Five Favorite Cities

As promised on Friday, here's the first of my 5 posts. My five favorite cities in the world. Now, should I go from five to 1 or 1 to 5? Think I'll try 5 to 1 for this one.

First I should say that we love to vacation in cities. We do the rural, outdoors vacation every once in awhile. Our first big road trip was to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Glacier National Parks. And last summer we did a really nice week-long road trip into the Thompson Okanogan (where we found one of my top five restaurants). But if you give me a choice, nine times out of ten (or in this case, four out of five) I will take a city vacation. More to do, more to see. So here are my five favorite cities, in reverse order. 

First, honorable mentions go to London, Paris, Istanbul, Santa Barbara, Santa Fe, Denver, San Diego, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. We have been to all of them and we would go back in a minute. But these five, I want to go back every time I think of them.

#5: Vancouver, BC. We love Vancouver. It's only 3 hours north and we have probably been there 20 times in the last 10 years. We've arrived by train, by car and by cruise ship. It has great restaurants, great outdoor spaces, a great market on Granville Island, good shopping (that was better when the exchange rate was better), some of our favorite restaurants and great hotels. We have stayed in so many and really never had a bad one. Strangely, as much as we like it, we haven't been there in a while. When we go to BC now, we are always headed to Chilliwack. We'd rather see Bob and Judy than Vancouver. 

#4: San Francisco, California. This one may not be true for Kathleen as she grew up just across the bay in San Leandro and a trip here means a trip home but I have always loved San Francisco for so many reasons. All of the reasons above apply especially the food. There is always someplace to go or something to do. I really enjoyed our visit last year during Macworld. And now when we go we always try and see our friends Andrew and Susan who we have sailed with in the past. 

#3: New York, New York. There is nothing like the Big Apple. Nothing. It is a 24-7 place to visit. And besides all the aforementioned things we love about Vancouver and San Francisco, NYC has Broadway. And we love the theater. We went about four Aprils ago and spent a week. Saw three wonderful plays and took the train to Hartford to see John Boyer, one of my best friends in life. I have been friends with John since second grade if you can believe that. We love NYC. Great neighborhoods. 

#2: Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. We got to spend almost a week in this glorious city last fall and I would go back in a minute. Besides everything we love about the cities in position 3-5 (except we didn't do any theater), Barcelona is ALIVE! Anytime we left the hotel there was something going on. Las Ramblas, Placa de Catalunya, all the Gaudi buildings and so much more. It is just a wonderful place to be. And one of my top five restaurants in the world is in Barcelona. I can't wait to go back.

#1: Venice, Italy. I think the perfect urban vacation would be a week in Barcelona and then a week in Venice. If Barcelona is the liveliest city we have ever been in, Venice is the most peaceful. Good food (but not the best), great hotel (but again, not the best) but just a wonderful travel adventure. I should also add that Venice was the first city we ever stayed in, in Europe. Maybe that's why I am so nostalgic about it. But when someone asks me about my favorite city, Venice jumps to mind. It's beauty is undeniable and it's in Italy so it has the perfect attitude of relaxation and peace. If you want to spend a week in a wonderful city, try Venice. Besides, not a car in sight. Maybe that's it. It's a walking city. And we love to walk.