Although I must admit that I’ve visited many second cities for the third, fourth times – and many more. In my previous “Been There, HAVEN’T Done That” column we visited Second Cities in the US and Asia Now it’s time to visit what comes between them. It’s time to visit Second Cities in my favorite continent, Europe.

When European countries are loaded with many great cities, choosing a second favorite becomes hard. When you have just one child, that child is your favorite; if you have several children and pick a second, every child but your favorite will resent it. The same with cities. There are so many runners up to London, Paris and Rome that it becomes difficult to choose. So, let’s start with Luxembourg. That’s easy! Luxembourg is a city and country, so you get two for the price of one.

Great Britain: Let’s start with great, Great Britain. For a small island I can go overboard with suggesting “Second Cities.” If someone has been to London many times, I suggest adding Edinburgh as the UK’s “Second City.” However, the chances are that us “older folks” have already been to Edinburgh at least once. As a professor of Architecture and Comedy, I’ve been involved in both in Edinburgh.

I’ve lectured on lower Edinburgh’s great replanned city, centered around squares. And as a comedy professor years ago this square participated in the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. Therefore, for this column I’m recommending Scotland’s fantastic Second City – Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland’s center of culture. Glasgow has great award- winning museums such as the private Burrell Collection, which even has paintings that were confiscated by the Nazis. Other great museums are Kelvingrove, the Hunterian and the Museum of Modern Art. But above all, Glasgow is home to two great architects Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whom I call “Scotland’s Frank Lloyd Wright.” Mackintosh took architecture from the ornate curvy, Art Nouveau to the more elegant, refined angular Art Deco. When you look at the façade of Wright’s Glasgow School of Art (1909 ) – you see nothing but (W)right angles. Alexander “Greek” Thomson is Glasgow’s other great architect. During the mid-19th century, when the prevailing architectural style was Historic Eclecticism (a combination of many different historic architectural styles in a single building), Thomson espoused the simple elegance of Ancient Classical Architecture – almost literally. Thomson’s Caledonia Road Church looks as if he picked up the famous Ancient Alexandria Lighthouse and stuck it literally next to Athens’ Parthenon.

France: For those who know Paris well, besides its having so many great sites that you’ll never see until a lifespan reaches 200. it’s almost impossible to see everything. Paris and its area the Ile-de-France is also a base for one-day trips to great smaller cities from Amiens (with its magnificent Gothic cathedral and canals) to Nancy with its great Baroque main square and radiating boulevards leading to its fantastic Art Nouveau. And, of course, you can’t miss my two favorite chateaux the magnificent Courances and Vaux le Vicomte.

The choice for my Second City in France is much like Paris. What Paris is to touring Northwest France, Lyon is to touring Southeast France. Besides being a beautiful city with fantastic sites – it’s also a center for great day trips in all directions that take under 2 hours. Lyon is a main stop on France’s spectacular high-speed rail system, the TGV. (In fact, it departs from Paris’ train station the Gare de Lyon, which has one of France’s most magnificent restaurants the Art Nouveau Le Tren Bleu. )

North of Lyon is Dijon with one of the largest museums in France, that’s often compared to the Louvre for many reasons including that they’re both housed in former royal palaces. One of the most famous Medieval sculptures, Klaus Sluter’s \“Well of Moses” with life-size sculpture is in Dijon’s Carthusian Monastery. Sluter’s famous portal to that monastery’s cathedral has royal sculptures that still have their heads – unlike Notre Dame’s, which, beheaded, are in Paris’ Musee Cluny. Dijon is also a short distance from the Medieval walled city of Beaune with its famous hospice – a Late Medieval hospice, which until Jimmy Carter turned 100 was the world’s most famous hospice.

Now let’s head south from Lyon to Avignon with the most famous Papal Palace outside Rome’s Vatican and a bridge,– with a span that falls far short of spanning its river. (That bridge even inspired a song, “Sur Le Pont d’Avignon” – the French version of “London Bridge is Falling Down.”) Avignon is just an hour and a half from Lyon. Also, an hour and a half from Lyon is Nimes. If Avignon has a papal palace that’s not in Rome, Nimes has a fantastic Ancient Roman colosseum that’s not in Rome. Yet it also has an Ancient Roman temple that Thomas Jefferson liked so much, he copied it for Virginia’s State Capitol in Richmond. Plus, nearby, there’s a great Norman Foster designed museum in the temple’s square that was copied by Renzo Piano for his new wing to the Art Institute of Chicago.

How can you go north and south of Lyon without seeing Lyon? You can’t. Let’s continue the Rome analogy. Lyon can also be compared to Rome in more ways. Rome has 7 Hills, Lyon has 2, which considering its much smaller population, probably comes out even. Lyon’s Ancient Roman amphitheater, the Ancient Theater of Fourviere sits on one of them and it’s still used for outdoor performances. There’s a even museum dedicated to Roman life in Lyon – the Musee de la Civilisation Gallo-Roman. In Old Town you’ll find the St. Jean Cathedral a blend of Gothic and the even older architecture, Romanesque Lyon is famous for its silk that attracted Italians from the area around Florence, which you can see throughout Old Town’s original French Renaissance architecture.

Lyon has museums not found anyone else in France, or the world, such as the compelling Musee de la Resistance et de la Deportation. If you’re with young children a must-see is the Musse de la Marionnette. The movie industry started in Lyon with the Lumiere Brothers in the late 19th century. The Institut Lumiere in their home tells their story. And for further culture and entertainment — visit the Musee du Cinema et de la Miniature – a museum of French cinema with props used in movies.

ITALY: The Italian cities of Rome and Florence are well known, not just as cities of art and culture, but as cities that actually created Western Art and Culture. Ancient Roman art and architecture along with the Baroque dazzles in Rome – as does the Renaissance in Florence. Both are cities – that are very well known. Just like France and the UK, the number of choices for “Second City” is overwhelming and should all be seen, eventually. There are three Italian cities that are candidates for “Second City.” Naples with its great archaeology museum — the recipient of great finds in Pompeii — and the much better-preserved Herculaneum, which I call “Pompeii’s Second City.” Nearby is Caserta Palace, Italy’s Versailles with its dazzling waterfall cascading down the hill to the palace.

An area growing in popularity is Puglia, “Italy’s heel.” My personal favorite Second City is Puglia’s Bari which is in the middle of Italy’s heel. Bari is known as the ideal “beach city” midway between Alberobello, city of reverse cone-shaped stone huts, to the beautiful Baroque city of Lecce. However, Milan is the winner of “Italy’s Second City.”

Milan, Italy’s fashion capital, should also be well known for being a center of culture, from music to art and architecture. Milan is the home of Italy’s most famous opera house, La Scala. After a performance of a Verdi opera, you can venture nearby to the Grand Hotel and sleep with Verdi, in the suite he lived in and died in. The Brera Art Gallery is the Metropolitan Museum of Milan – a great world-class museum that has something I’ve never seen in any of the 117 countries I’ve visited. Besides being dazzled by the Brera’s great art, it’s the restoration of art that impresses me the most. Unlike most museums, the Brera’s art restoration is not done in the basement or attic, out of site, but in glass-enclosed windows in full view on the exhibit floors! One of my favorite small museums in all Italy is the Museo Poldi Pezzoli with spectacular paintings by Botticelli, Michelangelo and Canaletto and the famous Profile of a Woman by Antonio Pollaiuolo with a super strong outline that looks like magic – a magic marker. The Pezzoli has paintings by almost all of Italy’s great painters except one – Leonardo da Vinci. For Leonardo you must visit the nearby Ambrosiana – a library of rare manuscripts. And to see fabulous Michelangelo statues stroll to the Sforza (a fort). For the ultimate otherworldly experience, walk on the roof of Milan Cathedral – which is the closest you’ll ever get to walking on the moon.

SPAIN: Madrid, Barcelona and Southern Spain are well known so let’s head north as I did in my Smithsonian lecture. Cannes is known as the city of a famous international film festival as well as a great beach resort. San Sebastian, in the northeast corner of Spain almost bordering France, also has an international film festival, a great beach, great food and great relaxation in an historic center with great architecture and squares. It’s also a base for terrific sightseeing. Three worthwhile day trips are Biarritz in neighboring France and the historic city of Burgos with its excellent new museum, the Museum of Human Evolution – a blending of a natural history museum with actual history. Bilbao also has its own new museum, the Gugenheim Museum by Frank Gehry. But above all Bilbao has the Zubiarte Mall by the great Robert AM Stern a professor from my grad school, Columbia Architecture.

GERMANY: There are so many fantastic cities in Germany such as Aachen with Charlemagne’s Palace, Trier with Roman ruins that are not in ruins, However, my choice is Dresden, Dresden is the “Florence of the Baroque” which means, “Florence is the Dresden of the Renaissance.” Dresden is in another section of Germany – in Southeast Germany. Dresden is at once fascinating and beautiful — with fantastic museums (probably more museums per capita than in any other city in Germany). It’s a delight to experience and enjoy. A daytrip away from Dresden is Prague which makes a great “Third City.”