What was your favourite place?

This has been the most common question I've been asked about my holiday, followed by "are you glad to be home?" To which the answer is "No! Are you stupid?!". However, the first question is alot more difficult to answer. But, I do have an answer, which is this (a little long winded but honest):

I have so many favourite places for so many different reasons. I loved both San Francisco and Los Angeles because I explored them on my own, in my own time, at my own pace. Both places had a lot to see and do that I was never bored and I felt safe exploring on my own. I did hop on-hop off sightseeing tours in both cities which were a great way to explore. 

I loved Chicago and would move there tomorrow if I could. I felt a real connection to Chicago that I couldn't really explain. Maybe one day I will live there, or perhaps I lived there in past life? Chicago reminded me a lot of home - windy, on the waterfront, full of art and friendly people. 

New York was amazing. It's New York, of course it is! Its such a compact city of awesomeness. So much to see, do and experience. It's not somewhere you'd go to relax, because every street has something new. But we did take an opportunity to relax a little with a picnic in Central Park. I was there during a heatwave, making New York a hot and sweaty experience. I have to go back to New York, to explore more of the city that never sleeps. 

In Boston I went to Fenway Park to see the Boston Red Sox play the New York Yankees. It was a real quintessential American sporting experience and I loved it! Boston was already a pretty interesting, old, classical city and this made it even better. 

Dallas was a city that caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting such a fascinating, welcoming, historical city. Everything is bigger in Texas and damn hot! Such a diverse city that just begs to be explored. It's huge and yet it's not pretenious. It just is a big, hot city with lots to do, or not do, whatever. 

I loved New Orleans. I had been dreaming of going to New Orleans for a long time. I enjoyed the culture - the party atmosphere, the jazz and the food! Oh my god, the food was fantastic - Gumbo, Jumbalaya, Pralines, Crawfish! sooo yummy. 

Savannah was another city I looked forward too but was much better than I thought. It was a typical southern city, full of city parks and quaint cobblestone paths. It had great inner city bars and cheap beer, you can't go wrong with that! 

I also loved Washington D.C. I was blown away with the amount of monuments to dead presidents and war heroes. I developed a respect for America's respect and honour of their history makers and those that had died for their country. I spent two full days exploring the cities hundreds of museums. I heard a stat that if you spent one minute in front of each exhibit in each museum, including all the exhibits in storage, it would take you 89 years to see everything in Washington museums. And because of that fact alone, visiting Washington D.C. will always mean you'd never be bored! 

Oh and I went to Canada too! Toronto was a great city to visit, it was like New York - huge, compact and so much to see and do. Quebec City meanwhile was perhaps one of the most 'different' places I went too. It's the french-ist city I've every been too (given I've never been to France), the architecture was French, the people were French, the culture was french. It was a wonderful city to walk around and feel inspired by. 

So there you have it. My favourite places. Honestly, I loved the whole trip and so many of the places I went were my favourites for so many reasons. Just wait till I find my next place to live and I have to make a decison on what pictures to frame, now that's going to be a long disucssion!!