The most beautiful city I've ever been to is San Francisco. I have traveled the world and seen many different cities which are also great, but San Francisco has a beauty that cannot be rivaled. I know I am bias and partial to the city that is not only in my state, but is where I lived for several years. I remember first trying to find an apartment in the city. I had been living in Sacramento and working for Nordstrom when I got a promotion to manager in downtown San Francisco. For a while I drove back and forth every day. On a good day, that could be under two hours; on a bad day the drive was sometimes almost 4. Each way.
Getting an apartment was not easy. This was at the tail end of the dot com era. Young, smart kids with money were lined up, and I mean LINED UP to pay cash on the spot for an apartment. Not only would they pay the asking price; they would pay more, lots more. There were bidding wars for rentals. You had to fill out your application, print out your credit score, have your deposit in hand and then BID extraordinary amounts of money in order to get a 300 SF room in this wonderful city.
I got lucky. A friend of a friend of a friend was moving out and I could take over her lease. It would be easy and cheap ("city" cheap, that is). I didn't know the new roommate. I didn't know if he was messy or clean, nice or mean, taken or single. I didn't care. He could have been an axe murderer; at least the rent was cheap.
I spent the next several years exploring. All the different nooks and crannies, each with a different world, were there for my pleasure. You could walk from Mexico to China within minutes. You could taste all the food, experience the culture, all within steps of your own back door. You could see the water from many different vantage points. You could take a walk along the ocean and stare at the Golden Gate bridge. It was never hot and never cold. It was perfect.
I don't need to tell you that San Francisco is pleasing to the eye, with it's hills and it's skyline, it's water and it's bridges and it's buildings like this and this. But I need to tell you that it is much more than just physical beauty that draws me to the city. It's the mish mosh of cultures and neighborhoods and languages and people. It's the traveling the world without even leaving one city. It's the cool, crisp fall weather (in summertime).
It's the life. And the life is beautiful.
(PS Some close second place cities: Seattle, Sydney, Shanghai, Paris, Venice, Istanbul)
What do you think the "Most Beautiful" city is? And why?
Getting an apartment was not easy. This was at the tail end of the dot com era. Young, smart kids with money were lined up, and I mean LINED UP to pay cash on the spot for an apartment. Not only would they pay the asking price; they would pay more, lots more. There were bidding wars for rentals. You had to fill out your application, print out your credit score, have your deposit in hand and then BID extraordinary amounts of money in order to get a 300 SF room in this wonderful city.
I got lucky. A friend of a friend of a friend was moving out and I could take over her lease. It would be easy and cheap ("city" cheap, that is). I didn't know the new roommate. I didn't know if he was messy or clean, nice or mean, taken or single. I didn't care. He could have been an axe murderer; at least the rent was cheap.
I spent the next several years exploring. All the different nooks and crannies, each with a different world, were there for my pleasure. You could walk from Mexico to China within minutes. You could taste all the food, experience the culture, all within steps of your own back door. You could see the water from many different vantage points. You could take a walk along the ocean and stare at the Golden Gate bridge. It was never hot and never cold. It was perfect.
I don't need to tell you that San Francisco is pleasing to the eye, with it's hills and it's skyline, it's water and it's bridges and it's buildings like this and this. But I need to tell you that it is much more than just physical beauty that draws me to the city. It's the mish mosh of cultures and neighborhoods and languages and people. It's the traveling the world without even leaving one city. It's the cool, crisp fall weather (in summertime).
It's the life. And the life is beautiful.
(PS Some close second place cities: Seattle, Sydney, Shanghai, Paris, Venice, Istanbul)
What do you think the "Most Beautiful" city is? And why?
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