What is your favourite city and why?

I am a cityphobe, give me the rolling hills and open fields any day!

If I had too, York is bearable (thanks to Betty's), as are most of the English Cathedral towns. If you must go foreign Brugges is tolerable for a day or two and the Ardennes cities are worth a day trip.

Bits of London are OK (mainly the green bits) and I do quite enjoy Lincoln's Inn when I attend courses at ACCA HQ.

The only city I would like to visit is Madrid, purely to see the Bosch paintings in the Prado.

Still each to their own, I hope you enjoy the Big Apple :o) .

In Britain - my favourite city has to be Chester, purely for its history. 

My least favourite city would be Birmingham, if the world developed hemorrhoids I think Birmingham is where God would apply the hemorroid cream.

Worldwide, there's a lot I havent been to, to be honest I'm not a city person but Rome takes some beating, again for it's historical interest, and Cape Town is spectacular in parts (and scary in others).  For the friendliest city, I would have to say Sydney.

... until I went to an IRIS course. But there is a small part of the older city around the town hall that has escaped the concrete and is actually very nice, but it is a very small part. Not an historian, but I would imagine Herr Hitler is to blame for much!

.. maybe sometime in the future we will be able to teleport in, view the cathedrals (or whatever) and teleport quickly out again ...  well, I am reading Terry Pratchett at the moment where anything seems possible  ;)

But that's just me ... I hope you enjoy New York city, Polly :)

ShirleyM

.. maybe sometime in the future we will be able to teleport in, view the cathedrals (or whatever) and teleport quickly out again ...

You can in a way - it's called Google Earth. 

Part of me would love to do New York, Vegas, Washington and probably a few of the other big ones too. But the part that really isn't keen on leaving the house and detests having people around would be in meltdown before I'd even got on the plane!

So I'll settle for catching them on dvds & pictures until Shirley gets her teleport system worked out! (That would be nice - I could teleport me and the pooch into the middle of a deserted moor, have a good old wander and then teleport back home when I needed a cuppa and the toilet!)

What a good idea!

Google earth may not be quite the same as real life ... but it's certainly better than nothing.  I love the internet because it usually answers the questions that constantly bug my curiosity!

If I could go anywhere (preferably by teleport)  ..... it would probably be Monument Valley, Utah ... or Yellowstone National Park ... but I wouldn't want to share it with crowds of other people, so I think Flash and I have similar views on that score.

Definitely Monument Valley & Yellowstone - I'll even allow you to be there at the same time Shirley :)  Monument Valley is glorious.

And up Everest & K2 as well. Don't know why but I have a serious love of mountains, particularly with snow. I don't like heights but I can see why so many risk their lives to summit. Seriously wow.

I went to Monument Valley this summer.  It was indeed glorious.  Much better than the Grand Canyon, which i didn't "get".

I also went to Las Vegas and San Francisco.  They were okay, but New York is the best US city I have visited - I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone, it's well worth the flight.  I'd love to do it again sometime.

It's difficult to say what is the best UK city, because we have very small places which are called a "city" because they have a cathedral.  For example, Bath is nice but I wouldn't class it as a "city" as such.  Most UK cities which are actually highly populated are horrid - London is probably the best.  Followed by Brighton.

Budapest is mine the old and the new was so striking and love the river Danube.  I also loved Krakow, and Riga .  Then it is Milan  and Munich . So many great memories with all.  We even went to Octoberfest munich for the first 3 days of our honeymoon , not the first or last . 

Closer to home I love all 3 Dublin ,Glasgow and Edinburgh.  I know I Iive in Glasgow  , but the architecture is amazing , and I try to see a new building every month on nights out . There are just so many places. 

July to September is amazing in Edinburgh , hop on the train to see as many shows as I can. Totally culture out by the end Opera Ballet comedy.

Dublin for the swimming in front of James Joyce's tower at the forty foot, where I am from, thats the best place ever with very happy times both now and in the past.

Belfast and Newcastle have some great pubs as well as Dublin, always good to  visit friends.

to avoid the crowds! However, I have driven coast to coast in USA and I have to say Vegas is great as is New York and they both live up to expectations. LA on the other hand was the biggest cesspit I have ever seen! 

I camped overnight on a Mesa in monument valley and we all got up to watch sunrise over the valley .... simply staggering but sadly before I had a digi camera so all I have are 5 or 6 photos.

I have been to Venice and I thought that too was everything I was hoping for.

I would quite like to go to Rekyavic one day but as my passport expired about 5 years ago I have a bit of work to do first. 

You mean like this photo I took in August?  Incidentally it was taken from the balcony at the new hotel they have built, The View.
 

If it's that good in a photo how good was it in person!!

How do you import photos by the way?

When writing a comment, if you click on the icon next to the flag (looks like a painting of a house but it's tiny so I can barely make it out!) you'll be presented with the option to insert an image url if it's hosted online or you can click "browse server" to upload one to the site. Once it's uploaded just click "Insert File" and it'll be added to your comment. 

If you want to shrink it down to fit in the comment box, the max width is around 500 pixels :-)

I visited Tokyo a few years ago and am absolutely itching to go back. You can't really consider it in the same way as other cities - it's been referred to as a Megalopolis, meaning it's actually a collection of already massive cities that have all merged, producing a single urban unit the size of a small country (if I recall correctly, it covers about as much land as South Wales...).

It is crowded (which I'm not great with) but is easily the most diverse and exciting place I've ever been. running on the stereotypically efficient Japanese infrastructure, the whole place never stops or slows down and there was a style to suit all types. Over 3 weeks I spent time in a tech-nerd's dream, a cartoon wonderland, beautifully peaceful Shinto and Buddhist temple gardens, American-style sports venues, shopping districts bigger than my home city and ancient boroughs absolutely crammed full of history.

It was incredible and exhausting!

1) London

2) Berlin

3) Barcelona

4) Florence

5) Milan

6) Munich

7) Amsterdam

8) Manchester

9) Seville

10) Vienna

Manchester?  Are you really sure?

And what's so great about Berlin?

I have never been to Manchester but I have been to Berlin 3 times it is also amazing.  The sense of history is extraordinary and the city is Edgie

Okay, a whistle stop tour...

1) London: Flemings, S, Quaglinos, Jerymin Street, Best resturants in the world, Geo Trumper, Green Park, Portobello Market, Coulthauld etc, etc, etc

2) Berlin: SO cosmopolitan, Blue Parrott, History, winter runs, Hettie

3) Barcelona: Ramblas, Maria, pizza, coffee,

4) Florence: spent best 6 months ever in kitchens here - oh Appalonia, wher are you now?

5) Milan: Shopping, Katia

6) Munich: Winter, beer, S (again)

7) Amsterdam: Do I need to say!

8) Manchester: Three student years, being the fittest I ever was, the start of an empire and Liz, Gill and S

9) Seville: 9 mths as someone else, eating good food everyday, shopping in markets and coffee. Helena (of course)

10) Vienna: R, my father, cakes, coffee, talking all night, walking for hours