Cities (London is a bit shit)

[shiftwork2]

Does anyone want to big up Cambridge?

Poor man's Norwich mate.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yep, love Cambridge. The Cambridge in Boston is very nice too, and also has a lot of cool architecture, big old college campuses (featured in The Social Network), people riding bicycles and a thriving nightlife, so it's very similar.

[Zetetic]

old

No.

[El Unicornio, mang]

No.

1630s isn't old? That's less than 200 years younger than King's College.

[Zetetic]

1630s isn't old?

Nah. There's nothing pre-18th Century in the Harvard campus anyway.

[El Unicornio, mang]

1700s is still old. I mean, unless you only count "old" things as stuff that is as old as the Pyramids...

[Zetetic]

For buildings, I'm happy to count anything older than 500 years. For humans, anyone over 30.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Well that's just silly

[Small Man Big Horse]

I lived in Cambridge for three years whilst going to the shit Poly, and loved it for most of the time, but by the end I was looking forward to leaving. It's a beautiful city and there's a lot to do there, but I was just exhausted by it at the end. Though that's partially due to being a horribly unfit 25 and drinking far too often. The Flying Pig was one of my favourite pubs as well (and the shit pub next to it, just because they used to run a really bad karaoke night) along with The Blue Anchor and The Tram Depot, the latter being well known for being the only pub Rory McGrath seems to ever drink in.

I'd like to go back for a long weekend, though the millions of young happy students would probably depress me, and the fact that I heard they closed down The Boat Race and replaced it with a shitty wine bar is upsetting too.

[wosl]

Berlin>Barcelona > Hamburg > Everywhere else

FYP

[SockPuppet]

Why is Barcelona so popular?

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

Boston is nice. I've stayed there many times. You do feel at home there as an Englishman with a lot of the architecture and actual pubs. The only downside is that it is full of some very precious types - the spectre of Harvard hangs over everything, and there's always this nervous atmosphere of "what if the person im sat next to is the head of MIT?" As a result it's not unusual to come across people tossing around literary/academic references even where theyre not at all relevant - or at least I did. I'd like to go back one day and just ignore absolutely everyone this time.

[KLG-7A]

The trouble with Boston is that no cunt will shut up about Mike's Pastries.

[phes]

Barcelona > Hamburg > Everywhere else

Yes. Thank Christ i've had family and friends living in Barcelona for most of my life. I'm heading there in a week or two for my annual pilgrimage to the greatest bar in Europe:





It hasn't been cleaned in fifty years, and the locals only drink the house 'drink' from a heavily stained 2 litre coke bottle that's kept behind something. There is no bar. And the fridge is circa Spanish civil war. Beer's about a euro, wine is 79c and undrinkable, and all the hipsters peer in out of curiosity and then fuck off once they see that it's genuinely revolting.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

That bar looks fucking excellent. In fact, I think I may even have been in there when I lived in Barcelona (I used to live round the corner from top unfinished cathedral Sagrada Familia, but then had to move out to a flat just down the road from where Gaudi was knocked down by a tram, with a militantly gay transator of porn films (I mean that's who I shared the flat with, he wasn't knocked down with Gaudi). Barcelona is a beautiful place, with all that groovy Gaidi architecture and what have you, but the amount of ex-pats sitting round in ex-pats pubs reading their Barcelona-published copies of "The Sun" can send you into full Mr. Smoketoomuch mode. Also, it's a blisteringly expensive place to live.Prague is another of them beautiful cities with top architecture and easy access to loads of other interesting little towns and countryside and whatnot, and is a relatively inexpensive place to live in (or at least used to be, haven't lived there for about 8 years), but maybe the nightlife caters too much to yer tourists and expats. I remember seeing British Sea Power play live there, which was nice.Warsaw is one of the grimmest cities I have ever lived in close proximity to. Something bery eerie and disconcerting about that place.

Still Cambridge ftw, I say.

[Jim_MacLaine]

I'm really intrigued as to what jobs people had in these cities or are you including holiday experiences too?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

I lived in Cambridge for three years whilst going to the shit Poly

Do you tell people that you "went to Cambridge" but not elaborate further, leaving them to make their own assumptions?

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I went to Cambridge (on a day trip :( )

I've said this on here before, but I had a teacher who used to say he'd "had a trial at Liverpool".

We thought he meant at the football club. But he actually meant the Crown Court.

He was sacked, for not declaring a previous conviction.

[shiftwork2]

I went to Cambridge a few weekends ago for a drinking session.  On arriving at the station I noticed that the platform signs said "Cambridge - home of Anglia Ruskin University" which struck me as funny at the time.

I was only half-joking about 'poor man's Norwich' above.  Norfolk's fair city is prettier, friendlier and has more going on for people who don't happen to be tourists.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Do you tell people that you "went to Cambridge" but not elaborate further, leaving them to make their own assumptions?

I probably should, but I do the opposite. Mainly because most of the Cambridge University students that I met were really twatish. I'm sure there are thousands who are lovely, but those out and about on a Saturday night were horribly drunken rugby club types who weren't afraid to make it clear that they were superior to everyone else. My housemate Kate slept with one once, and upon finding out the next morning that she was at APU[nb]As it was known then, before they named the university after suspected paedophile John Ruskin[/nb] he was horrified, and told her that she should be honoured that he'd slept with her.

[yesitis]

So what I'm understanding is that Plaistow (pronounced Plah-Stow apparently) is a wonderful place with friendly locals and that we'll get on like a tramp on fire.

I have to echo the pro-Montreal/anti-Toronto sentiment.

Also don't ever live in Hungary.

[Mr Eggs]

Why is Barcelona so popular?

Why does Madrid never get any praise?

[El Unicornio, mang]

Finally got round to looking at the list. I think they must have pulled names out of a hat because Pittsburgh was voted best US city (which is akin to voting Middlesborough the best city in Europe). And Detroit not much further down. Detroit.

[Sam]

I'm really intrigued as to what jobs people had in these cities or are you including holiday experiences too?

Well, judging by Lisa's post above you, EFL teacher.

I lived in Cadiz for a brief time, in the old city, spitting distance from the beach and cathedral and it was a blindingly awesome time. When I tell Spanish people I lived in Cadiz, I get similar 'oohs' to what I get here saying I grew up on the Cornish coast.

Tapas bars open at 1 a.m, joints smoked openly outside, tuna steak for a euro off the market, free drinks in bars, walk around safely at night, hilariously impenetrable accent, clear blue sea, palm trees, beautiful architecture, friendly locals....the list goes on.

I second Norwich too, it's one of England's best kept secrets. You notice its charm and positive elements straight away, and you could get the flavour of it in one day, but after years there's still nooks and surprises and a consistently lovely atmosphere.

[finnquark]

Does anyone want to big up Cambridge?...

Having said that, I've only ever worked there in the Summer. It might be a fucking horrible place to live in during the Winter.

Moving into a house in the south of the city for a postgrad course in September after 3 years in the city centre, and I reckon it's better in the winter. Usually snows, get lovely misty/foggy mornings and evenings, the city centre gets nice and dank, and the pubs are more enticing. My favourite place in town was the Maypole, but largely because it was about 2 mins from my house and the majority of city centre pubs in Cambridge are crap.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Cambridge city *centre* pubs, yes, true, dat. I really must repeat what a goshdarned ace pub The King Street Run is, though. I love the fact that its decor doesnt seemed to have changed one iota since I first encountered it in my first balmy Cambridge Summer of 1998, when I used to go in there every Sunday evening to watch the Simpsons.There are still the same pages from "The Beano" adorning the ceiling there in parts, although I ve noticed that some parts have been renovated with pages from "Viz". I re-visited Cambridge briefly this Summer with my Russian ladyfriend in tow, and she was just as enchanted by the place.Plus, she got fooled by the toilet door on her first entry into the place. Chortle !

(yes, I  is one of them EFL types.)