The Fifth Best City in the World

[troutman]

Don't you remember?
We built this city on rock and roll.

[Barnet Flame]

I have been to Vancouver once with my gf (now wife) and we had a wonderful time. It is a beautiful city and I thought people were really relaxed and friendly. That attitude rubbed off on me and I was really able to destress. Incidentally I feel the same whenever I go to Calgary and Melbourne.

I stress up almost instantly when I return to London.

Even though I have not lived there for over twenty years, I really miss living in Canada.

[missdpuck]

I had to google "chinook".

[Acey]

Lethbridge weather = horrible
* Horribly annoying winds in the spring and fall
* Fair share of -30 and snowfall in the winter
* From June 1 to July 31 last summer we had 31 days of rain. Only 10 rain-free days in July of '09. LOL at this supposedly being "semi-arid"

None of these things by themselves would be horrible, but we have all 3 so it makes for 4 crappy seasons here and zero upside to the weather, IMO.

[Shin Pad]

I don't really like cities at all, so as far as I'm concerned they are all bad places to live (it's just my opinion, of course). I prefer country living - much more sane pace of life, less polution, less crime, etc. I live close enough to a city, that I can go in and get what I need, if and when I need it. Anyway, it may not be for everyone, but it's my preference.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Melbourne is a beautiful city - I preferred it to Sydney by quite a margin. I get to go there every other year to visit my brother. Eating lunch outside on Boxing Day with a nice glass of wine at St Kilda = Heaven.

Yes it is, I have soft spot for Melbourne (always will) but parts of Sydney blow Melbourne out for water. Eastnern Suburbs and North Shore are amazing places to live, Sydney beaches and beachside suburbs >>> Melbourne beaches/beachside suburbs. However the rest of Sydney (other than CBD) pales in comparison to Melbourne. I wouldn't live anywhere west of Broadway in Sydney while I would live pretty much anywhere in Melbourne (SE suburbs are still the best thought).

Sydney and Melb are quite different, Melburne is definitely more cosmopolitan/European/sophisticated (although the stoner hippie culture that was already mentioned and is spot on can be quite annoying IMO) while Sydney is an awesome psycho town with everything that goes with it, good and bad.

Sydney CBD is a lot bigger, never sleeps, there's always something going on, everything for everyone. Melbourne CBD is pretty much ghost town after dark (or at least was when I lived there, I know that City council was trying to do something about it but even then no match to Sydney where you have tons of pubs/bars/restaurants/clubs in the city center while in Melb you don't).

Entertainment/sports/nightlife - depends what you are after. Expensive restaurants and "sophisticated" nights out - Melbourne is your choice, Sydney is IMO more diverse and has more options. Obviously you can meet a ton of people from all over the world in both cities but Sydney is made to socialize with foreigners, half of the city are backpackers

Sports is where Melb wins, thanks to Australian open and Grand Prix. Aussie rules (Melb) and rugby (Syd) both suck tho.

Cost of living - Melb all the way. Sydney is insanely expensive, I can rent a room in Sydney for what it cost me to rent a 2 bedroom apartment in Melb (some time ago but not that long). Monthly public transport ticket in Melb used to cost me less than a weekly tickets costs me in Sydney. It's insane.

All in all, I'd say that if you are a middle class family who enjoys a cosmopolitan yet laid back city, Melbourne is the way to go. If you are young and crazy or rich then Sydney wins by a large margin. And if you are a backpacker, schedule longer stay in Sydney there's lot more to see and do. However, both cities are a must see, that goes without saying.

My 2 cents.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

Yes it is, I have soft spot for Melbourne (always will) but parts of Sydney blow Melbourne out for water. Eastnern Suburbs and North Shore are amazing places to live, Sydney beaches and beachside suburbs >>> Melbourne beaches/beachside suburbs. However the rest of Sydney (other than CBD) pales in comparison to Melbourne. I wouldn't live anywhere west of Broadway in Sydney while I would live pretty much anywhere in Melbourne (SE suburbs are still the best thought).

Sports is where Melb wins, thanks to Australian open and Grand Prix. Aussie rules (Melb) and rugby (Syd) both suck tho.

I agree with most of that, just wanted to comment on these 2 points.

While the beaches and Eastern Suburbs are certainly amazing, there are definitely some great little gems to the West. Not sure exaclty what you mean by west of Broadway (I'm guessing west of the CBD as Broadway becomes Parramatta Rd which runs E-W) so maybe these places aren't included. Pyrmont is right across Darling Harbor from the CBD and is a great little area, a few minutes walk to the harbor, some great parks overlooking the harbor area and generally pretty laid back. Another nice area west of the CBD is Balmain, probably more of a Melbourne type neighborhood actually, very trendy in a hippie sort of way. From there the west is certainly less desirable as a whole, but there are some really nice areas along the river. Canada Bay, Drummoyne, Huntley and most of the other places nearby are excellent. The common theme generally being access to the water. You still have to be rich to live there though.

On the sports side, I disagree completely. The Aussie Open scores some points, but one day of cars driving fast and passing each other maybe once does not. AFL is like watching a bunch of hopped up 12 year olds with highlights in their hair on an easter egg hunt. The fact that Victorians think it's the greatest sport ever played, as well as the most physical, costs them tremendous points.

Sydney focuses on two sports, both of them played by men, and both of them rugby. This scores massive points. Plus, Sydney has 5 arenas, two of which don't suck, while Melboure has two total, both of which are garbage (or so I've been told) and the overall hockey scene is much more alive in Sydney.

They both like cricket, which you'd think would lose you points until you realize that watching cricket is like watching a really long baseball game, which means you have more time to drink to excess and hang out in the sun. It's also surprisingly enjoyable to watch a sport that you don't remotely understand, no tension at all and you can get excited for things that do not matter at all. I assume this is what it's like to watch hockey in Nashville.

[Mad Mel]

Screw Sydney and Melbourne and their crap weather. They have this thing called "winter". It sounds terrible. F that.

[Barnet Flame]

I thought Brisbane only existed as a place for all the characters leaving Neighbours to go to.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Mad Mel

Screw Sydney and Melbourne and their crap weather. They have this thing called "winter". It sounds terrible. F that.

I guess if you consider a week of having to wear a hoodie winter then I guess Sydney has winter.

[Table 5]

Am I the only one who likes winter? Toques, snow, christmas, puffy jackets, skiing, skating.....I love all that crap.

Plus a good winter makes you appreciate summer.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Am I the only one who likes winter? Toques, snow, christmas, puffy jackets, skiing, skating.....I love all that crap.

Plus a good winter makes you appreciate summer.

Those parts are fine, it's the slush covered streets, ice covered stairs, people in bulky jackets on the subway (although this beats sweaty people) having to actually put something on besides gym shorts and a t-shirt to go to the corner store etc. that I don't like. Give me 12 months of mid-September weather (except I want waist deep powder in the mountains year round).

[lvsteven]

Originally Posted by starseed

I cannot remember where I saw it, but a recent study put Vancouver #1 in Canada in terms of most expensive cities to live in, but 75th in the world.

I now roll my eyes after living in California when canadians (I am Canadian too btw) complain about costs of living compared to other parts of the world.

$500k for a single family home in Calgary or Vancouver looks like a bargain compared to the $750k for a 700 square foot loft in San Diego or a nice part of Los Angeles...

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by valo403

Those parts are fine, it's the slush covered streets, ice covered stairs, people in bulky jackets on the subway (although this beats sweaty people) having to actually put something on besides gym shorts and a t-shirt to go to the corner store etc. that I don't like.

Still beats the ungodly humid swamp-ass of a NYC summer. There' are few things worse than rush-hour on the subway in August when you're car's AC is busted .....and then a homeless dude gets on.

You're right about September though, it's a about as good as it gets.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by lvsteven

$500k for a single family home in Calgary or Vancouver looks like a bargain compared to the $750k for a 700 square foot loft in San Diego or a nice part of Los Angeles...

Speaking of perfect weather though....

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Speaking of perfect weather though....

except for our summer vacation there last July when it was 10 degrees and raining the whole week

[lvsteven]

Originally Posted by looooob

except for our summer vacation there last July when it was 10 degrees and raining the whole week

Um no...
This article states a month later that lax (100km away) saw the lowest high temps in years at 69.7 F... 10 c is like, 50f...

Sorry.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Kind of an ignorant statement. Lots of people are affected by the weather and something like seasonal affective disorder is a well documented medical condition.

I spent two weeks on the East Coast for Christmas Holidays... and the first 5 days was nothing but grey skies, fog, and rain. It was depressing.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by lvsteven

Um no...
This article states a month later that lax (100km away) saw the lowest high temps in years at 69.7 F... 10 c is like, 50f...

Sorry.

well there is no article there, but ok I was exagerrating a bit in terms of day time highs, but the weather was generally miserable for an entire week, and certainly darn cold (for a summer beach holiday) in both the mornings and evenings.

and no matter what the temp was at LAX was at least as low as 64 in SD


http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblog...jul/08/s-cool/

(btw I love San Diego, have been there several times and usually the weather is very agreeable, this summer it wasn't which was my only point)

[lvsteven]

We've been having strange weather in the US SW... here in las Vegas we had heat all the way through almost October and then record breaking rain all this winter.

In the the grand scheme of things, weather plays a huge factor for where I choose to live.

From niagara falls to Calgary to socal and Vegas intake Vegas and socal. It's easier to avoid sunburn than frostbite :-)