If you could live in any city in the world, which would it be?

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Sitting here in Paris at the moment, it's a sticky 40 degrees out there. It's a real concrete jungle, this town, and even the parks have gravel on the ground and the trees all in a straight line. I'm sick and tired of everyone living on top of everyone else, I want to leave Paris, so this is a live question for me.

London? I lived for years in London, I love it dearly, but I seriously question whether I could ever afford to live there again in the manner to which I am accustomed. I'm so used to eating out 2 or 3 times a week, Christ, you can't do that in London. I couldn't afford to live anywhere there either. I'd end up in some miserable bedsit. Then there's the relentless weather.

I'm sort of thinking Sydney right now. Is there a better mix of urban life, nature, affordability, weather, beaches etc.? They've even got culture there now. The only downside is it's so fucking far away.

Lisbon's pretty cool too. But that means I'd have to learn Portuguese.

Martin Heidegger, Wednesday, 6 August 2003 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

new york city

gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd have to say Barcelona.

Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, New York no question.

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

i would say New York aswell but I haven't been there!

Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Do I really need to answer this question?

Tag (Tag), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

close call between NYC and Berlin

Fabrice (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:24 (twenty-two years ago)

London or NYC I spose. If I had to choose somewhere else in the UK it would be Leeds or Glasgow.

j0e (j0e), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Manchester, Stockholm, Berlin. Helsinki maybe. Glasgow. I'd live in London if I could afford it and find a way of not commuting. Outsiders - Barcelona, Paris, New York, Prague, Montreal.

Tag (Tag), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Bergen

Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

moving back to NYC used to be top of my list, now Jo'burg is without any doubt my destination.

H (Heruy), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

melbourne

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 11:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I could live anywhere as flat as Melbourne. And the beach at St Kilda is crap.

Barcelona, Sydney or San Francisco.

Susan (Susan), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Martin, If you are tired of living in a concrete town with people stacked up on one another, I can't imagine why you would enjoy New York...?

Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Haven't been to NYC or London, but I'd pick Budapest.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Austin.

Texas Sam (thatgirl), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Toronto very much right now after having spent the last few years in the hinterland. If there was a job for me I'd love to live in Halifax. Good food, good beer, good music no trucker hats and nearly zero beggars, panhandlers and squigee kidz.

Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I'd also need a second residence in Reykjavik.

j0e (j0e), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Sydney sounds cool.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I was led to believe by my Sydney correspondent that Sydney is pretty much as expensive as London?

Anyway my choice would go London = NYC > Bristol > Exeter > don't really fancy the field. Thinking: if I can't have it all then I might as well go home.

Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd live in New York City in a reverse Three's Company with Andrew and Gareth. I always wanted to be known as the female John Ritter.

Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

**I was led to believe by my Sydney correspondent that Sydney is pretty much as expensive as London?**

Not so. Buying property there is expensive, but renting is about half London, alcohol reasonably priced, eating out considerably cheaper... books and clothes are more expensive. The main difference, though, is that it's easy to entertain yourself at little or no expense: going to the beach, sailing, bushwalking etc., whereas in London you always have to cough up to do anything. Main problem: as someone commented above, it's so damn far from anywhere.

Susan (Susan), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

You have the bush in Sydney? Cor!

Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of Sydney is nature reserve.

Susan (Susan), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Kingston, Jamaica. I did live there. I wish I did still. That said, I'd take Accra or Nairobi if it was possible...

cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

London >mCardiff> NYC> Manchester> Paris>

Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

New Orleans, obviously. There are other places I'd give a shot if I had money and confidence I'd only be there a couple years.

Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Paris in Spring/Summer
Los Angeles in Fall/Winter

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

At the moment, Paris, funnily enough. Or Copenhagen/Barcelona/Rome.

I have yet to see much of NYC that's made me want to LIVE there for a long time, but then as far as the long-term goes I'm perfectly happy in London.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Looks like I'll be moving to NYC at the end of December. Maybe I could play Mr. Roepper in the Reverse Three's Company?

NYC is also my choice, btw.

Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Vienna, Reykjavik, Cologne, New York in that order.

Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Nottingham > London > NYC > Toronto

Nick H, Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Hammerfest is looking very appealing right now.

RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

*tosses head back and laughs*

Only person in this huge crowd who wants to live anywhere close to where I live already lives sorta close to where I live -- that would be Sam! I like the Austin choice. I think Austin would be an amazing place to live in, despite its relatively small population.

Me? I already live in a place I'm happy and comfortable with. If I could afford it, I would buy a secondary residence in London, seeing as though it left a tremendous impression on me, but I could never give Texas up wholesale. I am stuck to this state permanently.

Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe I could play Mr. Roepper in the Reverse Three's Company?

I was so hoping you'd suggest that, Aaron! We're like in the same mind!

Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Chicago or Tokyo

Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Zurich or Barcelona

oops (Oops), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

The city I live in now.

donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Seattle (where I live now) part of the year, Tokyo the other part. Of course I'd want to be independently wealthy so I could get all the stuff I want in both places.

Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno. I always wanted to move to NYC, but that doesn't do so much for me anymore.

I'd like mild-to-cool temperatures, a decent-sized population (at least 500k+ people in the area), some culture/nightlife (being able to find a good movie theatre or concert or record store without having to drive to the closest city - ie Dallas, right now), good mass transit (I wouldn't cry if I never had to drive most of the time), not insanely expensive to live there.

Now finding that place is the hard part.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

milo, come to seattle or portland

donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Donut Bitch just wants a donut harem.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Bedford

blue, Wednesday, 6 August 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Blue who are you? Get out of my head. . .

Texas Sam (thatgirl), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Portland has a high of 70 with 23% humidity.

My zip code has a high of 104 with 27% humidity.


Oh, baby.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

NYC or London, or even across the bay in SF but I've spent so long living close to SF that moving into the city proper would just be anticlimactic at this point.

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuck cities

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Seriously

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very very happy with Portland, but if I moved it would be to someplace smaller and probably not in the US. Something with Portland's weather but maybe always 10 degrees colder and some snow during the winter. Someplace very cheap to live, as well.

Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)

New Orleans. Or Clayton. But mostly New Orleans.

luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 6 August 2003 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

judging from the news on CNN, monrovia has real mobs and riots, not this weak-ass "flash mob" bullshit.

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 05:58 (twenty-two years ago)

We're gonna have a flash mob, tomorrow night, 8:27, at the GAP on 67th and Broadway, wanna come?

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:00 (twenty-two years ago)

are you serious?

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Not really but I could be, I live on that block so wtf, I'll flash mob those motherfuckers. I flash mob them every day! Except instead of "flash mobbing" it's more like "buying more pants I don't need".

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

flash mob yer apartment!

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:07 (twenty-two years ago)

somewhere on the southeast coast of england. or maybe somewhere in norfolk. the house in the emigrants.

youn, Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:13 (twenty-two years ago)

New Jack City.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Tad, if you only knew how often that happened in my apartment, you wouldn't joke about such things...

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:15 (twenty-two years ago)

you say "flash mob" at the gap, and i'm there. is there a starbucks nearby?

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Nearby? It's underneath my apartment!!

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i like starbucks way too much.

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm required to like them. They purchased me when they purchased the space. Also the air above my apartment is theirs. I have a Starbucks logo on my ass.

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:29 (twenty-two years ago)

That explains how there's "a Starbuck's nearby" if you're flashing gap at the mob.

Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i still have this $3 starbucks beverage certificate from law school. it doesn't expire till 12/31/03. i should use it -- this thing's been sitting around my apartment for 3 years now! which is really odd, seeing how much starbucks coffee i drink.

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I do not flash the mob. I learned my lesson that one time, don't worry.

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

you want my starbucks $3 gift certificate or not?

Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 9 August 2003 06:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Boston, but only in the fall & the spring. Then probalby Vancouver, NYC, Paris.

lyra (lyra), Saturday, 9 August 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

If I could live anywhere, it wouldn't be a city. Somewhere on the south coast would be nice, even Cornwall or the Isle of Wight.

jel -- (jel), Saturday, 9 August 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

The road, the road! Everything we went to was always either on Bandera or near it ... actually, it might've just been that we needed to drive down or across Bandera in order to get anywhere else because of where my girlfriend's family lived. That might make sense.

Right! So you sorta know what my part of town looks like then. Did you ever get a chance to go to Ryan's? That is my favorite buffet place, bar none. *thinking* In fact, you could even get to my neighborhood from Bandera! Just either turn right (if you're heading north) or turn left (if you're heading south) on Wurzbach and just pass Evers. Ta-da, you've got my neighborhood!

But Chacho's is on Bandera, and hence, Bandera is great.

Oh yes. You know what, though? There's another Chacho's location, on Callaghan and I-10! I've actually tried out that one before. Am assuming the food is similar in both locations (i.e. delicious). Mom told me she's heard that the margaritas there are wonderful. Did you say the same thing? My memory's horrible.

As a matter of fact, I did pass the Bandera Chacho's yesterday! We were going to get some handicapped parking decals for Mom over at the tax assessor's office and we went to that shopping center right behind Chacho's. I saw it and immediately thought of you.

Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 9 August 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't had the margaritas at Chacho's since they got their liquor license -- they were doing the made-with-wine margaritas last time I went. But the food, man -- easily the best Mexican food I've had anywhere, and some of the best food at a restaurant, period.

Ryan's ... I don't think so, but I know where Wurzbach is. Not sure about Evers, but I don't drive, so I'm impressed I remember as much as I do :)

Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, I'll take the gift certificate but you have to bring it in person, Tad.

Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Brooklyn's not a city dumbass. I'd say San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Ironic laughter!!, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!)
-- Cacaman Flores (cacama...), August 9th, 2003.

Go home, dad, you're drunk. ;)

And Brooklyn is a city, matter of fact.
http://encarta.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/6736.htm

Gotta educate and keep the San Juan clique in check, ya know.

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Saturday, 9 August 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

But yea, I'd have to concur, if I could live anywhere, it would be anywhere but here.

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Saturday, 9 August 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I also concur. San Juan is so bad that it even gives a bad name to the term "shit hole" or "bedlam". One might feel atracted to the decayed and post-apocalyptic, a mix between heaven and hell, like Berlin. But San Juan is not the case.

Siñor N.K. Loveless (Siñor N.K. Loveless), Saturday, 9 August 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Hm, I have one of those $3 Starbucks gift certficates as well, ready to expire at the end of the year. I wonder where it is...

Chris P (Chris P), Saturday, 9 August 2003 23:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Boston if public transportation didn't close at so early an hour.

New York, London, or Paris if I could find and afford a neighborhood that both is as relatively low-density as my current DC neighborhood (midrise apartment buidlings and rowhouses; a large park nearby) and has good public transportation links to the rest of town.

I've never been to Seattle, but everything I do know about the place is positive.

j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 10 August 2003 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Seattle is kind of nice, but I wouldn't say *everything* about it is good...
Seattle good:

  1. Puget Sound & the islands in it like Whidbey, Vashon, Bainbridge, San Juans
  2. Cascade mountains within a 45 min drive & more mountains on the other side of the sound
  3. the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen anywhere
  4. excellent coffee & lots of live music
  5. very moderate climate- low 40s in the winter and low 70s/no humidity in the summer
  6. Vancouver & Portland- which both have beautiful downtowns- very short drives away
  7. Pike Place Market
  8. Film Festival & Bumbershoot can be fun
  9. rents are not too bad right now, we're coming off a 13% vacancy rate in Belltown abt 2 years ago
  10. lots of great, cheap sushi, Thai, Vietnamese food
  11. quite a few good bookstores & lots of good music stores

Lousy things abt Seattle:

  1. minumum 8.8% sales tax in the city
  2. Public transportation consists of a lousy, useless bus system
  3. takes YEARS to even decide on how to replace a broken highway (ie Viaduct, 25%+ chance of collapsing in next earthquake, pieces of it regularly crash to the ground), let alone build it
  4. good Indian food is hard to find unless you go to the Eastside
  5. EARTHQUAKES
  6. VOLCANOS, baby
  7. I-5 and 520 are woefully inadequate for the amt of traffic on them- you get creeping-at-5mph traffic jams on them at 11 AM on Sundays
  8. locals are insular, to say the least (on the other hand, everyone I know from work & my neighborhood moved here from elsewhere, so who cares abt the locals)
  9. art museums are really tiny
  10. no one out here knows how to dress (it sometimes seems jeans that are too short + white socks + tevas + a baggy fleece jacket is the required uniform out here)
  11. too many hipsters in some sections
  12. many of the interesting parts of town (see Broadway) are dying
  13. houses are super expensive, thanks to microsoft
  14. our downtown is ugly, boring, inefficient to walk or drive in, dirty, and has really no right to call itself a real city
  15. Belltown is full of Range Rover-driving yuppies

lyra (lyra), Sunday, 10 August 2003 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i just found out that a museum in CHICAGO had a MONSTER TRUCK EXHIBIT!! i am so into moving to Chicago like RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE!

Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 10 August 2003 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, if you move, tell me if you find any good programming jobs there.

lyra (lyra), Sunday, 10 August 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

(ie thinking abt the traffic on 520 has killed my brane, Chicago or anywhere else sounds like a great place to live instead)

lyra (lyra), Sunday, 10 August 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't wanna live in any city

duane (24 hour troubleshooter), Sunday, 10 August 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

kobe, japan

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 10 August 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

why kobe?

phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 10 August 2003 07:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha I'm moving to Paris soon, which is my answer to this question. Maybe I'll find out why someone would want to leave it!

amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 10 August 2003 08:00 (twenty-two years ago)

what jel and duane said. i love dunedin heaps, but i'd really love to live in the country so i can be a real hermit

The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Sunday, 10 August 2003 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I was in Kobe, Japan, for the first time in June and can indeed see the appeal. It's well set between mountains and the sea, seems surprisingly cosmopolitan for a Japanese city, and is part of the Kansai triangle with Osaka and Kyoto. I prefer Kyoto though, and I prefer Tokyo to any city anywhere. Total enchantment going on there. My current home town Berlin is also a very good place to live, cheap yet thrilling, urban yet not too stressed.

I'm in Portland right now, and like it a lot for a city so small. Was marvelling at the brilliant thrifting-by-weight opportunities today, the fabulous club I just played (Holocene), the pure plain poetry of the industrial architecture on the east side (stark, severe bottling plants and paint factories with 40s lettering on the wall), and the excellent book and record stores (Powell's, Ozone). Plus clean air, liberal politics and striking scenery. And free trams!

Momus (Momus), Sunday, 10 August 2003 09:12 (twenty-two years ago)

(Let's also mention Portland's unparalleled preponderance of unpassworded wifi networks, a real plus.)

Momus (Momus), Sunday, 10 August 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

glasgow.

RJG (RJG), Sunday, 10 August 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

why kobe?

let's see...

It's a fairly young and very fashionably hip city in a nice location right between the mountains and sea. There is great food (especially beef). Osaka, Kyoto and Nara are very near. The public transportation can get you pretty much anywhere. The hyogo prefectural art musem is pretty good. (Kobe is where Gutai was based.) It's also much more relaxed then Tokyo, and very slightly less westernized.

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 10 August 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Because the way Kobe is set up between the mountains and sea the train lines are just a strait line and it is very easy to navigate too.

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 10 August 2003 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

And for about $200 from Kobe you can visit Tokyo (a great place to visit, but an expensive place to live)

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 10 August 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Glasgow. Or Barcelona. Or Seville.

ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 10 August 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course, New Yorkk City!

Micheline Gros-Jean (Micheline), Sunday, 10 August 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Paris is where I'm headed within the next 2-3 years I think. I still have to look into the uses / transferability / utility of a Scots Law degree in France though. Not enough money and too little time to dedicate myself to a life of flanerie, I fear, but it'll be nice to live in the city where it is genuinely possible / promoted.

David. (Cozen), Sunday, 10 August 2003 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Seville is based entirely on the fact that it seemed lovely the couple of days I was there (nothwithstanding the fact that it was swamped with thousands of mostly drunken Scots and Irish people). Barcelona is the most beautiful place I have ever visited, the most fun, the most interesting. The fact that the weather pisses all over the UK weather (not at all literally) and that Spanish wine is (1) yummy and (2) cheap are added bonuses. (Should that be boni, do you think?)

Glasgow as it was the only place I wanted to move to when I was young, and if I moved back there now I would either save myself a fortune on taxis, see my friends more, or not have to impose myself chez Ally C and RJG because I can't afford a taxi (note, I only live ten miles away, but it is a hassle getting home at night).

ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 10 August 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

either SF or some tiny place in BC you've never heard of

dave q, Sunday, 10 August 2003 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

1. nyc 2. london (where i do live) 3. melbourne (nearly moved there but not quite). 4. any other cities, really 5. other places

kieron, Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I live in Toronto, and I like it a lot here. The only places that could draw me out would be New York or London, I have no interest in living in Quebec but Noodles' mention of Halifax is a lovely idea too, if you can find work there, though I'd need to get out to a much larger city every once in a while, I suppose. Another good thing about Toronto is that it's pretty much your best bet in Canada for ensuring bands will tour in your area.

Alexis (Alexis), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

New York City
Tokyo if it was more exciting


Mary (Mary), Monday, 11 August 2003 06:13 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven years pass...

wanna go somewhere

≖_≖ (Lamp), Friday, 17 October 2014 02:28 (eleven years ago)


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