Anyone for a Virtual World Tour?

[Lightchick]

So, I’ve been contemplating posting this topic for awhile, and finally had a moment to do it!  MimzMum, with her tree photo, and the Season thread, and C&C’s US/Canada question prompted it…

We all live all over the world!  (Or at least the US, Australia, England, and Canada…ok, we all live in the former/present British Empire!)  I LOVE to travel and see new places, but with work, and gas prices, and bunnies to keep track of, obviously I don’t get out too far very often.  Who wants to join me in creating our own virtual world tour?! 

I’m curious about where all the Binky-Bunners live!  Care to share?  (Of course without revealing too many details over the internet!)

I’ll start.  I live in Long Beach, California, the US.  It is the southwestern-most city in Los Angeles County…if you take Pacific Coast Highway 7 miles or so south from my neighborhood, you’re in Orange County (The OC–I never watched the TV show on principal, but I can still guarantee you that the reality is NOTHING like the show!). 

Long Beach is, to a large extent, a huge suburb of Los Angeles (the city) and Orange County (which has lots of “suit” jobs…computer stuff, banks, major corporations home offices’–Taco Bell, for example!).  Orange County tends to be rather expensive to live in, and LA is a huge urban mess, so lots of people live in Long Beach and commute in either direction. 

It has it’s own personality, though.  Marinas, the port (which is huge and ugly…Long Beach isn’t actually much of a beach…you have to drive to Huntington Beach in Orange County if you want that!), museums, tons of restaurants, parks, lots of individual little neighborhoods.  Long Beach covers a lot of area, and the north part borders some really ugly areas (dangerous, wouldn’t want to hang out there!), but I’m in the south.  My neighborhood is 3 blocks from the water (again, we don’t go in the water in Long Beach–it’s too enclosed and too close to oil refineries and the port…cleaner water is further south!–but it’s pretty to look at), off an area called “Retro Row”, which has lots of vintage/used clothing stores, 2nd-hand/antique furniture stores specializing in 1950’s-1970’s stuff, an Art movie theatre, cute bars and coffee shops, etc.  I’m just a couple blocks away from the “Gay Ghetto,” also.  Rent’s affordable, because a couple blocks to the west, the area starts getting a little dodgy…my last apartment was just 5 buildings from my current one, and it got broken into TWICE while I lived there (2 laptops stolen!  Grrr!)  But this building is much more visible and secure, and I otherwise love the area.  It’s nice to be able to walk a few blocks to get to coffee, cocktails, movies, art, ocean view, nachos, eggrolls, bookshop…and then walk home!  It’s a nice change from the endless driving that Southern California, and my job, otherwise require (my minimum commute is 20 miles….my longest commute to date was 90 miles.  Longer than that , and I want a hotel!

Of course, this would be no fun without pictures! 

My neighborhood:

When you walk the 3 blocks to the water, this is what you see:  (Note the Queen Mary, which is the big boat; the former Spruce Goose hanger, which is the big white dome, now used for film shoots.  For example, the caverns from Pirates of the Caribbean 1 were built and filmed there!  Also the huge dinosaur-looking cranes of the port, and the fire coming off the top of the oil refinery-thingy on the left.

Long Beach “skyline,” such as it is viewed from the Queen Mary.

And, just because, a pretty sunrise from my front yard:

I go overboard, I know, but even if you just want to tell us a little bit and maybe post 1 picture, I’ll still be very excited to see a little of your neighborhoods!

[Alicia Conklin]

Oh wow, that’s a gorgeous place!  I’d love to live someplace pretty like that.  I will have to take some pictures when we’re out and about this weekend and get some to post My town isn’t so pretty so it’s not so fun to photograph and it’s not something we do often 😛

[bunnytowne]

sounds like a good idea.  I will have more time tomorrow to pick something out.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Great idea! I’ve got to snap some pictures and I think I have to scan a couple from when I lived in Sweden, it was a regular film camera.

[Cassi&Charlie]

Hmm, I don’t commonly take photos of Canberra cause I find it so unbelievably dull, I’ll have to get out and become a photographer of my surroundings & get back to this post.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Haha, lightchick – my brother lives in the “gay ghetto”. His neighbors always seem to be mad at him for silly things (he’s a big straight white guy).

[Lightchick]

LOL Rachel! That’s funny! The “Q” film festival is at the Art Theatre this weekend…he should hang out there with some cute girlfriend drinking wine and maybe they’ll think he’s sensitive and stop being mad a him!

(Also I find it totally entertaining that your brother lives a few blocks from me and my BF lives down there by you…one of these days we may actually have to meet in person! Let me know if you’re ever in the LBC!)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Lightchick Firstly GREAT idea!!! How cool!!!

Second I’m going to have to get some papertowel your pics are making me DROOL!! I was not made for canada I NEED palm trees!!! OMG I can’t believe their are palm trees where you live!! I’m positively green with jealousy!! Especially considering I can see my breath outside and their is a frost on the ground

 

Ok Edmonton is a northern city, the capital actually (although Calgary is more well known and thinks it’s the capital) of Alberta. It’s a western province and we’re considered the Texas of Canda. I WISH!! From what I’ve heard from my parents, Texas has much nicer people LOL! Our city is booming in this crazy economy and has expanded crazily so there are lots of new people, many places closed early due to lack of staff, service is terrible due to lack of staff (seriously 24 hour gas stations closed at eight pm on Fridays!!)

We’re not a big city. Vancouver and Toronto are well known because they are big cities. But we’re starting to get the big city probs as we expand. Lots of homeless people (which I don’t understand considering the crazy labour shortage….) and crime is insane right now. We try not to go out as usually there is some kind of drama or fight and I just don’t like seeing that kind of thing….

I guess our big claim to fame is West Edmonton Mall, with the indoor water park, skating rink, amusment park etc etc. It’s cool…the first time LOL and ok makes christmas shopping a one trip shop!! Bigger then the mall of America!!!

 

Anyways you can tell I don’t love it here, but here I am LOL!! I hope I am somewhere far further south soon!! Here are some pics I found on the net, NOT my pics, just found from google!!

 [IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc181/kokaneeandkuhluha/aab.jpg[/IMG]

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[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc181/kokaneeandkuhluha/abab.jpg[/IMG]

 

West Edmonton Mall

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[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc181/kokaneeandkuhluha/ab.jpg[/IMG]

And this is a pic of the building I live in….

 

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And here are some pics I DID take keep in mind the light here-this is before four am in July Nice daylight in the summers here!!! (hahah you can tell I took them since they are low quality!!)

 [IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc181/kokaneeandkuhluha/Bunnies/IMG_1328.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc181/kokaneeandkuhluha/Bunnies/IMG_1334.jpg[/IMG] 

 

 

 

 

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Wow, I’ve never seen an indoor water park – that’s interesting. You need to change the format of your pics to html to work on here, but I looked at em!

I’ll work on posting my own in a bit.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

 

So I live in Chula Vista, which is a suburb of San Diego, California. While there’s a lot to say about San Diego in general, I’m just going to focus on the city of Chula Vista.

Chula Vista is a great place because it’s incredibly diverse in nature and community. It’s wedged between the mountains, desert, and beach. I personally live right on a canyon in the more deserty region. Chula Vista is near the Mexican border and  military town, so you see all different kids of people. The newer communities are upscale, but the older ones can be pretty dang ghetto (I’m somewhere in the middle).

 

Some attraction in Chula include the marina, Knott’s Soak City (waterpark), historic downtown, the Olympic Training Center, the nature center, and the Mexican food! There’s literally a taco shop on every corner.

 

Some pictures (none of the attractions taken by me):

 

The Chula Vista Marina at sunset and sunrise:

 

The oldest mall in CV (they’re all outdoor):

Historic Third Avenue in downtown Chula at night:

 

E Street trolley stop in downtown CV:

 

View of downtown San Diego from the CV marina:

 

Part of the skate park near my house:

In one of the newer communities:

 

Knott’s Soak City:

 

Otay Lake in easternmost CV:

 

A photo from one of the off-road races being hosted near my house:

 

Chula Vista Nature Center:

 

The Olympic Training Center:

 

Carne Asada fries, a local must have:

 

Mmm…

 

And finally, the view from my backyard (look past the crappy picture of me!)

[kimberleyanddarren]

wow what lovely places you guys live in! im affraid there are no lovely skylines or anything here, its just a trampy neighbourhood in the middle of a trampy down in the middle of a trampy country lol, no pics needed.

[Veronica Vigilant]

hmm… I don’t have any fun pics of Kansas (are there fun pics of Kansas???)… maybe I’ll scan in some from my trip to Antarctica a few yrs ago instead…

[Lightchick]

Yay, I love pictures! This is fun!

Ah, K&D and Bob, I would still find it interesting to hear about…I’ve never been to Birmingham or Kansas!

(This is helping me brush up on my geography, too. I’ve looked up Edmonton and Chula Vista, both. My entire definition of Canada was “north”…a little vague!)

[Sage Cat]

I live in the old Highlands neighborhood of west Denver. The houses are mostly old bungalows. I can walk to lots of shops & restaurants.

I will have to get out and take some more photos. Here is one I took a few days ago of a park 2 blocks from my house:

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[Cassi&Charlie]

That is 2 blocks from your house?! Wow!

[Cassi&Charlie]

Ok, Canberra is the capital of Australia, with a staggering 325000 ppl living here (sarcasm). Canberra has a number of Univeristies (possibly 5) and also has Parliament House, which is full of politicians and their lackeys for about 1/4 of the year.
The city is so small that to drive from one end to the other takes  40mins. Our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, resides about 10 mins away from me, although he lives on the fancy side of the city whereas I live on the dodgy student side.
On the theme of being a student, these pictures are of my uni campus, where I study & work. They’re actually the view from the path I take to work every day. It’s the prettiest walk to work I’ve ever had & I always arrive at work with restored faith in humanity

 

 

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[Alicia Conklin]

Oh how I want to live there Cassi! I want to live right there under that willow tree LOL

[Cassi&Charlie]

It’s actually on the edge of a soccer field so sometimes it’s not so nice because soccer balls fly with unerving accuracy towards peoples heads. I’ve actually seen someone fly off their bike because of a soccer ball to the head. But it’s lovely in summer & spring, when soccer season is over

[jerseygirl]

I noticed the willow too. Do you pick it for the buns. I pick some in my area and give it a good wash. No complaints so far.

I’m bit same about posting pics of Adelaide, not sure what to show. Will probably steal some professional tourism pics!! We tend to talk about Adelaide and Canberra like they’re embarrassingly parochial but this is probably appealing to those living in big, hectic, bustling cities!

All the pics I’ve seen so far on this thread look lovely! Makes me want to travel.  And I really like the iconic food pics!  Might do that but are you really all ready for the Adelaide’s Pie Floater?   Will try source pic for you…….

[jerseygirl]

Here we are!

So a Pie Floater is a Meat filled pie served in a bowl of pea soup.  Looks disgusting but apparently is quite tasty. *shrug*

Second pic is Frog Cakes made by Balfours bakery Yum!   Also dissection of frog cake.

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[Alicia Conklin]

Hrm well the pie floater looks kinda gross but the frog cake looks DE-LISH!

[Cassi&Charlie]

When I lived in Adelaide I lived in Kent Town and thought it really pretty. There were churches and stuff around, plus a big park with a little pond, roses and park stuff. It all seemed very quaint to me and I felt like I could live there forever if only the weather was different.

[jerseygirl]

How long did you live in Adelaide?
We are the City of Churches I guess. I should get some proper pics instead of gastronomic ones! We have pretty good food here. In Oz in general actually.

Tuckerbunz, the cake are delish but not too many, bit to sweet.  When the two major footy teams have a play off during the year, the frog cakes come out in little footy guernseys of the two teams colours.

[Cassi&Charlie]

I didn’t give it a go really, lived there for one summer in 2004 and decided I was off to a cooler climate. Must have been fate cause a few weeks after moving here I hooked up with my bf & we’ve been together since. Some things just can’t be explained.

[babybunsmum]

very cool idea for a thread!  i’ll add to it…

my home town of kitchener-waterloo about an hours drive from toronto.  the first pic is of perimeter institute which is an international center for basic research in theoretical physics… a pic of kitchener city hall…  a pic of buildings on the campus of university of waterloo (one of the universities in our cities)… an old mill house in waterloo park… and a pic of uptown waterloo

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[babybunsmum]

and here are pics of… symposium restaurant in uptown waterloo which is my fav spot to meet my girlfriends for cocktails or tea & chocolate cake (whatever the mood calls for)… victoria garden and the board walk both of which are in waterloo park (a dear place to me since dad’s memorial tree is there & i go there to run)… a pic of some oktoberfest dancers during our famous oktoberfest celebrations (my uncle frank is the guy on the far right) and lastly a pic of what i see when i look out my living room window after a fierce snowstorm (this pic was taken some time last january).

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