Las Vegas - It's a place your either going to love or absolutely hate. It's like an adults version of a theme park each Casino has a different theme so it's a bit like being in a different zones each casino has about six different bars, pubs, clubs and countless restaurants plus other random stuff like Shark Reefs and Lions etc. One thing I absolutely loved is you can have a Michelin Star style meal at 4 am in the morning if you want too nothing is trouble, you live like a king. On the flip side if you dislike the seedy things which gambling and partying bring you might want to avoid it like the plague, also do some research as some of the Casino's as some are high end others attract a more lower calibre of people and could deal with a serious refit. I've always done really well on the tables though so perhaps that boosts my opinion favourably, 2nd time I visited we damaged our hire care in Salt Lake City (Weird place) so I had to make the money back! San Francisco - When you're stuck in country full of franchises it's great seeing independent businesses thrive like restaurants, coffee shops etc. Even though there is a high rise financial district the downtown area feels like some old European city and has tree lined avenues like Paris. There is old fashioned style port side too which is worth a walk along as the docks have lots of interesting sights not usual industrial look. From my experience of North American cities it feels like it has a soul and it has character. It's very walkable too, we walked around Downtown, Fishermans Wharf, Lombard Street, Russian Hill, Chinatown and North Beach in a whole day stopping off at random places enjoying the sights. If you've spend the previous week in Los Angeles you really appreciate being able to walk around having to not use a car or avoid areas like the plague. Florence is a great shout. Banff and the Rocky Mountains get my shout too really enjoyed camping out the mountains happy days etc.
Rovinj, in Istria, the north western tip of Croatia. Used to be part of the Venetian empire (where didn't?) and consequently pizza to die for. Shame they've applied to join the Euro this year, the Kuna worked a treat for me! please log in to view this image
I went to Dubrovnik a few years ago, beautiful place have always told myself I'd return and fully intend to. My time there somewhat dampened by fellow foreigners mistaking me for a Croatian and asking for directions
Santa Monica great fun , San Diego so chilled with incredible food, Venice just unreal and beautiful but favourite location I have been lucky enough to visit has to be Kyoto it is incredible with the most amazing temples and culture
I did a short stint inter-railing last summer, which is where my stories are coming from, we went Amsterdam-Prague-Vienna-Venice-Florence-Rome. Despite 3 stops in Italy, I still really, really want to go back. I'd like to time it to see the Palio in Siena, the atmosphere is meant to be brilliant. I'd still like to visit more of Northern Italy (Milan, Lake Garda & Bologna at least), and maybe Naples and Pompeii further south, although I've heard less than positive reviews of southern Italy. Totally agree about Limoncello, I bought a couple of bottles when I went, sadly I'm nearly out now.
Klagenfurt ( think spelling is correct) in Austria is an amazingly chilled place where I was lucky enough to do several business trips it also has the most amazing little airport in a magnificent setting where i have sat many times having a G&T awaiting my plane to land, also Monfalcone in Northern Italy is worth a visit for the most amazing sea food!
When I used to have my offie in Norwich, circa 12 years ago, I made a point of stocking both Limoncello and also Ponche, the brandy/orange based liqueur from Spain in the silver bottle Old habits, and all that
Andalucia in southern Spain is ace, granada with the Alhambra palace (also Alhambra beer is good), Ronda, walking in the alpijurras foothills of the sierra Nevada Who needs the overpopulated beach! Also Almeria province is nice, went there for a week of sun last year, very underdeveloped comparedto the costa del sol
Really like Santa Monica and Venice Beach loved the coastal areas of Los Angeles, it seems a million miles away from maniacal pace of the rest of the city.
Great to see that Florence and Lake Garda/Sienna are proving popular! Great story I heard about the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City regarding another painting/fresco by Michelangelo. He hasn't just done the ceiling. On one wall he did a painting of heaven, earth and hell. Apparently one of the pope's assistants came to him complaining it wasn't being done quick enough. So Michelangelo painted the assistant in hell being wrapped around my a snake! Or something similar to that.
Really like Santa Monica and Venice Beach loved the coastal areas of Los Angeles, it seems a million miles away from maniacal pace of the rest of the city.[/QUOTE] Very true LA is a dirty little town but the coast is amazing as are the joggers and roller skaters stayed in a hotel right on the beach and watched them happily everyday while eating breakfast
It's a very unique city I had some quality moments there is lots to do, see and experience, I found it fun but at the same time we got cocky made a few wrong turnings and that wasn't the best decision I've ever made. Still it's a place you leave with plenty of tales as it's so vast and different with so many extremes and polar opposites. The people living in the hills in their gated communities and strip malls live in a bubble, then rest of the city just feels like it's on edge each area changes so quickly, the coastal area's give you back your sanity down to earth and relaxed. Would go back in a flash.
Krakow in poland. Awesome, left alone by Hitler like Paris for a good reason. Very historical and the architecture is amazing.
I really love Galway and connermara. And the franz-josef glacia in NZ. Queenstown is also a great place to visit, come to think of it that goes for everywhere in NZ. If they only played with the right shaped ball I could reconcile leaving the UK. Nowhere's better than Norwich though!
Funnily enough, I was about to add Galway and west through Connemara to Clifden and Roundstone. Rugged and beautiful landscape. Citywise, I have enjoyed both New York and Paris very much. Also Graz in Austria and Freiburg in the German Black Forest are worth a visit. Finally, a bachelor road trip around the coast of Florida was very enjoyable. Starting up at Jacksonville, down to Miami Beach, across the top of the Florida Keys, through to the Everglades and then up along the Gulf of Mexico to St. Petersburgh before finishing in Orlando.
Seeing as I got married in Italy, I am with those of you who have already mentioned it. Rome is a stunning place and so easy to get around by foot/underground. I'm not really religous but the Vatican is quite a spectacle, even though one of their labels on an Egyptian canopic jar was wrong - (my missus still thinks I am wrong but I know I am not - a label on one of the jars claimed to hold the brain but the brain was thought useless by Egyptians and was discarded! Sorry, got sidetracked there!) Every other street seems to have incredible architecture or a church beautifully adorned - no need to ponder where all the money in the Pope's coffers went over the centuries! The museums are packed full of art, sculpture and artefacts dating back thousands of years and it is amazing to think you can stand in the same place as Julius Ceaser in the Palantine or Joaquin Pheonix in the Colloseum (joke). Off the top of my head I can think of The Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, St Peter's Basilica, The pyramide, The Pantheon, The Forum, The Vatican, The Colloseum, Castle Saint Angelo and The Monument as truly awesome examples of places to visit. Somebody else has also mentioned the pyramids of Giza and if you haven't been, to stand beneath one is staggering. The sheer scale of the achievement to move over 2 million blocks of stone the size of a two coffins on top of one another is bewildering. To think that they still stand today and until the late 1800s were the highest man made structure in the world is incredible. Agree with a previous poster though that you just have to ignore the constant pestering by the locals trying to flog you cheap tat. If you like artefacts then the Cairo museum is packed to the rafters with them, although I found Tutankhamun's death mask quite uninspiring when I came face to face with it. The pictures are definitely better than the real thing. All of the other artefacts found in his tomb however, are very impressive.
For those beer drinkers I highly recommend the Berlin beer festival. A mile long strip with beer tents and bars set up both sides of the road with '2000 beer specialities from 300 breweries' (had to check that bit). And then loads of awesome BBQ's with all the sausages Germany is famous for, steaks on a spitroast etc etc. Takes over an hour to walk one length of it and that's without stopping for beers! Something like 8 or 9 stages with live music set up all the way down too. Just an awesome atmosphere and highly recommended. Oktoberfest gets a lot of the attention but the Berlin beer fest should definately not be overlooked. Oh and I went last year where they got the world record for the longest beer garden. Nice to be a part of history
