Later on I tried Ruby, and it was a better fit for my head.
There are differences in the underlying design principles of Ruby and Python, and they can make a big difference in how well you internalize the language.
I also took a look at Django, and it struck me as astonishingly clunky compared to Rails and Nitro.
There are issues of aesthetics at play; I can't argue that my taste is right or wrong, but it certainly matters that I use a tool that aligns with it.
Python struck me as somewhat clunky at first, but after working in it for a few months, I didn't really have any issues with the language. I think there will always be initial resistance for anyone using a different language, but I don't think your mind is necessarily set to where one language will fit it and one won't. Imperative programmers moving over to functional languages will find that functional languages don't "fit their mind", but given enough work in one will probably find that their mind changes to where functional aspects make perfect sense.
So I think that's the case with Python. Some people won't find it clunky at all, for those that do, working in it for some time will probably lead to their mind fitting the language better. Personally I'd rather do that than deal with the issues Ruby the platform has.
Anyway, Ruby and Python are a lot more alike than different.
hahahahahahaha...
If you want a similar language with similar productivity, Python gives you that and speed, Unicode support at the language level, and lots of libraries.
And in web frameworks alone you've got Django, Pylons, Turbogears, web.py, etc. Django has the community and 'push' that Rails does in the Ruby world, and Pylons feels a lot like Rails. So what are you waiting for? Checking them out can't hurt anything.