My Top 5 Cities

In my last post, I mentioned that I have favorite cities that I like to visit. I've never really, truly sat down and listed out what those cities are. So, I'm going to give it my best shot to write out a list of my top 5 all-time favorite places to go. I'm going to do this without any research and see what I come up with!

5. Paris, France
Okay, so I've only been to Paris once. However, my 4 days there were all I needed to fall madly, head over heels in love with the city! It's such a dream and it is as romantic as it seems. I went with my mom back in 2005. When I was about 5 years old, we had a foreign exchange student from Germany. My mom promised her that when she got married, we would go and visit her. So guess what shows up in summer of '05? Yup. Her wedding invitation. That August, we were on our way to Germany! My mom said "If we're going all the way to Europe, then I'm going to Paris!" We took a train from Germany to Paris and enjoyed the rest of our "European Vacation" there. Funny enough, we stayed at the Paris Hilton. It was recommended being Americans, that we stay in an American hotel. So, tip, if you are traveling international, try to find an American owned hotel! Before I started doing this "I gotta see something everywhere I go" business, it was instilled in me! I remember before we visited that I looked up where Princess Diana died. Diana crashed into the Pont de l'Alma tunnel and above the tunnel is a replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty which is unofficially a memorial to the late Princess. When I go back to Paris, one of the biggest things that I want to see is where Jim Morrison of The Doors is buried!

4. New York, New York
I've tried so, so hard to not fall in love with this city. It's just impossible! It's so busy and there's so much to see! Every single street in this city has some kind of something to it! Whether it is the location of an infamous murder, a movie location, a scene from Sex and the City, there's just so much to see! I've been twice. Once on my own for the day where I visited the Empire State Building and stood in line for what felt like HOURS. The second time was with my family in the summer of 2013. With my family, I saw so many different sights and really amped up my tourism skills! I don't want to reveal too much, because I hope to later make the places I visited into future blog posts! Tip for traveling to NYC; Stay on the island!!! Do NOT stay in a neighboring city. My brother and I stayed in New Jersey the first few nights and it was awful. The cab fare to get back and forth to the city was ridiculous and we would of saved so much money by staying in the city and paying more for a hotel and walking everywhere. Stay in Manhattan.

3. San Francisco, California
This is the only city on my list that is in my home state! I do love visiting Los Angeles, but San Francisco has more of a hippie, techie feel, which I feel I am more than anything! The music scene was/is so big here and the demographics of the city is just so different than anywhere else I've ever been. The landmarks in this city such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Coit Tower and Fisherman's Wharf are just so gorgeous and iconic in American cities. I love this city and could go on forever about it. Fun fact: "We Built This City" by Jefferson Starship is about San Francisco stating that "We build this city on rock and roll!" Also, the band Journey is from San Francisco! Go Giants!

2. Memphis, Tennessee
Elvis, Elvis, Elvis! I love Elvis! Graceland! Sun Studio! Beale Street! The Peabody! The Civil Rights Museum! I love Memphis! I used to only live about 45 minutes from Memphis so naturally, I visited often! What an amazing city. I don't want to give away too much right now about Memphis because I have BIG plans to write about Memphis in the future! If you are an old, classic rock and roll fan, Memphis is for you. You can just feel the old rock and gospel in the air when you are in Memphis. You know that song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn? Listen to it. That's exactly what it's like when you are there. Fun fact: Memphis is the most mentioned city in all of music!!! Ah! Just writing this is making me so eager to go back!

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is my home away from home. I love anything and everything about this city. To me, it's the most wonderful place on this earth. Yes, I've been to Disneyland. Vegas tops everything for me. Honestly, I'm not a big partier, gambler, or anything like that. I just love Las Vegas. There's not many infamous events that happen in Vegas, no one too famous is buried there, I just love this city. I try to visit at least 3 times a year. I have a cousin who lives there and I love visiting her and there have been times I've visited and not even gone on the strip. Vegas gives me this rush and so much energy when I am there. The oasis out in the desert has grown so much in the past 50 years that it's remarkable to me. To think, this little town was started by gangsters during the prohibition as a place to escape! If you ever go to Vegas and need recommendations about anything, I'm your girl! I have a few trips planned in the future and I'll post accordingly when I visit and share about some of my travels! For the record, my FAVORITE hotel to visit on the strip has to be Flamingo. Yes, Flamingo. I feel like it has that combination of the old, vintage Las Vegas feel mixed with all that is happening today in Las Vegas! Everyone should visit Vegas at least 5-6 times in their life.

Alamo Square, San Francisco, California

"What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V?"

 

 

As you continue to read my blog, you will find out that I have a list of favorite cities. There are certain places out there that people might want or need to only visit once, but I continue to visit them often and am almost obsessed with them! I never can seem to see it all and always find something new to see when visiting! One of my all-time favorite cities and always has been since I was a little girl is San Francisco. The city is so full of little things to see and so much history and culture. I love the whole Bay Area and have friends who live up there so I visit often. More than likely, I won’t be able to get through more than a few blog posts without posting something about San Francisco.

If you’re like me, you probably rushed home from school to catch up with the Tanner family on the latest episode of Full House! Everyday issues seemed to be easily solved within 30 minutes of this classic sitcom. You could easily relate to an issue that DJ, Stephanie, or Michelle was having and Danny Tanner always made life’s problems seem so simple. Uncle Joey made you laugh and you were so excited when Aunt Becky married Uncle Jesse and gave birth to Nicky and Alex. Plus, wasn’t Uncle Jesse easy on the eyes?

The opening credits are so full of wonderful things to see in the city (us people in the Central Valley have always referred to San Francisco as “the city”) and many of the landmarks are iconic to the city. Over the years, I have visited many of these landmarks and of course, have always remembered the famous opening scenes when visiting them. One of my favorite sights to see from the credits is the famous Painted Ladies.

In the opening credits, we see the family romping through a park and then at the end are having a picnic. This park is known as Alamo Square. The outlining streets are Hayes Street, Steiner Street, Fulton Street and Scott Street. This park is open to the public and features a playground and a tennis court. On a clear day, you can see much of downtown San Francisco. Along Steiner Street are the famous Victorian Houses known as the “Painted Ladies.” These houses were built between 1892 and 1895. The whole city is full of Painted Ladies type houses but these are easily the most recognizable. Guess what though? The actual exterior of the house used for the Tanner household is not in this stretch of houses. It’s not too far from here though. It’s located on 1709 Broderick Street.

 

Grateful Dead House, San Francisco, California

I'm a BIG music junkie. I always have been! I love exploring new genres, bands, artists, everything! I love going to concerts and I even recently attended my first big music festival: Coachella!

So the reason for my small background in music is that you will find that I love to visit historical music sites. It could be anything from a venue to a recording studio to a grave.

Back in January of 2014, I visited the Grateful Dead house in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco! Several members of the band (including Jerry Garcia) and other associates lived here during the 60's. In 1967, police came and arrested the residents for marijuana possession on the property. Lucky for Garcia, he wasn't home at the time! The band moved out of the house in March of 1968 but not without a farewell concert performed in the back of a flatbed truck!

The house is located on 710 Ashbury in San Francisco, California. There's insignia on the sidewalk in front of the house that you can locate to help you identify the house. It's only a short walk from the main area of the Haight and Ashbury district. This is one of my favorite parts of the city and I highly recommend it for the inner hippie in all of us!!!