I also prefer typed languages. I also don't like, the way classes are implemented in Python (the whole self thing). But I think Python has enough good stuff to make up for it. To a degree this is psychological, if you only focus on the bad stuff, you will end up hating every programming language you work with.
The self thing is one of my favourite feature in python, it is then shoo easy to refactor a method in a function, it makes very clear where things come from, etc.
I sometimes see C++ code where all the member variables start with "m_". I'd much rather have it enforced by the language than in a coding convention. (I personally find Ruby's explicit "@" prefix for member variables prettier than Python's explicit "self.", but that's minor.)
