Since I live in The Netherlands, light pollution is a problem. Almost the entire country is one big light polluted area as you can see on the charts. Haarlem (close to Amsterdam, 0-200 visible stars) is not the worst area in the country, it's horrible compared to Gammelke (200-400 visible stars). The difference is something one can clearly see just by looking at the stars. In Haarlem I have never(!) seen the Milky Way, whilst in Gammelke you can see it a little bit on clear nights once you're accustomed to the (semi-)dark. And on a sidenote the absense of streetlight's every 10 meters ruining your nightvision also makes a major difference :)

Here's a panoramic view of the horizon in Gammelke as it is on a cloudy night. During a clear night light pollution is less visible, but the clouds add to the 'effect' which is what I'm trying to bring across. The massive bright sky on the left is Hengelo, the small bright part to the right is Weerselo. The image is a series of photographs taken with a Nikon D70, 10 second exposures at ISO200 and stiched together.