the right direction, it would be trip to Berlin in September (for the doccourse reunion). In general, staying active at all cost was the right cure, but I can't deny a touch of love and happiness from "above" as well.
How will the year 2010 look like? Am I immune to the following storms my life? Definitely not entirely. More feel like a small boat in the ocean. But the current weather is more than good.