My Top 5 Cities

I'm heading home on the Bolt Bus from NYC right now and thought I'd use their free wi-fi to write a quick blog entry - it's crazy that they have this bus now and it's not anymore $$ than the Chinatown bus (and your bus will not explode into flames mid-way).

I had a few days in Jersey for a business trip and in the past have used this opportunity to visit friends in NYC. This time I kind of wanted to get back to Boston and it made me realize how this has become my new home and how much the city's grown on me. It's still not my favourite - in fact right now, at least for cities in the U.S. (plus Montreal since it's close to where I grew up) it might go something like:

1. Montreal*
2. New Orleans
3. Burlington***
4.Minneapolis/St. Paul
5. Pittsburgh/Madison (tie here)
*The one caveat with these ones is in the winter they probably doesn't even make the top 5 because it's so cold.
***Not because it's cold but because of all the annoying UVM students is really only #3 because of it's amazingness in the summer

NYC is a tough one because it goes from 1 to last so quickly from moment to moment - it's just such a crazy place that has extrreme potentials for coolness or terribleness and it's different every time I go. Pittsburgh is surprisingly very cool - lot's of hills, up & coming with very affordable living (and bars), lots of artsy type stuff going on - give it a chance it will surprise you. I imagine Philly and Portland would make the list if I spent more time there. Tuscon is cool too - but doesn't seem really together like a lot of places out West you need a car so it gets cut from the list.

I feel pretty lucky that I've been able to go to a bunch of Red Sox games, see a few shows, go on a few adventures, and many times at-the-last minute, which is much harder to do in NYC. So for now I'm sticking around and hoping that winter won't suck too hard