Cities

[oyceter]

jonquil's been linking to posts on the giant spectacle in London, and stakebait just came back from Hong Kong. rachelmanija has also been going around London and Madrid.

I've always loved Neil Gaiman's short piece on cities, especially as a companion to his "Tale of Two Cities" in World's End; I think it's collected in Smoke and Mirrors. Cities are alive and they grow and they change. They have personalities and forms and shapes.

I love cities. I fell in love with Hong Kong the minute I saw its tall, needly buildings poking out of the rocky green island, the moment we drove across the long bridge connecting the airport to the main island. I still love the narrow streets and the odd contrast between the shiny metal smoothness of Central and the dirty side streets and sidewalk vendors. I miss the winding roads and the hills and the oppressive humidity, the mix of modern and old, the subway system, the mix of Cantonese and British and Chinese cultures.

I miss New York even though I never lived there, the dirty sidewalks and the subway and the grumpy people and the wealth of culture and books and art. I miss the posters plastered over construction sites, metal scaffolding above sidewalks, the numbered streets.

I love getting to know cities and finding all the nooks and crannies and making them mine. I loved eating baguettes in Paris in front of Notre Dame, but I loved looking at the sidewalk cafes even more. I loved the little grocery stores in Florence and how the lady there just let us sample the grapes. I miss Taipei and Hsinchu and the vendors selling food on the street and the six million different small restaurants and side streets.

I'm still getting acquainted with San Francisco, though I've already got a few favorite spots there already. I can tell I'm getting along better with it now that I have certain routines or routes that I go through when I'm there: genre bookstore with cat and then Ethiopian, or Kinokuniya in Japantown, or hole-in-the-wall sushi place and a walk to the dessert place with the giant slices of cake.

What are your favorite cities? What do they feel like? (also, I totally want to make this a meme because I like hearing about cities and I like reading about people's personal experiences of places and the little details that bring it to life)

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Boston is my favorite city largely because it's the one I grew up with. I also love Northampton (where I went to school). I enjoyed Oxford (England) in large part because it reminded me of being at home -- I grew up in a suburb of Boston, with easy access via public transit, and Oxford is an easy bus ride away from London. I like NYC, but it's too big for me to want to stay there. I like the accessible feel of Boston. I am glad I grew up with Boston, however, because I would not want to have to learn it as an outsider (I liken it to learning English as other than one's first language); NYC has a great grid system.

I'm not good at talking about the "feel" of a city and honestly a lot of my like for any particular city or town has to do with knowing where to go to get stuff I want and how to get there. I tend to see places-to-live/visit as more means-to-an-end (access to material goods, friends, a job, etc. that one wants) rather than as sort of entities unto themselves (see also how the idea of sacred spaces, pilgrimages, etc. doesn't resonate with me personally very much and I have to move myself into a theoretical other headspace to "get" it).

feel

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

I am just odd that way I think. It is something about my drawing. I text but I am in that very small percent of folks that texts as a layer (think of windows over dos) rather than by default.

So we probably approach these from opposite doors. The reason I am appending here.. on my own (both Montreal and Reyk I had guides) that piece about finding your way around does resonate for me. I am a map person and a big researcher before I travel.

You've got me curious now. Can you link on the bit about scared space/etc?

Re: feel

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Meep. I remember it coming up in conversations, but I don't think I ever made an actual post proper about sacred space etc. *ponders making one*

Re: meep

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

No worries. I was just curious. :)

[oyceter]

I adore NYC's grid system; it's the only reason I haven't gotten more lost there than usual.

And I really, really, really want to visit Boston someday and hang around with friends and the like. It sounds like such a fun city, especially with all the colleges and public transportation and etc.

I dunno, it's odd because I've always thought of cities as having personalities. Really, it is just the stuff I do and the people I meet, and my San Francisco is probably very different from someone else's. But that process of getting to know a city and finding my own spots there, I love doing that.