Agree ^ We had a great time in SYD. The Rocks during the weekend street fair is wonderful.

Singapore is very overrated. After 10 minutes on Orchard Road and a visit to the Night Zoo, we were done. Good thing we only had 24 hours to kill.

Los Angeles is worse than dog @ss.

Poland?
 

Anyone for Gdansk or Warsaw? Concrete Jungles. F'ing freezing. Oh and the road from Warsaw to Gdansk was sommething else. It looked better once 2' of snow had been dumped on the place.

- Tim

We heard about the casino, but didn't go (was with SO, so Heidi was out of the question :)). We had nice speise und trinken, including fruhstuck at cafes, although as I said, I found more rude service than I'm used to in Europe. And my German accent, such as it is, should be better there than anywhere else: my original German teacher was Austrian, and my German sister-in-law always teases me about my hard ch's.

I'll try to get back during Mozartfest. :)

Absolutely agree. I spend about a month a year in London, short and long trips, often staying with friends in the suburbs (Richmond, St. Margaret's, Kingston) but just as often staying "in town" in hotels. Where you stay completely determines your attitude about London, IMO. If you're a tourist staying in the Holiday Inn Piccadilly (hypothetical example), then you will be surrounded by other tourists, overpriced and underwhelming food, and lots of tatty shops. You will go from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, and will think you've "seen all there is to see" after you've crossed off all the sights they drive you past on the Big Bus Tour.

However, if you stay in a small hotel outside the touristy areas, you will be rewarded with the joy that can be London. Stay in Clerkenwell, Islington, Hampstead or even Borough - you will see things regular tourists never see. Brick Lane at 3am Saturday night, lazing about in Richmond Park with a picnic lunch, Hampstead High Street on a warm and sunny afternoon, bustling Borough Market on Saturday... who can find these things overrated???

Ah well, I suppose it's in the eye of the beholder. If you've never been east of the Tower of London, north of Oxford Street, west of Harrods or south of the London Eye, then London can be "overrated," but that's only because of the bloody tourists :rolleyes:

as a drunk scotsman I have found most cities mentioned interesting for a variety of reasons

and with a knife not many peole are unfriendly to you ;)

I don't think Shanghai is overrated.

Remember my reminder
 

about stretching every so often. I have a lawyer working on a copyright of my name, so enjoy while you can :)

After reading all these posts, there seems to be a pretty universal pattern. It only takes a few days to burn through the tourist stuff, then it's time to deal with the real nitty gritty of the city (hey, I like that). My point that LapLap has latched onto so tightly is that for the average tourist, it only takes a while to see all the "usual" stuff. Then it's time to move on. Of course, if you are on an extended stay somewhere or decide to live in a city, that's quite different and G*d help you if you can't start finding interesting stuff.

For what it's worth, I found Hong Kong to be a larger, more crowded version of Century City in LA. Neither of which is very interesting. Of course, if I had more time and had gotten out of the city I might have found the region fascinating.

I'll probably get way flamed for this, but I have to vote for Buenos Aires! It's nice, fun, great restaurants, shopping, etc. BUT I was disappointed because people have raved raved raved about it for the last several years.

I liked it, there is nothing wrong with it, but I would say it is the most overrated because I was expecting so much. There are not that many tourist attractions per se, it's more of an experiential thing...just left me with a slightly depressed, empty feeling, maybe because of all that faded glory.

London gets my vote...........

I sort of understand your point of view - I was there while in college and was blown away. When I was there last year, although I still loved it, it was kind of sad. The Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada were once beautiful. Now, there are weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk and the stone is crumbling. :(

I moved to Los Angeles (about 20 years ago) from D.C. I, too, hated it for many years. It took me about a decade to appreciate it (or become brainwashed). And apparently, I am not the only one (i.e. see realtor.com).

Ya know I was there in '83 and again in '94. It had decayed then, I'd hate to see what it's like now :(

There's kind of a common theme here. Some people do the tourist thing in a city and are underwhelmed, but spending more time there begin to appreciate it more. I agree. I've lived in Shanghai and London and know you need to dig a bit deeper past the tourist stuff to appreciate the cities.

With that said, having lived the first 35 years of my life in Southern California, Los Angeles is still a steaming pile of dog dirt.

The other thing we're overlooking is, whether you like or love or hate or loathe a city depends a lot on what floats your boat. And that's only the most subjective thing there is. If you're not into fancy dining and all-night nitelife, NYC and the like could leave you cold. If you love riding on bike paths through stands of virgin birch trees, you won't find that in a whole lot of cities. If you love high tech, expensive shopping, people watching, Omaha is not going to work for you.

It can also often be frustrating and saddening (?) to revisit places that once meant a lot to you. Sometimes it's the place that's changed, sometimes you, sometimes both. I lived in Yokohama when I was 16, and on a recent visit back there was nothing left of where I had lived, and so much of the city had changed I didn't feel like I had ever been there. On the other hand, the house in Connecticut where I grew up is still there and every coupla years when I return it has barely changed, even as parts of the town around it have grown up. Indian and Japanese restaurants in rural CT? Wowzer.

It's like the old joke...1st place prize is a 1 week trip to Philadelphia; 2nd place prize is 2 WEEKS in Philadelphia :D

- HF