I would vote......Germany ( for the culture )...

 

P.s.:...Not so serious poll...

 

 

Edit:  of Italian Heritage

 

a) without it I wasn't here and the world should have lost a great prog-fan;

 

b) Portuguese sailors of the XV and XVI centuries were really the modern argonauts... a tiny country that direct or indirectly was responsible for making one half of the World know the other half (remember that Columbus while an Italian sailing for Spain learned everything about navigation with the Lusitanian cosmographers ).

 

It's difficult to pick one, nigh-on impossible I should add, obviously I love England (and Scotland, Wales is okay to visit but I wouldn't want to live there) and Eire is a good craic but not the place to be if you are impatient, Belgium has great beer and resturants, France is just like England (no - it is really) but with funny accents and great food, Germany is a surprisingly friendly country though not as punctual as they make out , The Dutch are probably my favorite people - their humour is just like mine, Scandinavia has great scenery but is a bit expensive, Spain has scenery, food and heritage, but I will go for Italy for the gastronomy (better than France or Spain IMHO). 

 

Until I visited Italy I would have said that I do not like Italian food at all: pasta is just plain boring to eat - the first mouthful is great, the second is exactly the same, as is the third, fourth, fifth, etc. until the platre is empty - there is no variety and that's dull; Pizza is just cheese on toasted bread and equally as boring to eat. But once I was there I spent 10 days touring Tuscany and never ate pasta or pizza at all - just wonderful, interesting, flavorsome provincial food - Italian Resturants in other countries do Italy a disservice by only serving pasta and pizza.

 

From an objective standpoint, out of any European country I've visited it's by far the most beautiful and full of the friendliest people. Also, the food far surpasses any other country's. It's one of the most economically free nations there is, especially in socialist Europe, and their cultural values are of the utmost standards.

 

Deutschland !!

 

Because that's what I am mostly.

 

I am of English descent, and have always been a fan (and long a student) of English culture, music, history and literature.

 

Also, I have some very good friends there -- and my fave people here, overall, tend to be the Limeys, due mainly to a prevailing good sense of humour, wit, and perhaps a more informed, balanced, less navel-gazing worldview than I tend to see from my dear American cousins.  (Plus the Brits are usually better spellers than the Yanks!)

 

(There are great people from all over, here on PA, though -- America is no exception.)

 

Ireland would have to be a close second -- the culture of my native island has been hugely shaped by that of Ireland and its people.

 

I'd like to see Germany some day, too, especially beautiful Bavaria. Beer is good....

My German collegues always insisted on taking me to Italian restaurrants when I visited them, (even though I always wanted to try authentic German food), and when the company is paying price isn't usually an issue .

 

On the flipside, England was my least favorite countries as it had Ø of the above qualities.

 

And....Europeans in general smoke too much.

 

 

I found loads of historic sites and cool architecture in Europe, but for the most part I really feel when I am in Europe that most of Western culture has become incredibly homogenized. The number of people in the countries I've been to that act pound for pound like Americans is astonishing.