For me, Zug, my family’s home in Switzerland, is amazing in the summer.
Not that I’ve been to these places, just vibe judgement based on the map look.
I follow earthquake notification account on mastodon. In the past 2-3 years, I noticed there are a lot of earthquakes in Almaty (Kazakhstan). Though I never really look at its magnitude, so maybe they’re not that big.
I just checked, appened as recent as
- 3 hours ago https://masto.ai/@lastquake/116129742708514791
- 5 days ago https://masto.ai/@lastquake/116096519152063338
- 7 days ago https://masto.ai/@lastquake/116085423301335465
- 9 days ago https://masto.ai/@lastquake/116079083309618920
Also when the bot posts, it posts an image of the epicenter & is surrounding map (such as the parent post of the linked post). And everytime a zoomed-in map of Chile/west coast South America, I go “this look like the Levant but it’s not very familiar, oh it’s Chile”
I may be biased but its NYC and specifically Upper Manhattan, I also like Northern Queens and the Bronx (fuck Staten Island) but Upper Manhattan is just my favorite part of this beautiful city. Second place would have to be Chicago and other than that I haven’t really gone to many places I would consider great (I also haven’t gone to many places).
Not very well traveled yet but at the moment… either Prague/Praha in Czechia or Ljubljana in Slovenia probably
Both are pleasant places with beautiful architecture, all kinds of natural scenery as someone who has only lived in flat cities (mountains AND rivers in my city??). Bonus point that Prague has dirt-cheap beer that even comes in alcohol-free variety, Ljulbljana has a ridiculous amount of hiking trails and is within day-trip distance to some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe
Chiayi and Taipei in Taiwan, and Amsterdam. Lots of plants and trees in all three, and amazing vibes
NYC, specifically Brooklyn.
Idk if favorite-favorite, but favorite nostalgic, absolutely.
Best childhood memories were make while living there.
Just trying to figure out the NYC metro is like solving puzzles… I was kinda good at my sense of directions, or at least that what everyone says about me.
But other than that, probably Hong Kong…
Only been there once as a tourist, not much memories of it. But it’s a very internationalized/westernized city and most importantly, it’s a Cantonese-speaking stronghold, Cantonese is one of my native languages and I’ve always felt a stong emotional connection to it, both the fun times and the same language that I got verbally abused in by family members but it’s simultsneously the language my mother, intermittently, expresses love in… so I kinda have a love-hate attachment to the language…
Hong Kong the last bastion of the Cantonese language… and most Hong Kongers are pro-democracy… so I kinda just feel attached to that place, I just hope Hong Kong remains Hong Kong and not become a “Xianggang” or whatever (mainland-ization and mandarin dominance)
For me: Hong Kong and Cantonese are the symbols of resistance against CCP, which is why they’re trying so hard to get rid of Cantonese.
Other than Edinburgh, where I live…
- Paris
- NYC
- Amsterdam
- Berlin
- The Scottish Highlands
What’s the best thing about living in Switzerland?
I don’t know.
Nor do I, but the flags a big plus.
I love my city chicago because of the transit and lake and nature options. Toronto is the only place I ever wanted to move because its like my city but in canada.
I never really considered that Toronto is like mirror-image Chicago. But I see what you mean!
oh yeah. transit, the lakefront, airport, natural areas. every time I look at a map it kinda blows me away.
Strangely enough, a city I found absolutely and unexpectedly delightful was Himeji, on Honshu in Japan.
A question, if I may… my family is looking to travel to Japan. How necessary is it to be fluent in the language? More from an “I don’t want to be an asshole” standpoint as opposed to a “I’ll be lost forever” standpoint.
It’s not at all necessary. Google Translate works super well, and a lot of Japanese also speak English. Pretty much all the important signs are also in English.
That’s good news… I’d love to not be the stereotypical “ugly American”
Much more important than learning the language is learning the culture of politeness. I highly recommend looking up non-clickbaity youtube videos that talk about how to behave in Japan for your first trip. The cultural differences are pretty strong.
That makes sense, we’ve started studying it just a bit along with basic language lessons. Thanks for the advice though!
Even apart from the castle? Okay, that’s it, I’m moving up the castle (and the region) higher on the to do list :)
We didn’t go to the castle, we just wandered around in the city, and just found it delightful.
Had a similar experience in Hakone. The village wouldn’t have been much to look at, yet I spent a good couple of hours extra there, just enjoying the ambiance and the people. Exactly the way I pictured it when reading Murakami when his main characters visit a village.
Another unexpected delight was Aomori. It was nowhere near as cold as I expected, and we had the best fucking ramen I’ve had anywhere in the world, at this tiny little shop.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Tromsø in Norway.
Me too!!! My favourite Norwegian city I think
I’m really fond of the Netherlands because it neatly distributes towns, water and farmland. Admittedly I don’t think it has the most effective system of wilderness, but I appreciate it for the many things it achieves.
I’m fond of all the cold places in the world - Alaska, Canada, Finland and Russia, for instance. That said I now love warm weather much more than cold weather, but I like the appearance of snowy places.
I’m a fan of a small isle off the southern coast of Norway, Møkkalasset, mostly cause it means “Load of Dung”.
The name is a drift from an older phrase meaning “Very Frothy Sea”, which is less glorious but still a fine example of the extremely unimaginative naming style of Norwegian places.
Antarctica. Not many people are there. Should be quiet…
Outer Hebrides !
Do you have cuckoo clocks there? If yes then I’ll pick whatever you have.
If not while I can appreciate the mountains the northern Scandinavian forests is where I feel at home.
