Where do you take visitors to your city? To see and do, to eat? (2014, city hall)
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OK, so let's say I am visiting your city or region and you want to show me around. What would you take me to see? What would you take me to do? Where would we go eat? What are the "musts"?
Please respond even if you don't see your city as a major tourist destination.
The White House
The Washington Monument
Museum of Natural History
Air and Space Museum
National Gallery of Art (went there recently after many years and was rather impressed)
The U.S. Capitol building
Library of Congress
U.S. Supreme Court
Lincoln Memorial
Martin Luther King Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
World War 2 Memorial
Georgetown
That may sound like a lot to cover, but much of the above are close together. Also, if time allows:
Holocaust Museum
The National Cathedral
Old Town Alexandria waterfront
Capital Wheel at National Harbor
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Great Falls
As far as places to eat, .. those are a little secret.
The White House
The Washington Monument
Museum of Natural History
Air and Space Museum
National Gallery of Art
The U.S. Capitol building
Library of Congress
U.S. Supreme Court
Lincoln Memorial
Martin Luther King Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
World War 2 Memorial
Georgetown
That may sound like a lot to cover, but much of the above are close together. Also, if time allows:
Holocaust Museum
The National Cathedral
Old Town Alexandria waterfront
Capital Wheel at National Harbor
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Great Falls
Nice. And where would you take me to dinner? For a true Washingtonian/American experience?
For Taipei:
-Maokong Gondola
-Wulai/Beitou hotsprings
-Jiufen(an old town which Japanese tourists are very fond of)
-CKS memorial hall
-My school(National Taiwan University)
-Night markets(if you're interested in poisonous and greasy yet delicious snacks, otherwise avoid them as they are usually quite messy and dirty)
-National Palace Museum(if you're interested in Chinese artifacts, otherwise avoid this spot as there are way too many Chinese tourists, which is a major turn-off)
-Taipei Concert Hall
-Longshan Temple(one of the largest temples in Taiwan, iirc)
-Taipei zoo(if you're interested in panda, there's one here)
-SYS Memorial Hall
-Danshui(an not-so-old old town, I don't like it personally but some recommend it so let's add it to the list)
-Pingxi/Shifen(where you can light up sky lanterns )
Now, there's one famous spot which everyone should TOTALLY avoid:
-Taipei 101. The amount of Chinese tourists is overwhelming in the worst possible way, and the interiors are nothing to write home about in the first place(it's basically a department store/mall), so just look at it from a distance away if you're interested in skyscrapers. There's an observation point on the top of it just like any other tall building, but Taipei looks pretty bad from above so it's probably not worth it going all the way up there.
Last edited by Greysholic; 01-29-2015 at 12:58 PM..
A bike ride along the seawall.
Stanley Park
A ride on the Seabus
A tour in one of the small ferries that ply False Creek
The view of the city from Spanish Banks and from Cypress Mountain ( free alternative to the Gondola at Grouse Mountain )
The Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge. ( free alternative to The Capilano Suspension Bridge )
Wreck Beach if they are so inclined
Canada Place and Jack Poole Plaza
Take the Canada Line out to Richmond and visit the Asian malls.
Gastown and it's various restaurants and bars
Yaletown as well.
Vancouver Art Gallery to see Emily Carr paintings
Whistler and the Sea to Sky highway ( not technically Vancouver but it's on the list of things people do when in Vancouver)
Same with Victoria. The ferry ride through the Gulf Islands is spectacular
Commercial Drive for bohemian, funky, shops etc.
Main Street for " Hipster" brew pubs etc.
Olympic Village
A sample of some of the restaurants I choose.
Restaurants to impress.
Hawksworth
Chambar
Yew
Restaurants that are more casual
Twisted Fork
Kingyo
Cactus Club ( a chain but a good chain. Their restaurant on English Bay has a stunning outlook )
Various Chinese and other Japanese restaurants, too many excellent ones to list them all.
Nook
Lolita's
Vancouver is a great for people who love the outdoors. Most of my friends who visit come for the views, the walks, the sea air.
In fact a friend from Japan who used to visit often, would joke that she came " just for some air "...and to relax.
In summer it's the kind of place where you shake the sand out of your shoes, before going for lunch.
The nice thing about showing people around Boston is that everything is so walkable and compact and the city is a joy to walk from end to end. All of the historical sites are integrated into regular neighborhoods and life, so I always recommend just walking and stopping when you see something interesting. The areas you should hit are:
1) Beacon Hill
2) Back Bay
3) Boston Common
4) Public Garden
5) Chinatown
6) Charlestown
7) Downtown Crossing
8) Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market
9) Fenway
10) Greenway
11) Harvard Square
12) Kendall Square/MIT
13) Central Square
14) South End
15) North End
There are other interesting outer lying areas and some great day trips outside the city.
For food, its tough to say but if I was going to show around a person with similar taste a day of eating/drinking would go like this:
Lunch: Neptune Oyster to stuff our faces on seafood. Oysters, Warm Lobster Roll, Fried whole belly clams and a couple things from the crudo menu. (Neptune Oyster)
Dinner: Alden and Harlow. My current favorite place to eat in the city in the non fine dining category. (Alden & Harlow)
Late night eats: You have to eat something after drinking all day long . Peach Farm for live tank seafood, Peking Duck and salt n pepper squid. (Peach Farm)
Then we gotta wake up for a 5 mile run in the morning around the Esplanade to burn it off.
The only important things missing on this route are Schloss Belvedere, Schönbrunn Palace and the Opera. I wouldn't bother buying tickets for Schönbrunn, but make sure to check out the gardens. They are free to enter. Same with Belvedere. The museum at Belvedere might be worth a visit when you like the works of Gustav Klimt, though.
So, these were the places a "Europe in 30 Days"-tour would take you to. Perfectly fine, but yeah... a bit boring. I'd do the walking tour, take photos, take a walk at Schönbrunn and then explore the cool parts of the city
If you really feel like throwing in a museum I'd settle for one of those:
- Leopold Museum: My favourite museum in terms of modern art. Mostly Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka and other Austrian artists of the early 20th century.
- WestLicht: Museum for photography. They also have a Leica museum.
- Imperial Treasury: That's one ****ed up place. Basically every piece of jewelry the Habsburgs ever had. Incl. the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Empire.
- Imperial Crypt: Ever wanted to see coffins the size of small battleships? Also: Lots of dead monarchs.
Other things to see:
- Kirche am Steinhof: IMO the most beautiful church of Vienna. Not sure if it's really worth to go there since there is nothing else to see or do there.
- Kahlenberg: Nice observation deck outside the city centre right in the middle of all the vineyards. Free.
- Zentralfriedhof: People are obsessed with death in this city. Why? I have no idea. Quite nice to take a walk around that cemetery.
Donaukanal:
Awesome. Places to check out: Tel Aviv Beach, Herrmanns Strandbar, Badeschiff (!!!) and Adria Wien.
Naschmarkt and Brunnenmarkt:
Google them. They’d deserve a thread on their own. Traditional markets with lots of awesome restaurants and bars.
Christmas markets:
- Spittelberg
- Altes AKH
- MuseumsQuartier: Not your traditional market. Booze and food, nice music. No kitsch.
The rest? Too touristy.
Where would we go eat/drink?
Austrian: Gmoa Keller: Very traditional. But really good. Finkh: Traditional fare, modern ambience. Zum Roten Bären: For whatever reason they don't seem to have a webpage or yelp page. Weird. One of my favourites, though. Wratschko: Old-school atmosphere, modernised food. Amerlingbeisl: Relatively cheap, nice neighborhood, cool garden. Glacis Beisl - Neubau - Vienna, Wien, Austria | Yelp: Again, nice garden. A bit expensive, but perfect location (right at MQ). Zur Eisernen Zeit: Best. ****ing. Goulash. Period. Doesn't get more Viennese than that. Beware: Service can be... well... special at times. Schnitzelwirt: Let's face it. Certainly not the best Schnitzel in town (Finkh!!!). But damn are they huge. A standard Schnitzel, Cordon Blue and beer. Forget about the rest. Fairly cheap for what they are offering.
I could list some non-Austrian restaurants, but I guess that’s not what this post should be about.
For Antibes (French Riviera), though I haven't been here for long
Picasso museum
Provençal market in the morning
Walk along the port where the rich park their yachts for the winter
Walk on the cape trail
Peynet cartoon museum (quite topical)
Juan les Pins jazz festival if then
Marineland park if there are kids
For Taipei:
-Maokong Gondola
-Wulai/Beitou hotsprings
-Jiufen(an old town which Japanese tourists are very fond of)
-CKS memorial hall
-My school(National Taiwan University)
-Night markets(if you're interested in poisonous and greasy yet delicious snacks, otherwise avoid them as they are usually quite messy and dirty)
-National Palace Museum(if you're interested in Chinese artifacts, otherwise avoid this spot as there are way too many Chinese tourists, which is a major turn-off)
-Taipei Concert Hall
-Longshan Temple(one of the largest temples in Taiwan, iirc)
-Taipei zoo(if you're interested in panda, there's one here)
-SYS Memorial Hall
-Danshui(an not-so-old old town, I don't like it personally but some recommend it so let's add it to the list)
-Pingxi/Shifen(where you can light up sky lanterns )
Now, there's one famous spot which everyone should TOTALLY avoid:
-Taipei 101. The amount of Chinese tourists is overwhelming in the worst possible way, and the interiors are nothing to write home about in the first place(it's basically a department store/mall), so just look at it from a distance away if you're interested in skyscrapers. There's an observation point on the top of it just like any other tall building, but Taipei looks pretty bad from above so it's probably not worth it going all the way up there.
I really enjoyed my trip to Guandu Temple (which doesn't seem to be all that popular). Danshui was quite okay. Nice view, some good snacks, overall quite pleasant on a nice day. Not sure if it's worth that long-ass MRT ride Yeah... couldn't really tell why they call it old town.
As for the night markets: Hygiene aside, that's a must Shilin was outright crazy, though.
I'm more of a nature person. So I'd mostly go with the natural environment.
*The Rock's part of George Street (not a natural environment, LOL, but it's a beautiful part of Sydney).
*Sydney Royal National Park, which is mostly a forest.
*Sydney Harbour National Park, which provides spectacular views of the Harbour and Sydney's skyline.
*A bit inland to the lushes Auburn Botanical Gardens, which features oriental plants and a beautiful Japanese garden.
*More inland to the Western Sydney Parklands, which has native animals, native trees and lookouts.
*Georges River and its woods area.
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