your favorite cities and why?
i wanted to title this thread "3 favorites cities..." but there's too many too chose from.
#1 - Nashville. There's just something about the charm in Nashville. It makes no sense from a vegan/vegetarian perspective. While i never went hungry there, for sure - it's certainly not a "veggie" friendly city. But Nashville is beautiful, rolling green hills, bright blue skies - when it rains though - it's awesome...Nashville gets killer thunder storms (sometimes literally :() and it rains there like i've not seen rain anywhere before (it can get almost torrential).
Nashville has a beautiful parks system with a vibrant downtown area - albeit a bit sketchy at times.
This city has lots of nature - you can go to Radnor Lake or Warner Park and get lost in hiking while you're still within the city limits of Nashville. You can go to Percy Priest Lake, on a weekend afternoon - and still grab a quiet spot and watch the ducks on the water.
Another great facet to Nashville is it's centrally located to many other big cities so that you could visit Atlanta one day, the Smokey Mountains another day, Chattanooga another day, Memphis..., St. Louis...etc.
It's like i told my gf, Nashville is the "bad for me city that I can't help but love". She's jealous :P because i love Nashville more then Seattle. I told her that i do love Seattle, but i'm not in love with it - we don't have that kind of relationship whereas Nashville and I are ummm intimate bwah ha haha
#2 - Baltimore. A lot of people might scoff at this because Baltimore doesn't have the best reputation. In all fairness - the only part that I've seen is the Inner Harbour and i can't get enough. I love the tranquility of Chesapeake Bay while at the same time enjoying the hustle and bustle. They have museums, shops, major sporting events - all in that area.
#3 - Chicago - walking along Lake Michigan (where the "Married W/Children" Fountain is) is so majestic and vibrant at the same time. To see that expansive body of water while having the excitement of the city only moments away. Navy Pier is awesome. I love just walking around downtown and crossing the varied bridges that traverse the various rivers that run through downtown Chicago (who knew!).
#4 - Brooklyn - seeing as how this is my hometown, i have to give it some love. There's endless activities, history, beauty - all to be found in Brooklyn and of course, NYC. I would never choose to move back there but i'm proud to say that i'm from there.
#5 - Seattle - it has everything and although i'm not "crushing" on it like i should - i can appreciate Seattle for what she is. It's like the vegan mecca of the U.S. Within an hour or so drive there's everything you can imagine, mountains, lakes, rivers, rainforest. Seattle is a very intriguing blend of small city mentality but wanting to be a big city. A further blend of urban mixed in with nature.
I really appreciate Seattle for it's liberal leanings - people really don't trouble anyhow out here - it's so much of a live and let live type of city.
I've got more cities even, but i'll curb my list for now :)
I lived most of my life in Brooklyn, worked in Manhattan, particularly familiar with The Bronx. I've also lived in Nashville, TN for about 6 years. It's difficult to describe the size of one city to another because it's sometimes hard to define where one city begins and ends. To me, the size of a city is relatively insignificant in comparison to it's livability. There are lots of big cities all over the world that could potentially be very harsh to live in.
That being said, I think Seattle is a much more "livable" city then NYC (and this will be subject to personal preference, no doubt!). It has lots of features of NYC and lots of features that NYC does not have.
The first year that I lived in Seattle, i had to stop myself from pinching myself because it seemed like such an unwordly place in so many ways (the liberalism, the vegetarianism/veganism, wealth abundance of varied types of nature, etc).
I'll have to check out the Portland mini mall next time i'm there - i've only had the pleasure of visiting Portland just once.
This is a hard question!! Here are mine...
Berlin, Germany: This is one of those cities that most people don't really fantasize about going to--it doesn't have that allure or mystique that places like Paris and Venice have. And I think that might be the reason why I liked it so much--I didn't really have any expectations. The people are all very nice, the night life is a blast and I got to geek out really hard about the history (I am a total 20th century history nerd and Berlin has it all: both World Wars, the Cold War, Iron Curtain, Reuinification, etc etc). It's one of these places where history is still happening and it's very exciting to see it. Plus the architecture is so interesting: a combination of old and new, destroyed and rebuilt, classical and Soviet. It's a very cool city.
London, England: I spent a semester here and loved every minute of it. I literally never had nothing to do. I couldn't even fit the city into a whole semester. The main drawback is that it is VERY expensive, which was compounded by the fact that the exchange rate was 2:1 when I was there :(
Montreal, Quebec: Arguably the most European city in North America. The city is beautiful, the bars are open late and I get to practice my French (Quebecois, represent!). Plus the underground city is pretty fun and quite convenient, especially when it is so cold you feel like you're going to die. I really want to visit Quebec City next!
Boston: I am also guilty of loving my own home city. Even though it is cold and everything closes early and the subway is a pain in the butt, I still think it's an awesome place to live or even just visit. The student population ensures that the social scene (galleries, exhibits, shows, etc) is ever-changing and up to date. It's a big enough city that there is a variety of neighborhoods and scenes but small enough that it's totally managable. Again, I get to geek out as often as I want about American History. I feel like being veg*n is really easy here. And plus, you know, like, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and stuff.
I LOVE San Diego, CA...we lived there for 2 years, and I really hated to leave, seaport village is a huge seaside park on the bay...its really nice
wow, Ithaca looks amazing! I might have to stop there on my way out to farm sanctuary, when I eventually make that trip.
I also adore the city where my school is (guelph). it's not a big city, but it's so lovely.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v71/176/55/120813142/n120813142_33587724_6377.jpg
the covered bridge
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v75/176/55/120813142/n120813142_33942183_1204.jpg
my old haunt
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v75/176/55/120813142/n120813142_33942221_1081.jpg
path by the river
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v151/176/55/120813142/n120813142_35936588_260.jpg
the footbridge
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/176/55/120813142/n120813142_37742458_6890.jpg
the arboretum
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/176/55/120813142/n120813142_37742468_6643.jpg
one of the old mills
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v258/176/55/120813142/n120813142_37874549_7658.jpg
there's even a donkey sanctuary
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v363/176/55/120813142/n120813142_39393143_6684.jpg
Portland, Oregon is my favorite. Its just a nice place overall, I make a better living than I would have in california, i like the weather, and can't deny how amazingly vegan friendly the place is.
I also like Santa Cruz in california. I don't know why, just always liked it there. Maybe it's the vegan taquitos, i usually hate beach towns.
Knoxville does have an amazing vegetarian community. Tomato Head downtown is the leader of the restaurants. Their menu is fantastic and if I didn't already have the menu memorized from way too many visits to count, I would have a hard time choosing my vegan meal. www.tomatohead.com
Sunspot on the strip is another vegetarian/vegan delight. The Bistro downtown also has a vegetarian/vegan menu available upon request. Bowl of goodness is great and they work hard to incorporate local foods into their seasonal menus. The owner brings in a lot of veggies/herbs from her own garden.
Barleys in the old city has soy cheese pizza; Veg-o-Rama on Central is exclusively veggie foods; the Glowing Bowl on Central makes out of this world vegan smoothies. Nama has out of this world vegetarian/vegan sushi (www.namasushibar.com). I could go on and on.
Knoxville, as you may have guessed, is my favorite city here in the US. The Farmers Market on Market Square is BIG. There are other local farmers markets too, stationed at various churches/meeting sites throughout the city. There is also the standby EarthFare grocery stores (2), and Three Rivers Market for all the necessary ingredients.
Asheville NC has a large veg community too and I always enjoy eating there.
For Living In: Long Beach, CA
Really diverse city for it's size, 4 weekly farmers markets a bike ride away, the ocean with sunsets-way better than the ocean with sunrises, Zephyr Cafe for all your vegan dining needs, and a ton of Thai/Vietnamese/Cambodian restaurants for when your going out with a groups of unlikeminded individuals.
For Visiting: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Also super diverse when you really look around, everything is a bike ride away, I've never been able to figure out N-E-S or W in that town but the lights flickering on the water makes up for sunsets, lots of clean eating options with the Indonesian and Indian cuisines, and unlike some countries in Europe they feel more pity than disgust that we Americans only speak english.
For Travelling Through: Salinas, Kansas
Cause wherever you're going you're most likely more than halfway there.
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