After a 2-hour-long walk, I arrive at the St. Louis Union Station. Oh, the joy of being able to take an actual walk instead of circling the same block 40 times in a row like an Energizer bunny.
If you live in a big city, you have no idea how fortunate you are and how much I envy you. I’ve been exploring the city since 8 am today and I have received more visual, auditory and intellectual stimulation in this one day than I do in a month of heavy efforts not to grow mold on my brain in my small town. I anticipate an important breakthrough on my article tomorrow.
Clarissa's Blog 
St. Louis is an interesting city, very neighborhoody, some good, some bad. Because of the botanical gardens and head quarters of the botanical society, and my proximity, I’ve visited often. Here’s a couple of recommendations: restaurants on the Hill are great, but my favorite little bistro is the Himalayan Cafe.
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Yeah I need to go to a big city soon.
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What’s your favorite one?
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I don’t really have a favorite — I like a lot of cities for different reasons. Let’s see: London, because of my lifelong Anglophilia, and well, it’s London! I went there in 1981 and must go back at least once more.
More cities: I have been to Washington DC several times, though not since I moved to Virginia which is not good. I plan to go very soon as it’s the nearest big city to me. Museums, restaurants, history… I’m not going now, though. Every time I’ve been in DC it’s been in the summer which is the worst time to be in DC.
New York: I went once, in the 90s, and only spent basically a couple of days there. I will never be able to see it all in my lifetime but as it’s only about a six-hour drive away I’m going to go there again soon. (Basically since moving to Virginia I’ve been too broke or too busy to go anywhere. That’s going to change.)
I went to Los Angeles in the late 90s. Believe it or not I had a great time and thought it was a beautiful city. I’m not a big movie buff or anything, I just loved the climate (it was in the 70s in the daytime in July when I was there, something that never happened in Miami which was where I lived at the time) and the neighborhoods and something about the atmosphere. Also the La Brea Tarpits were fascinating and unexpectedly it’s in an office district of shiny glass buildings. Then there is this museum and you go inside and they have an entire wall of dire wolf skulls they’ve removed from the pit, and then you can go into a kind of atrium and look at where they are still excavating the pit and bringing up more bones. I love prehistoric stuff.
Edinburgh is a favorite of the smaller cities I’ve been to in Europe. I went on the same trip that took me to London. (I’ve only been to Europe once.) Philadelphia needs another visit from me, Baltimore as well (I’ve been there recently but it was to visit people not explore the city.) On the Europe trip my mother and I went to Paris but she didn’t care for it, so we only stayed overnight and moved on. Now I want to properly visit it. Of the Continental cities we stayed in Ostende was cute, and Cologne was interesting, but back in 1981 Germany was still divided so we decided not to go to Berlin (though we could have gone to the western part).
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This is fascinating! Especially since I haven’t been to most of these cities. I always thought I would hate Los Angeles because of the driving and the superficial, genetically modified people. But now I’m thinking it might make sense to visit.
My in -built spellchecker corrects Los Angeles to Low Angeles, btw. 🙂
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Los Angeles is an amazing city if you know where to go (and accept the fact that some of the best restaurants are in strip malls). I go there every Christmas, and never fail to do a hike on Griffith Park, absolutely gorgeous. A drive through the beach communities (Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, etc) is also worthwhile. Take the metrorail (I think that’s how it’s called) in Long Beach and go downtown. The trip in itself is worth it), then explore the downtown and eat at the Grand Central Market.
As the political junkie that I am, the Richard Nixon museum is fascinating. Also, they are in weird out of the way places, but they have dollar bookstores where I’ve spend hours (you will not always find treasures, but you’ll buy every paperback you wanted but were too ashamed to spend $7 on).
I could go on and on, but LA, with a car and a good guide (and time) is fascinating.
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I was used to driving since Miami is a lot like LA in that respect (only the hills were unnerving to me at the time). In fact, I thought LA had a much better traffic setup. As for superficial people, Miami was full of them so I had gotten into the habit of just ignoring them or treating them as entertaining spectacles so that didn’t bother me. But actually, my experience was more like Spanish Prof’s — we had friends who had been there before so could direct us to the interesting places & good restaurants (Cat and Fiddle — a nice, relaxed pub, Canter’s a Jewish deli that was famous for of course all the celebrities who had and did eat there, TOI on Sunset, a great Thai restaurant… We even found a Cuban restaurant to serve our Cuban coffee needs. We drove down to Santa Monica (I think) to look at the beach homes & it was like something out of those 60s beach movies. We looked up at the mansions on the cliffs and marveled (cliffs! Remember, I’d lived in flat flat flat South Florida my entire life). We drove up to Griffith Park Observatory on a gorgeous day. You know what, I think Los Angeles is the city I want to visit again.
I forgot! I’ve been to New Orleans. That city has an unforgettable atmosphere, like no other place in the US that I’ve been to. It was eerie — you could believe in ghosts and things there. I just felt weird the whole time I was there, I can’t really describe it. Like I was living in a dream or a story in a book. It was just a trip to see a band we liked perform at the House of Blues there. I was in Los Angeles for the same reason — most of my trips were music related at that time.
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For some weird reason, I’ve started preferring Los Angeles over San Francisco. In part I guess it’s because I find chaos attractive, and in part because I find SF less diverse than Los Angeles (at least from a socioeconomic point of view).
This one I wouldn’t recommend unless you know somebody who knows the area, but my husband’s aunt grew up in East LA and we always visit the neighborhood to go and eat tamales with her family. It’s kind of a ritual, and very different from anything else you’ll find in LA.
Oh, and another favorite of mine: drive the 710 through all the industrial parts of the port of LA. Specially at night, with all the lights, feels like a movie.
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LA rocks but you must look below the surface.
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If you are looking for good food in LA, I would recommend Jonathan Gold’s blog:
http://www.laweekly.com/authors/jonathan-gold/
My husband is a big foodie, and every time we go to LA, we try a couple of new places based on his reviews. They are all absolutely amazing!
One of my favorite parts of LA is Santa Monica, which is really walkable and amazing. You can walk onto the main road next to the water, which has lots of nice restaurants.
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I know how you feel. Big cities always make me feel like I wake up. I totally dislike the small city that I am living in at the moment and people don’t seem to get why. “But it’s so cute!”
It has to do something with the energy. Big cities can give me so much energy, small cities take it from me. Again, apparently I can’t describe what I mean. 🙂
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