Cities to love

As much as I love my current village life in Switzerland and Southern France, I've a real bond and love with many cities. Love in the sense that when I walk down its streets there's an ahhhhhhhhhhhh feeling, I'm so lucky to be doing this, so very, very lucky to be here. These are places that I've either lived for a long or short time giving me memories that I would never have had as an ordinary tourist on tour. Some I've been long enough to run into the frustrations of day to living that only come with residency. Other idiosyncrasies have been told to me by residents who are my friends. 

BOSTON

No matter what passport I carry, my roots are New England Yankee as instilled by my grandmother. My housemate and I found a house that needed renovating on Wigglesworth Street, a name that brought giggles to people when we said it.  It was named for a doctor at Harvard Medical School, a specialist in syphilis, located across the street. I lived there and later in a condo down the road for a decade. Walking the area gave me so much happiness.

One doesn't want to be in the city when the students return with their UHaul trucks clogging the streets. These same students studying at any of the 49 schools of higher learning give a special energy to the city. 

There's a beauty with its brick buildings and sidewalks, old-fashioned street lamps, the emerald necklace (a circle of parks and gardens). 

There's much to do without a great deal of money and of course, with money there's even more. sports, theater, music, libraries, restaurants -- anything one could possible want to do is available.

As a history buff, I find almost every brick has a story.

And there's the pride of looking at the State House dome and knowing my grandfather was an engineer in repairing it.  

Although it's been 30 years since I moved to Europe, I've still have my Boston accent and friends say I speak French with a Boston accent. I find that "wicked" funny.

GENEVA

Although I loved the idea of living in Switzerland, I wasn't thrilled when the job market sent me from Neuchâtel to Geneva. To this day, I feel I'm not truly in Switzerland until I leave the city, perhaps because its 43% foreign. 

I'm not anti-immigrant. The 43% are mostly attached to consulates, UN organizations and NGOs. I didn't meet a Genvois until I'd been living there three years. My flat was near the alphabet UN agencies and my neighbors worked at various organizations. They were Russian, Czech, Indian, Syrian, English, Italian, etc. That turned out to be what I loved about the city, it was a mirror of the world, its languages and cultures. 

Now, I live in a village just outside the city. There is a joy about going out my front door (a few minutes walk from the lake) see the Jura in front of me. A few twists and turns and I see the Alps.

Geneva too has all the cultural things I crave.

As for satisfying my history buff urges? After almost 27 years, I'm still delving into its past. 

EDINBURGH

On my first trip I was joined by my daughter who flew in from Boston. We stayed with a former colleague. The second  I set foot in the city, I felt at home.

Little did we know then my daughter would move to Edinburgh to get her masters. She even ran in their marathon. I made several trips over to join her.

Then a house swap let my husband and I to live there twice for an extended period.

Standing in the palace room where Mary Queen of Scots watched her lover (?) David Rizzo killed was a shiver-making moment. Walking where great and just regular good writers (Scott, Burns, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stevenson, Rankin, J.K.Rowling) lived and wrote was a thrill.

On a bridge off Princes Street, there is usually a bagpipe player dressed in a kilt. "Amazing Grace" and other well known tunes drift. I look for him each time I'm there.

On our last two trips we o'ded on English-language movies, mac and cheese, seeing the castle as we waited for the bus to take us to the center of town, discovering a story-telling festival, checking John Knox's home to satisfy my history urge.

When we played the lottery, something we rarely do, my daughter asked, "If we win, can we buy a house in Edinburgh?"

My answer?

"Of course."

 PRAGUE

My first trip to Prague was to visit my former Czech neighbors. They gave me a view point on was what it was like to live there. The tour included information about life under Communism. A trip to the grocery store, comments on modern buildings in comparison to the incredible architecture that was not destroyed by the war, where they had demonstrated as young people, all added a dimension that I was privileged to share.. 

One of my memories was being in a tea room. A couple in furs were having trouble ordering because of language difficulties. They were Russian. My host asked the waiter if he spoke Russian. "Of course," he said, "but not with them." 

It is experiences like this when I know how blessed I am to see things that ordinary tourists would not.

A later trip was with Rick. This was far more touristy as we explored the recommended sites. 

I knew from the international writing community that Prague has an active English writing presence that I would love to be able to explore.

DAMASCUS

I've seen Damascus through the eyes of my family-of-choice Syrians, introduced by my former neighbor whom I love more than any normal sibling.

Having someone point to a window and say, "St. Paul escaped from here," or walking on the same Straight Street that is in the Bible, is something that I never knew enough about to dream about it. Seeing bullet holes from a war in the ceiling of the souk which operates as it has for centuries, praying in a mosque all spun me into another culture and time.

Eating seeds and sipping maté, talking with Syrian women who polished up their English for me. Listening to Syrian musicians after a good meal in a restaurant was amusing. Half were songs popularized by Elvis and half were Arabic.

The people I know and love have survived the war. Someday, I hope I visit with them again vs. exchanging Facebook messages or the very, very occasional phone chat.

There are other places such as Montreal, Amsterdam, London and Paris that I've been fortunate enough to spend extended time in. In Amsterdam we were on a canal boat. I probably have spent six months in Paris in dribs or drabs. I promise myself that I will never forget that the time I've been allowed to explore in depth is truly a gift.