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A Song of Ice and Fire / Other Topics / WORLD TOUR

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Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 16th 9:56 AM
Because we all come from different parts of the world, this board offers us a unique opportunity in terms of our personal education. Therefore, I though it might be worthwhile for each of us to write something about the area in which we live. Perhaps a paragraph or two. Don't go into great detail. Depending on how this goes, perhaps we could take this to other areas of information in the future. Naturally, I'll go first.

I live in Johnston, Rhode Island, which is in the northeast region of the United States. Johnston is a town of about 30,000 residents located some 7-8 miles west of Rhode Island's capital city of Providence. Rhode Island is noted for being the smallest of America's 50 states, but it is among the leaders in population per square mile. When tourists ask about what to see and do in Rhode Island, they are invariably pointed in the direction of Newport, which is a beautiful and popular seaside resort. For a long time, Newport was home to the America's Cup yacht races and some of this country's most prominent families, including the Vanderbilts and the Astors. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Newport was THE place to be for America's rich and famous. The land is still dotted with huge mansions and picturesque properties. Most have since come under the jurisdiction of the state or some preservation society, for the great depression of the late 1920s definitely took its toll on the upper classes here and they had difficulty maintaining such extravagant lifestyles. Today, tours of some of these premises are offered for a set price, which goes toward offsetting their incredibly high property tax rates.

I didn't really want to focus exclusively on Newport, though. For Providence is where a true renaissance has been taking place. A little more than a decade ago, Rhode Island's capital city was on the brink of collapse. It was literally falling apart. The darker sections of the city were expanding and businesses were leaving in droves. When things looked their absolute bleakest, a concerted effort was made to resuscitate the city -- and it's been working. The downtown area was renovated to make it more "people friendly". Roads were re-routed, as was the Providence River! Dilapidated structures were torn down and replaced by beautiful new ones. The downtown area became truly majestic. They actually now offer gondola rides on the river, and an exhibition called "Waterfires" is held during many months of the year. Basically, canisters lining the center of the river are set ablaze to wondrous effect. There is a huge outdoor skating rink, ala Times Square, and a magnificent new shopping center called "Providence Place Mall" recently opened to rave reviews. Incredibly, Providence still boasts the Arcade, which is the oldest indoor shopping mall in the U.S., dating to the early 1800s. Providence is also home to three world-class institutions of higher education: Brown University, a member of the Ivy League; the R.I. School of Design, regarded as one of the finest graphic arts schools in the world; and Johnson and Wales University, which has a similar reputation with respect to the culinary arts.

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 16th 11:58 AM
That's a sweet idea. :-)
Well, what to say about Germany?

I live in Cologne, and it's the best German city. It really is. Oh, it's not the most beautiful one, that would be Munich, I suppose, or Dresden, or rather small cities like L�beck. It's not the hottest, that's Berlin without any doubt. Cologne is just the most friendly city. And the people are famous for their humour. And I love it.

Germany is a small country. Whenever I have been to Canada and the US, and come back after that, I remember _how_ small Germany is. It is a crowded little land, and since all times in the middle of political struggles. I think that is a thing that defines us. We are a country searching for an ideantity, still. After the horrible war the Germans spread over the world half a century ago, we are far from having recovered. We lost our identity then, our pride, our self-confidence, and we haven't found it yet.

In America, I heard many people say: "I am proud to be American". No one with any common sense would say "I am proud to be German". And someone who would would be regarded as a Neo-Nazi, no matter if he is or not. That is, perhaps, the saddest thing about my country. The loss of identity.

Other than that, what can I say about this land, and about my home town? Come and visit. I would show you the Cathedral of Cologne. A building that takes my breath away even after I have seen it a hundred times. I'd walk the streets with you, my favorite streets of the student's quarter, crowded with students, freaks, foreigners, gays, tourists, snobs... every kind of people. Cologne has a reputation for being the most tolerant German city. I would show you the Rhine, majestic and quiet flowing his way.

I would show you the carneval, of course. Right after Rio, no city's carneval is as crazy as Cologne's. :-) So if you manage to visit in February, you will still be in time for it. You'll like that. A whole city going crazy, singing and dancing on the streets - and kissing. There is even a word for the carneval-kissing. All girls wear lipstick, and on the end of each day, men count the lipstick marks they got. Everyone dances and kisses, from Thursday to Wednesday the week after. A lot of fun, I assure you. So hurry up and get here, I could show you much more than just describe...

Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 16th 12:22 PM
Min, your post was perfect. You brought your own personal thoughts and emotions into the descriptions. Everyone else should follow your lead. Like we're all sitting around a big table and everyone takes a turn talking about what things are like where they come from. Nice job.

Carneval, eh??? Too bad that part had to end...

Snake
User ID: 8890073 Feb 16th 1:29 PM
Well now. My hometown is William's Harbour, Labrador. You will not find it on very many maps. It's a small fishing village with roughly 65 residents. It lies on a small island on the South-east coast of Labrador. All her people are fisherpersons and have been since they first moved there. The land is rocky and almost barren of trees. The winters can be pretty cold but at least the summers are cool and we aren't bothered by pesky mosquitoes. We travel by snowmobile in the winter months and by boat in the summer. We do have a small airstrip that recieves fairly regular flights. It is a very beautiful and rugged land. It can be harsh and cruel too. I've known a few friends and had a brother lose their lives in snowmobiling accidents in the winter months. Yet, that seems to be the way things go back home and people realize that it is a part of life.
I find the people of my community to be strong-willed and proud but they are close and can be depended upon during difficulties. We like to drink and sing a lot. It's not much trouble to get a few people together for a few beer and a few songs on a Saturday night. We have gotten an unfair reputation over the years though. People in surrounding communities tend to think of us as a bunch of drunkards and rowdies, but that is not the case. We can at times be over exuberant but if you get to know us you'll learn to like us.
I can't think of much else to say. This is really not my thing, but I will say this. Although we don't have all the amenities of larger communities and we are very isolated, there is no place on earth that I'd rather live. And the fact that I'll probably never live there saddens me quite a bit.

Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 16th 1:38 PM
This isn't your thing, Snake??? That was GREAT!

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 16th 1:47 PM
Snake, that was perfect. I _was_ there while I read it. Wonderful. Gary, that was a great idea. :-)

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 17th 4:36 AM
I like to read something about Tromso - the city I cannot spell correctly because my keyboard doesn't want to... :-)

Alex
User ID: 9892733 Feb 17th 8:31 AM
What you would be more interested in hearing about (if any)-the place in United States where I lived for 10 years, or the place where I was born and raised - in Soviet Union?

Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 17th 8:35 AM
Either or both, it's up to you, Alex. Personally, from a selfish standpoint :) I would like to hear of life in the Soviet Union.

KAH
User ID: 0541004 Feb 17th 10:21 AM
Min;

Don't you Jerries have a substitute '�'? You know, the 'o' with two dots over? It's the same sound, more or less.

Anyhow...what is there to be said about Troms�?
I have lived here nigh on five years now, since I started studying - before that, I lived most of my life (13 years, or thereabouts) in Lofoten. Most of the population resides on the petite Troms� island, so it's not so different from my coastal home, which also make up a group of islands.

Troms� somehow got the tag 'Paris of the North' many many years ago. It may have been true then, I wouldn't know - but today I'd think it's a bit of hyperbole. Troms�'s got a very nice cultural life for it's size, though.

The city counts 50-60.000 inhabitants, which for Norwegian standards is a fairly large number. About 10% of that is students, among which yours truly counts one. Hence, we tend to set a certain print on every-day life here.

You'll find few architectural wonders here - admittedly Troms� is not a very pretty sight in that respect. I have a feeling that the Cathedral of the Ice Sea cannot quite match the K�lnisch variant. :P

I don't know if Troms� people differ much from the population in the rest of the country - if it does, I guess they are more like urban people in other bigger Norwegian towns, in contrast to the more rural population (although I don't think it's that much of a difference there either).

What are Norwegians like? Being one, it's hard for me to say - I've never been abroad, so I have little base for comparisons. Foreigners that visit Norway tend to tag us a bit cold and aloof...personally, I think this reputation is a bit unfair - it's more like an inherent shyness, perhaps. And of course it doesn't apply to every Norwegian - Norwegians are as diverse as any other people.

It has often been claimed that Norwegians have this inferiority complex towards the 'Big Brother' in east - Sweden. I don't think that applies very much anymore, although the recent telecommunication fusion scandal might indicate otherwise.

One trait that seems to be widespread among Norwegians is something I get privy to through the media all the time - Norwegians seem to be overly sensitive of what people abroad think about us.

Everytime some foreign celebrity visits this country, there's always a lot of hubbub. If some foreign celebrity or other official person speaks negatively of Norway, it is pictured as a national disgrace, while a surefire way to win Norway's heart forever, is to name oneself a 'Friend of Norway', and/or try to speak some helpless Norwegian with earjarring accent, how much you love Norway, how beautiful Norwegian women are, or some variation of that.

I tend to look at these periodical displays with some blend of humor/chagrin, and sometimes wonder if it's all product of a media conspiracy to sell more papers or boost ratings.

_I'm_ certainly not like that - I do not care a whit about what people think of me.
Well, all right, I do get all warm and fuzzy allover, everytime someone speaks a nice word to me, but I never get angry when someone disagrees with my views or anything.

You see, I have this wonderful way of getting rid of frustration - everytime someone gives me a hard time, I track the person down, take a photo of him/her, and make little voodoo dolls to pin the photo on, and these I practice my amateur acupuncture skills on for a few hours.

Very relieving, I can tell you. :o)

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 17th 10:49 AM
What a nice place. Have I ever told you how beautiful Norwegian women are? :-) And the men, of course. Oh, those Norwegian men... *sighs*

Well, of course we have an "�". I said I cannot spell it correctly, I didn't talk about pronounciation. :-) Troms�. :-)

Ser Benjen
User ID: 9844073 Feb 17th 11:10 AM
� � � � �� m��m� �

��

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 17th 11:26 AM
Very cute, Benjen. b��h. :-) That's the sound of a German sheep. :-) b��h.
You could tell something about your country instead, wdyt? ;-)

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 17th 11:28 AM
Funny thing about countries, as I come to think of it. German frogs say "quak" (with a long a as in rather), English ones say "ribitt", and American frogs say "rebeck"... IIRC. Strange world. Not even the animals understand each other anymore. Stupid Babylonian bastards. :-)

Ser Benjen
User ID: 9844073 Feb 17th 12:11 PM
Ok that was bad. I'll throw in a blurb about where I'm from, and maybe you all will forgive my strange sense of humor.

I hail from the Washington D.C. area. I've lived within a couple hours of D.C. for a vast majority of my life.

I guess that could make me a rather Provincial minded person, although I don't like to think of myself that way. Being this close to the U.S. Capitol means that, if you happen to check any media source around here, you will likely hear alot (way too much, in my opinion) about political goings on. It can be very informative at times, and overbearing at others.

Wonderfully, this area is culturally diverse. There are many different ethnicities and religions and points of view in general being shouted, touted, displayed, and sold here. I guess that wouldn't be so unusual in places where there are many smaller countries and cultures close together (like Europe I guess), but for me it is refreshing.

There are great number of places to go here. monuments, museums, art galleries, zoos, aquariums sports events, theatre, etc. Washington D.C. isn't a large city though, by any means. There were restrictions imposed some time ago that prevented buildings being built taller than the Washington Monument (that obelisk thing), so instead of growing up the development has grown out. All around the city are smaller, taller cities that capitolize on the political and economic engine that runs here.

About 35 miles north of D.C. is Baltimore, which is a good sized city. Both of which are growing towards each other. People have theorized that one day it will become one large Megalopolis that stretches for miles and miles. For the sake of the eco-system that lies between them I hope not. Traffic is already bad enough.

Interestingly enough you can travel just an short way away to the coastal lands of the Eastern Shore of Maryland across the Chesapeake Bay, or an hour West into the Old weatherbeaten and rolling Appalachian Mountains, green and forested, or North into the hills of Pennsylvania, or South into the feritle Virginian farmlands, where things run at a much slower pace.

It's not a bad place to be.

Emily
User ID: 2192024 Feb 17th 12:17 PM
London. Overcrowded, polluted, log-jammed, grossly overpriced, violent, but what the hell - it's got plenty of libraries.

Min
User ID: 0074284 Feb 17th 12:21 PM
Emily, I always appreciated your style. :-) Honestly.

Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 17th 12:37 PM
More, Emily. Give us more. There are a lot of things unique about London, aren't there?

Emily
User ID: 2192024 Feb 17th 1:01 PM
No.

Ser Gary
User ID: 1523284 Feb 17th 1:44 PM
Okaaaaaaaaaaaay. Isn't there a popular bridge or something?

Next 20 Messages Newest Messages

Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 16th 9:56 AM Because we all come from different parts of the world, this board offers us a unique opportunity in terms of our personal education. Therefore, I though it might be worthwhile for each of us to write something about the area in which we live. Perhaps a paragraph or two. Don't go into great detail. Depending on how this goes, perhaps we could take this to other areas of information in the future. Naturally, I'll go first. I live in Johnston, Rhode Island, which is in the northeast region of the United States. Johnston is a town of about 30,000 residents located some 7-8 miles west of Rhode Island's capital city of Providence. Rhode Island is noted for being the smallest of America's 50 states, but it is among the leaders in population per square mile. When tourists ask about what to see and do in Rhode Island, they are invariably pointed in the direction of Newport, which is a beautiful and popular seaside resort. For a long time, Newport was home to the America's Cup yacht races and some of this country's most prominent families, including the Vanderbilts and the Astors. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Newport was THE place to be for America's rich and famous. The land is still dotted with huge mansions and picturesque properties. Most have since come under the jurisdiction of the state or some preservation society, for the great depression of the late 1920s definitely took its toll on the upper classes here and they had difficulty maintaining such extravagant lifestyles. Today, tours of some of these premises are offered for a set price, which goes toward offsetting their incredibly high property tax rates. I didn't really want to focus exclusively on Newport, though. For Providence is where a true renaissance has been taking place. A little more than a decade ago, Rhode Island's capital city was on the brink of collapse. It was literally falling apart. The darker sections of the city were expanding and businesses were leaving in droves. When things looked their absolute bleakest, a concerted effort was made to resuscitate the city -- and it's been working. The downtown area was renovated to make it more "people friendly". Roads were re-routed, as was the Providence River! Dilapidated structures were torn down and replaced by beautiful new ones. The downtown area became truly majestic. They actually now offer gondola rides on the river, and an exhibition called "Waterfires" is held during many months of the year. Basically, canisters lining the center of the river are set ablaze to wondrous effect. There is a huge outdoor skating rink, ala Times Square, and a magnificent new shopping center called "Providence Place Mall" recently opened to rave reviews. Incredibly, Providence still boasts the Arcade, which is the oldest indoor shopping mall in the U.S., dating to the early 1800s. Providence is also home to three world-class institutions of higher education: Brown University, a member of the Ivy League; the R.I. School of Design, regarded as one of the finest graphic arts schools in the world; and Johnson and Wales University, which has a similar reputation with respect to the culinary arts.
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 16th 11:58 AM That's a sweet idea. :-) Well, what to say about Germany? I live in Cologne, and it's the best German city. It really is. Oh, it's not the most beautiful one, that would be Munich, I suppose, or Dresden, or rather small cities like L�beck. It's not the hottest, that's Berlin without any doubt. Cologne is just the most friendly city. And the people are famous for their humour. And I love it. Germany is a small country. Whenever I have been to Canada and the US, and come back after that, I remember _how_ small Germany is. It is a crowded little land, and since all times in the middle of political struggles. I think that is a thing that defines us. We are a country searching for an ideantity, still. After the horrible war the Germans spread over the world half a century ago, we are far from having recovered. We lost our identity then, our pride, our self-confidence, and we haven't found it yet. In America, I heard many people say: "I am proud to be American". No one with any common sense would say "I am proud to be German". And someone who would would be regarded as a Neo-Nazi, no matter if he is or not. That is, perhaps, the saddest thing about my country. The loss of identity. Other than that, what can I say about this land, and about my home town? Come and visit. I would show you the Cathedral of Cologne. A building that takes my breath away even after I have seen it a hundred times. I'd walk the streets with you, my favorite streets of the student's quarter, crowded with students, freaks, foreigners, gays, tourists, snobs... every kind of people. Cologne has a reputation for being the most tolerant German city. I would show you the Rhine, majestic and quiet flowing his way. I would show you the carneval, of course. Right after Rio, no city's carneval is as crazy as Cologne's. :-) So if you manage to visit in February, you will still be in time for it. You'll like that. A whole city going crazy, singing and dancing on the streets - and kissing. There is even a word for the carneval-kissing. All girls wear lipstick, and on the end of each day, men count the lipstick marks they got. Everyone dances and kisses, from Thursday to Wednesday the week after. A lot of fun, I assure you. So hurry up and get here, I could show you much more than just describe...
Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 16th 12:22 PM Min, your post was perfect. You brought your own personal thoughts and emotions into the descriptions. Everyone else should follow your lead. Like we're all sitting around a big table and everyone takes a turn talking about what things are like where they come from. Nice job. Carneval, eh??? Too bad that part had to end...
Snake User ID: 8890073	Feb 16th 1:29 PM Well now. My hometown is William's Harbour, Labrador. You will not find it on very many maps. It's a small fishing village with roughly 65 residents. It lies on a small island on the South-east coast of Labrador. All her people are fisherpersons and have been since they first moved there. The land is rocky and almost barren of trees. The winters can be pretty cold but at least the summers are cool and we aren't bothered by pesky mosquitoes. We travel by snowmobile in the winter months and by boat in the summer. We do have a small airstrip that recieves fairly regular flights. It is a very beautiful and rugged land. It can be harsh and cruel too. I've known a few friends and had a brother lose their lives in snowmobiling accidents in the winter months. Yet, that seems to be the way things go back home and people realize that it is a part of life. I find the people of my community to be strong-willed and proud but they are close and can be depended upon during difficulties. We like to drink and sing a lot. It's not much trouble to get a few people together for a few beer and a few songs on a Saturday night. We have gotten an unfair reputation over the years though. People in surrounding communities tend to think of us as a bunch of drunkards and rowdies, but that is not the case. We can at times be over exuberant but if you get to know us you'll learn to like us. I can't think of much else to say. This is really not my thing, but I will say this. Although we don't have all the amenities of larger communities and we are very isolated, there is no place on earth that I'd rather live. And the fact that I'll probably never live there saddens me quite a bit.
Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 16th 1:38 PM This isn't your thing, Snake??? That was GREAT!
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 16th 1:47 PM Snake, that was perfect. I _was_ there while I read it. Wonderful. Gary, that was a great idea. :-)
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 17th 4:36 AM I like to read something about Tromso - the city I cannot spell correctly because my keyboard doesn't want to... :-)
Alex User ID: 9892733	Feb 17th 8:31 AM What you would be more interested in hearing about (if any)-the place in United States where I lived for 10 years, or the place where I was born and raised - in Soviet Union?
Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 17th 8:35 AM Either or both, it's up to you, Alex. Personally, from a selfish standpoint :) I would like to hear of life in the Soviet Union.
KAH User ID: 0541004	Feb 17th 10:21 AM Min; Don't you Jerries have a substitute '�'? You know, the 'o' with two dots over? It's the same sound, more or less. Anyhow...what is there to be said about Troms�? I have lived here nigh on five years now, since I started studying - before that, I lived most of my life (13 years, or thereabouts) in Lofoten. Most of the population resides on the petite Troms� island, so it's not so different from my coastal home, which also make up a group of islands. Troms� somehow got the tag 'Paris of the North' many many years ago. It may have been true then, I wouldn't know - but today I'd think it's a bit of hyperbole. Troms�'s got a very nice cultural life for it's size, though. The city counts 50-60.000 inhabitants, which for Norwegian standards is a fairly large number. About 10% of that is students, among which yours truly counts one. Hence, we tend to set a certain print on every-day life here. You'll find few architectural wonders here - admittedly Troms� is not a very pretty sight in that respect. I have a feeling that the Cathedral of the Ice Sea cannot quite match the K�lnisch variant. :P I don't know if Troms� people differ much from the population in the rest of the country - if it does, I guess they are more like urban people in other bigger Norwegian towns, in contrast to the more rural population (although I don't think it's that much of a difference there either). What are Norwegians like? Being one, it's hard for me to say - I've never been abroad, so I have little base for comparisons. Foreigners that visit Norway tend to tag us a bit cold and aloof...personally, I think this reputation is a bit unfair - it's more like an inherent shyness, perhaps. And of course it doesn't apply to every Norwegian - Norwegians are as diverse as any other people. It has often been claimed that Norwegians have this inferiority complex towards the 'Big Brother' in east - Sweden. I don't think that applies very much anymore, although the recent telecommunication fusion scandal might indicate otherwise. One trait that seems to be widespread among Norwegians is something I get privy to through the media all the time - Norwegians seem to be overly sensitive of what people abroad think about us. Everytime some foreign celebrity visits this country, there's always a lot of hubbub. If some foreign celebrity or other official person speaks negatively of Norway, it is pictured as a national disgrace, while a surefire way to win Norway's heart forever, is to name oneself a 'Friend of Norway', and/or try to speak some helpless Norwegian with earjarring accent, how much you love Norway, how beautiful Norwegian women are, or some variation of that. I tend to look at these periodical displays with some blend of humor/chagrin, and sometimes wonder if it's all product of a media conspiracy to sell more papers or boost ratings. _I'm_ certainly not like that - I do not care a whit about what people think of me. Well, all right, I do get all warm and fuzzy allover, everytime someone speaks a nice word to me, but I never get angry when someone disagrees with my views or anything. You see, I have this wonderful way of getting rid of frustration - everytime someone gives me a hard time, I track the person down, take a photo of him/her, and make little voodoo dolls to pin the photo on, and these I practice my amateur acupuncture skills on for a few hours. Very relieving, I can tell you. :o)
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 17th 10:49 AM What a nice place. Have I ever told you how beautiful Norwegian women are? :-) And the men, of course. Oh, those Norwegian men... sighs Well, of course we have an "�". I said I cannot spell it correctly, I didn't talk about pronounciation. :-) Troms�. :-)
Ser Benjen User ID: 9844073	Feb 17th 11:10 AM � � � � �� m��m� � ��
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 17th 11:26 AM Very cute, Benjen. b��h. :-) That's the sound of a German sheep. :-) b��h. You could tell something about your country instead, wdyt? ;-)
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 17th 11:28 AM Funny thing about countries, as I come to think of it. German frogs say "quak" (with a long a as in rather), English ones say "ribitt", and American frogs say "rebeck"... IIRC. Strange world. Not even the animals understand each other anymore. Stupid Babylonian bastards. :-)
Ser Benjen User ID: 9844073	Feb 17th 12:11 PM Ok that was bad. I'll throw in a blurb about where I'm from, and maybe you all will forgive my strange sense of humor. I hail from the Washington D.C. area. I've lived within a couple hours of D.C. for a vast majority of my life. I guess that could make me a rather Provincial minded person, although I don't like to think of myself that way. Being this close to the U.S. Capitol means that, if you happen to check any media source around here, you will likely hear alot (way too much, in my opinion) about political goings on. It can be very informative at times, and overbearing at others. Wonderfully, this area is culturally diverse. There are many different ethnicities and religions and points of view in general being shouted, touted, displayed, and sold here. I guess that wouldn't be so unusual in places where there are many smaller countries and cultures close together (like Europe I guess), but for me it is refreshing. There are great number of places to go here. monuments, museums, art galleries, zoos, aquariums sports events, theatre, etc. Washington D.C. isn't a large city though, by any means. There were restrictions imposed some time ago that prevented buildings being built taller than the Washington Monument (that obelisk thing), so instead of growing up the development has grown out. All around the city are smaller, taller cities that capitolize on the political and economic engine that runs here. About 35 miles north of D.C. is Baltimore, which is a good sized city. Both of which are growing towards each other. People have theorized that one day it will become one large Megalopolis that stretches for miles and miles. For the sake of the eco-system that lies between them I hope not. Traffic is already bad enough. Interestingly enough you can travel just an short way away to the coastal lands of the Eastern Shore of Maryland across the Chesapeake Bay, or an hour West into the Old weatherbeaten and rolling Appalachian Mountains, green and forested, or North into the hills of Pennsylvania, or South into the feritle Virginian farmlands, where things run at a much slower pace. It's not a bad place to be.
Emily User ID: 2192024	Feb 17th 12:17 PM London. Overcrowded, polluted, log-jammed, grossly overpriced, violent, but what the hell - it's got plenty of libraries.
Min User ID: 0074284	Feb 17th 12:21 PM Emily, I always appreciated your style. :-) Honestly.
Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 17th 12:37 PM More, Emily. Give us more. There are a lot of things unique about London, aren't there?
Emily User ID: 2192024	Feb 17th 1:01 PM No.
Ser Gary User ID: 1523284	Feb 17th 1:44 PM Okaaaaaaaaaaaay. Isn't there a popular bridge or something?