September 11, 2007 • Uncategorized •

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Cities You Could Live In…

…(for a month, for a year) if you couldn’t live in your own

I had some trouble coming up with ten, due to a couple of limitations I placed on myself:

  • I have to have actually been there, at least to visit
  • No weather extremes, one way or another

I’m not sure I could truly live in any large, major city at this point in my life; I’ve grown too used to suburban conveniences like free, ample parking and big supermarkets. But if you redefine “city” as “metropolitan area” I’ve got some prospects, as well as a few smaller ones that would work. I’m just glad the question wasn’t about small towns, because that’s not an option for me, period.

In no particular order, as usual:
Boston, MA – My favorite East Coast city. There’s always lots to see and do, and you can live without a car
San Francisco, CA – My “Boston” of the west coast, but with a better climate
Memphis, TN – Did it before, and would happily do it again, although the summers aren’t my favorite time of year there
Atlanta, GA – Good city amenities, Southern charm, and the traffic and sprawl wouldn’t seem nearly as bad after 5 years in the L.A. area
Santa Barbara, CA – Coastal, big enough for amenities, small enough for comfort
Monterey, CA – Beautiful area, good climate, great aquarium
Hermosa Beach/Manhattan Beach/Redondo Beach, CA – See that word “beach”? Enough said…
Ventura, CA – Close to my current hometown, and every time I visit I think I’d like to live there

OK, if you count each of three beach cities separately – and they are separate, although they all flow into one another – that does make 10 after all. And good heavens, it looks like I’ve really become a California girl. Maybe that’s why so many of the natives that I’ve met don’t seem to know much about places outside the state – really, why would they need to? It’s all here.

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7 comments

  1. Oh, Florinda! Are we so different? Really?

    There’s only one city that belongs on this list (assuming money is no object): Paris!

    Paris is one of the world’s most livable cities. You never need to get in a car, everything you could ever want is right there in your neighborhood, there’s plenty of free entertainment (the French are endlessly amusing), the food is “real,” cultural amenities are (natch) world class, you get plenty of free exercise from all the steps in the Métro, and the weather is not bad if you go somewhere else in the summer.

    Did I mention it’s beautiful?

    I do speak from personal experience, having lived there 3 years.

    But maybe there was a rule that these cities need to be in the U.S.?

  2. WG – The cities could have been anywhere. I just limited to myself to places I’d actually been, since I didn’t think I could honestly say I could live somewhere I’d never even visited. And I must confess I haven’t been to Europe – ever. In 43 years of life. I’ve barely been to Canada. I’ll have to take your word for it on Paris.

  3. Paris! Me, too, and that was on the basis of one day spent there!

    Let’s see… From other places I’ve been:
    London, England
    Etretat, France (Not quite a city, probably, but so pretty!)
    Vancouver, BC
    Halifax, NS
    Stirling, Scotland (? maybe… no, probably Kenilworth, England)

    Places I haven’t been, but would love to try:
    Milan, Italy
    Copenhagen, Denmark
    Tuva, Fiji
    Grenoble, France

    Is it clear from this that I love to travel? There’s so much world out there!

    And if you ever do make it to Canada – to Ontario, specifically, I’d love to show you around Ottawa, which is a lovely city.

  4. MaryP – I hope I can take you up on that offer sometime. I actually did visit Ottawa once as a child – we had some cousins there – but don’t remember a lot about it. (We also went through Niagara Falls and Montreal on that trip, I think.) I’d definitely like to see much more of your beautiful country, though – just not in the winter :-).

  5. we’ve got some of the same cities on our lists. (i also limited myself to places i’ve actually been – although there are many places i would like to visit one day.)