Writer's Block: Cool places
Nov. 24th, 2010 01:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebness[Error: unknown template qotd]
There are so many places I love. According to my TripAdvisor map, I've been to over 220 cities and major towns and it's tough to choose amongst them. I'ma do a top ten countdown:
10. Edinburgh
My mother's side of the family can be traced back to Edinburgh and its surrounding area up until the late 1500s. That Gothic, spirited city is in my very blood.
9. Venice
Because it's eerie and beautiful and like attending a party long after the crowd have gone home. Even all that tourism and the lack of Venetians in those palazzos these days cannot take away from the sheer beauty of La Serenissima.
8. Baden-Baden
I wish I had scanned in my photos from this beautiful German town. It's lush and green, with all these spas and gentle cafes where old folk dance. It's like going back in time to some idyll. Absolutely lovely place.
7. Rome/Messina
I have hated Rome for a long time due to being robbed back in 2006, but my ex-flatmate persuaded me to go back. And I'm glad I did; the food was amazing, the sights astounding and sitting on that rooftop terrace as the sun set over the church of St. Francis of Assisi next door, the church bells tolling away, is one of the defining moments of my life. I hope I experience that feeling again, because it was heaven,
Messina was a port we visited in Sicily and which I kind of lump together with Rome. I dunno why. It had the friendliest people and the best coffee, so on this list it goes.
6. Tokyo
So my camera charger died on me in Japan and I had to buy some crappy disposable camera to record Tokyo. And, predictably, I have not got it developed yet. Have a picture of somewhere else in Japan instead:
Disclaimer: I don't take great photos.
Anyway, Tokyo is huge and sprawling, just so busy, busy, busy with all these sights and smells and sounds, fascinating and diverting during the day, a neon wonderland of a night. And I stayed at this dirt-cheap hotel (£15 a night for an en-suite room) where I got free miso soup, tea, coffee, all this awesome bathroom stuff and access to the communal spa. I love you, Tokyo.
5. Colmar
An Alsatian town I enjoyed in summer and could've wept at in winter: it's like the very essence of Christmas, being there with all those little markets, the lights and the bells, the smell of mulled wine in the air. My mum did cry at its beauty and spirituality.
4. Barcelona
A city that alternately charms and frustrates. It's chaotic, noisy, polluted, expensive. It's fascinating, colourful, alive and will still shock you after years. This city will always be a second home to me. I met so many fantastic people there, had so many experiences that shaped me as a person. I lazed in the sun, I staggered drunkenly down Las Ramblas, I watched the Tour de France go past on a rainy day, the Three Kings sailing into port to give children presents, naked joggers. I love you, Barcelona. I'll weep if I think about you too much. <3
I love you all. ;~;
3. New Orleans
I debated long and hard over number three - Paris or New Orleans? Paris just edged out New Orleans, but it was a struggle. I've never seen any place like NOLA! It's like nowhere else (I've visited) in America. It's like so many countries rolled into one. It's beautiful, dainty and dirty at the same time. The people charmed the hell out of me. The heat was wretched, the city charismatic and like some dream you awaken from and are all, 'wtf was that about?' I have to go back.
2. Paris
It draws me back time and time again. It's my first love. It's beautiful on such a grand scale. It has the best bloody history, the craziest stories, all the best dead people (you can while away an entire day in Pere-Lachaise), great food, frustrating metro system, annoying tourist hawkers, sexy gents, opulent fashion houses, half the world's plundered art and the settings for 10,000 great films. See Paris and die? See Paris and come back and back and back.
1. Sarajevo
Many people would, I suspect, hate Sarajevo for the same reasons I love it: it's battle-scarred, with bullet holes still adorning many buildings. The great library, gutted by fire from Serbian fighters, still stands bare with an angry plaque outside urging people not to forget. The hills are sad testimony to what happened in the nineties: scores of graveyards bearing the date of death as 1992 and areas where you can't walk for fear of landmines.
I don't know why my arsehole ex-friend wanted to go there and I was tempted time and time again to cancel the trip altogether, but I am so glad I didn't. To most Europeans (and, I suspect, most of the world), Bosnia is seen as a hellhole, this backward place still bearing the scars of war.
And it does. But it bears them wisely. The same people who lost family in that conflict work hard to seal over the cracks. Literally. They are the kindest, humblest, most humbling people I have ever met. They are crying out for tourism to help them rebuild and to give Sarajevo self-esteem. And why not? It's a beautiful city with so much history, so many great restaurants, museums, churches, pubs, cultural centres... I hope it goes from strength to strength.
There are so many places I love. According to my TripAdvisor map, I've been to over 220 cities and major towns and it's tough to choose amongst them. I'ma do a top ten countdown:
10. Edinburgh
My mother's side of the family can be traced back to Edinburgh and its surrounding area up until the late 1500s. That Gothic, spirited city is in my very blood.
9. Venice
Because it's eerie and beautiful and like attending a party long after the crowd have gone home. Even all that tourism and the lack of Venetians in those palazzos these days cannot take away from the sheer beauty of La Serenissima.
8. Baden-Baden
I wish I had scanned in my photos from this beautiful German town. It's lush and green, with all these spas and gentle cafes where old folk dance. It's like going back in time to some idyll. Absolutely lovely place.
7. Rome/Messina
I have hated Rome for a long time due to being robbed back in 2006, but my ex-flatmate persuaded me to go back. And I'm glad I did; the food was amazing, the sights astounding and sitting on that rooftop terrace as the sun set over the church of St. Francis of Assisi next door, the church bells tolling away, is one of the defining moments of my life. I hope I experience that feeling again, because it was heaven,
Messina was a port we visited in Sicily and which I kind of lump together with Rome. I dunno why. It had the friendliest people and the best coffee, so on this list it goes.
6. Tokyo
So my camera charger died on me in Japan and I had to buy some crappy disposable camera to record Tokyo. And, predictably, I have not got it developed yet. Have a picture of somewhere else in Japan instead:
Disclaimer: I don't take great photos.
Anyway, Tokyo is huge and sprawling, just so busy, busy, busy with all these sights and smells and sounds, fascinating and diverting during the day, a neon wonderland of a night. And I stayed at this dirt-cheap hotel (£15 a night for an en-suite room) where I got free miso soup, tea, coffee, all this awesome bathroom stuff and access to the communal spa. I love you, Tokyo.
5. Colmar
An Alsatian town I enjoyed in summer and could've wept at in winter: it's like the very essence of Christmas, being there with all those little markets, the lights and the bells, the smell of mulled wine in the air. My mum did cry at its beauty and spirituality.
4. Barcelona
A city that alternately charms and frustrates. It's chaotic, noisy, polluted, expensive. It's fascinating, colourful, alive and will still shock you after years. This city will always be a second home to me. I met so many fantastic people there, had so many experiences that shaped me as a person. I lazed in the sun, I staggered drunkenly down Las Ramblas, I watched the Tour de France go past on a rainy day, the Three Kings sailing into port to give children presents, naked joggers. I love you, Barcelona. I'll weep if I think about you too much. <3
I love you all. ;~;
3. New Orleans
I debated long and hard over number three - Paris or New Orleans? Paris just edged out New Orleans, but it was a struggle. I've never seen any place like NOLA! It's like nowhere else (I've visited) in America. It's like so many countries rolled into one. It's beautiful, dainty and dirty at the same time. The people charmed the hell out of me. The heat was wretched, the city charismatic and like some dream you awaken from and are all, 'wtf was that about?' I have to go back.
2. Paris
It draws me back time and time again. It's my first love. It's beautiful on such a grand scale. It has the best bloody history, the craziest stories, all the best dead people (you can while away an entire day in Pere-Lachaise), great food, frustrating metro system, annoying tourist hawkers, sexy gents, opulent fashion houses, half the world's plundered art and the settings for 10,000 great films. See Paris and die? See Paris and come back and back and back.
1. Sarajevo
Many people would, I suspect, hate Sarajevo for the same reasons I love it: it's battle-scarred, with bullet holes still adorning many buildings. The great library, gutted by fire from Serbian fighters, still stands bare with an angry plaque outside urging people not to forget. The hills are sad testimony to what happened in the nineties: scores of graveyards bearing the date of death as 1992 and areas where you can't walk for fear of landmines.
I don't know why my arsehole ex-friend wanted to go there and I was tempted time and time again to cancel the trip altogether, but I am so glad I didn't. To most Europeans (and, I suspect, most of the world), Bosnia is seen as a hellhole, this backward place still bearing the scars of war.
And it does. But it bears them wisely. The same people who lost family in that conflict work hard to seal over the cracks. Literally. They are the kindest, humblest, most humbling people I have ever met. They are crying out for tourism to help them rebuild and to give Sarajevo self-esteem. And why not? It's a beautiful city with so much history, so many great restaurants, museums, churches, pubs, cultural centres... I hope it goes from strength to strength.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-25 11:41 pm (UTC)yaaay Venice though! I swear to RDJ that was in my top 2 holidays ever. Right up behind Florida. (Florida had rollercoasters. If Venice had The Hulk 'coaster going through it's streets though, you betcha it would be at number 1). I just loved getting to spend a lot of time with two of my fave peeps and the City itself was, to me, like a dream.It had all that ancient history about it that i love. Sigh, i really want to go back one of these years! If not there, then definitely somewhere else in Italy.
Plus it has sexy Italians.