Although parts of downtown Manhattan in NYC are looking more and more like the average Euro city cycling/density-wise, this is the main issue. Many large European cities are just not conducive to automobile transit. Tons of streets in European city centers are closed to vehicle traffic and were never designed with that intention in the first place. As our cities get more dense and pedestrian friendly (and they will, or at least NYC will and I intend to live between here and Europe forever, haha), we will start to see more bicycles. Most people won't bike until they have to, as this is the type of choice that is usually made for you. Those of you that bike to work 20+ miles are privileged/lucky to be able to do so - many people just struggle to get by every day and aren't in the position to try something new even if they would like to.

As far as the countryside goes, we lack this as well due to intense suburban sprawl and the predominancy of high-speed motorways. The European countryside is exactly this: cities separated by farmland and connected by smaller roads, with motorways sort of disconnected from this much older network. I do not think that the US will change outside of major cities like it will be forced to in urban centers.

Good/funny post, viplala. Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in Europe and I've been to many. I've been hearing that there is some right-wing influence (of the negative sort, no offense to you sensible conservatives out there) clouding your... already characteristically cloudy skies lately though.