Top Ten Livable Countries

Navy Grogs for me or Singapore Slings -- at the Moana under the Banyan Tree! Ah, paradise!

Definitely see you in SF, Booman. There's still some great, intimate jazz clubs like in NYC and the little towns to visit around the bay - fabulous. Since I really fudged on Carmel/Monterey, I'll see you in the city beside the bay!

How about outside the US, Boo.

I enjoyed the people I encountered in Baumholder,Germany, but from eye witness accounts, I have always felt like I would love Amsterdam, or Copenhagen.

the ideal residence
Sevilla, Spain or Firenze, Italy. The rest can fall into the ocean.At least that's how I feel now.

A bit drastic, JL -- how about a city in the U.S.?

Stockport

Light, As a matter of fact, some parts of California is falling into the ocean, and many expensive homes are being devoured. You know what they say about wishing for something..... c.i.

ideal residence
O.K. LightWizard, a less drastic but less likely fantasy residence would be Bellaire, California (depsite the smog).

Smogaire despite the bell

You keep insisting it has to be a city. Wizard. Frankly, if I had to move I wouldn't opt for another city. I loooove Boston. Honolulu is nice, ok, but it's a little too touristy for a permanent residence. If I were to move to Hawaii, it wouldn't be to Honolulu.

No, if I decided to leave the city I live in now, I would definitely move somewhere where my nearest next-door neighbor is at least one or two miles distant. I happen to be extremely fond of the American Southwest. Somewhere in the "badlands" of Arizona or New Mexico, in an adobe hut with a 'dog-run' and tumbleweeds blowing around in the backyard, purple sage for a hedge and prickly cactus bordering the driveway -- ahh, wilderness were paradise enow.

residence
Steve, I was a substitute mailman in Bell Aire, during its great fire (196?). The houses were so grand, I might choose to live there even if I had to wear a gas mask full-time. On second thought, Naw!

Raising Arizona, eh, MA?

Well, JL -- we've discussed this before and I did live in the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Blvd., high enough to look down on the smog. I believe it has improved as I did the lighting in a house there last year and most days looking down were quite clear. Of course, one should be aware that it isn't the smog you can see but the ozone and carbon monoxide (among others) that you can't see. Malibu, in that area. which is still part of the sprawl of LA would be my choice but still prefer the coastline at Orange County.

Merry - it's just because were trying to conform to the survey which is 100,000 or more population. As far as countryside, it would be the survey of the countries and then a rural area in that country.

ideal residences
I guess that the most attractive feature of America, besides its quickly eroding freedoms, is its bathrooms. I would find it difficult not to have a bathroom that most people in the world would like to live in full-time. Imagine living with showers that just dribbled, toilets that...well, you know what I mean. And, of course, I have more cultural competence here than I could exercise anywhere else.
O.K. LightWizard, you got me. I'll choose La Jolla, California. (I lived there for five years during graduate school).

ideal residences
I guess that the most attractive feature of America, besides its quickly eroding freedoms, is its bathrooms. I would find it difficult not to have a bathroom that most people in the world would like to live in full-time. Imagine living with showers that just dribbled, toilets that...well, you know what I mean. And, of course, I have more cultural competence here than I could exercise anywhere else.
O.K. LightWizard, you got me. I'll choose La Jolla, California. (I lived there for five years during graduate school).

You're good with the words MA, For a minute there, I was looking around for a cowboy hat and a suitcase. :wink:

La Jolla, technically a suburb of San Diego and one of the most beautiful coves one could imagine. Last time I was there was for lunch at the Valencia Hotel.

OK, I lived at the Cove in La Jolla. Literally across the street, when I did my lab tech training. Unhappy girl then. Dragged my laundry across town to the laundramat..oh, never mind.

My two cities, if pushed, eeeeeeekkkk, San Francisco and Rome. But don't push me.

City of choice for residency
After having lived most of my life in New York City, then three year stints in Rome, Long Beach Ca., Anniston, Ala., and Chicago, Illinois, now what seems like permanently in a large suburb outside Minneapolis, I have reached the conclusion that I would not choose to live in another city.
Rather, I would choose a lightly populated place in the United States, a
northern state in New England or in the Northwest ...that was quite
beautiful in its scenery, probably located about 50 miles from any large city.