Panchi - that's really cool that your town is mentioned in the Ramayana, despite what it's for *laughs*.

 

Nya - Your hometown sounds really really pretty!

 

 

Basel - I can't wait to see all the improvements that they are making down on the waterfront!

 

Tonnalea - Sounds gorgeous!

Nyanna, I have an aunt and uncle that live in Rieneck.  I haven't been there because they moved there after we left Germany (I can't remember the name of the town they lived in before).  My other aunt lives in Lohr am Main.  My mother's home town is Hanau.

My hometown is actually Everett Wa. About forty min north of Seattle Wa. If you come here the first thing you'll notice is the "small town" feeling, even though we aren't, technically a small town anymore. So we have beaches and fun stuff like that. I live on the water, but since it's not nearly as fun as say Seattle let's skip over my city and go to Seattle.

 

The good: The view 

 

 

If you are into conventions Seattle hosts multiple conventions we have the second biggest Comic convention on the West Coast,  that being the Emerald City Comic Con it is second only to San Diego Comic Con. The PAX, or Penny Arcade Expo is held in Seattle which is another big convention. I'm afraid I don't know much about it other then the tickets for it sell out in about an hour after they go on sale. Our big Anime convention is Sakura Con and if you want anything in between we have the Boat show, the home show. The Tattoo Expo, Seafair, the Tall ships festival AND across the water from Seattle we have a Ren faire. Getting on the same island as the fair is easy from the Downtown Seattle ferry terminals.

 

The University of Washington is in Seattle, they are a leader in Science and Technology. If you want to study engineering or science UW is the place to go. UW offers any number of other degrees as well but they are leaders in Science and tech.

 

The Woodland Park Zoo is a world famous Zoo second again only to San Diego. Here is the link all about Woodland Park http://www.zoo.org/

 

The pike place market! If you need a good place to hang out the market is the place. They throw fish for your entertainment, the first starbucks is there, the ghost tours and if you are into gross things the gum wall. I prefer to stay sanitary so the gum wall is out for me.

 

The bad: Downtown Seattle is super crowded the buildings and the people all crowd together. The traffic is awful till you are well out of the Seattle area, in both directions. No one seems to know how to obey traffic laws in the city. So if the people are walking regardless of the light go with them.

 

The ugly: Downtown Seattle is full of homeless people who will do just about anything anywhere. It is not uncommon to see one peeing on the street. Esp. down by the waterfront. Staying downtown after dark is a "do this at your own risk" if you would not like to be mugged stay in well lit areas and in larger groups. Avoid most of the Clubs in downtown they are too small for the amount of people they try and cram in them.

is beautiful...

 

and I'm used to seeing ppl peeing in the street. I'd imagine the rain helps there.

Yes I forgot to add in the bad section that it rains here ALL the time. We have something like 208 days of rain a year. The 100 and some days that it isn't raining it's usually cloudy or if it is sunny usually that's only from late June to about mid-sept. Then back to rain etc.

 

And photos of Pike Place Market