Life in the (Big?) City

As much as I have regurgitated, Go the path less traveled, there are lots of reasons to hit a larger town and explore its contents. I have a few examples, if’n yer interested, so let’s get into it!

Bigger cities, and allot rides on which cities we’re talking about, can provide adventures of a different scale. They can provide wonderful architectural photo ops as well as provide history as to how it may, or may not, have contributed to the building of a society. So we’ll have a look at a few, big and small, and then YOU be the judge as to which you prefer.

Yokohama, Japan is a fairly large and fairly nice city. It, at times, can be very crowded, however, not nearly as overwrought with humans as Tokyo can be. The parts that we explored were not too bad when it came to the masses. We saw some delightful shop exteriors, including a statue involving a bench and a pirate, as well as more traditional places that coincide with where you’re standing. Any city that you can see from above can provide all sorts of shapes, sizes and patterns of buildings that you might enjoying getting your camera out and shooting. I didn’t get a feeling of too many people, I have a little anxiety that comes out when I do, even though it’s one of Japan

's biggest cities.

This street corner, to the right, in downtown Yokohama, seemed not all that populated with people. I can’t really explain it, quite frankly, but we just did not get that oceanic feeling of people as we walked around this city. It was actually quite nice and a good way to unwind after a long flight from the West Coast of the U.S. to Japan.

Another city, I highly recommend you see, is Boston, in the Commonwealth that is, Massachusetts. Autumn, about a week after school is back in session, is the ideal time to go. The marketplaces become lovely and uncrowded and it’s so much easier to spread your wings and get around. Historically speaking, you can’t go through Bean Town without learning a thing or two about how our country was formed. Very cool architecture to shoot as well, along with awesome restaurants, a very cool aquarium and a ship from the 1700’s that you can climb aboard and tour. From the arts to cuisine, historical things to the present, there is something for everyone in this city! It’s also easy to get around both by car and foot. The subway is pretty easy to figure out if you’re walking and having wheels means that you can adventure farther out and get more historically into Massachusetts. Go in the Summer months and you’ll get the FULL feeling of being in a large and full city. Most of those are tourists! Go in an off season and you can be at ease as you explore Boston…and beyond.

A smaller city in Japan would be, Kyoto. The old part has a main street, that, if you’re lucky enough to see one, will be your best chance of seeing a Geisha. Now, go a couple of blocks away from that crowd and the photo to the right is what you’ll find. Why? No Geisha here! Most of your side streets will be empty and will provide you with unobstructed views of alleyways and shops. Most places to eat will be fairly empty as well so you can have a really nice time, slowly enjoying and being in the moment.

So, lastly, there is the town of Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is as small as town as you can get in the Continental United States. Really small, but big on certain things. Food, for instance. Some of the best seafood you’ll ever have, as well as, blues oriented restaurants and bars. The state is known as home to some of the richest families in America.

So we, along with 10 or 12 other folks, took a tour by boat of the inlet that comes into Newport from the ocean. Lots of little Sunfish-type sailboats darting everywhere and all Newport’s wealth watching from the shore. The massive mansions were staggering in their size. The Onassis family has a rather gi-normous home there as well. If you’re too young to know who they are, look it up, one of that family played a part in our presidential history. The Captain, of the large sailboat we were all on, allowed anybody who wanted to steer the boat, to come aft and take over. Newport is also known for having OCS for the Navy located in Newport. So every year it can get a bit more crowded when that graduation comes-up. But it’s not bad at all. Even in a small city like Newport, you can find fun things to do and get awesome vittles and potions to consume.

So, what do you think? Is it worth coming to a big(ger) city to see and do things, or is the small town what you’re after to avoid what crowds may be in the larger ones? If you know when to go, then my opinion would be to do both. Massachusetts, for example, has both small and large communities. If you don’t go and visit the smaller ones, you’ll miss where we first engaged the British in battle. You’ll miss where the Minutemen spent allot of their time planning and plotting the event. There is so much that led up to key historical moments that happened in the smaller areas outside of Boston. That area, and areas North of Massachusetts have the right amount of every size town that you just can’t go wrong. Japan also. It’s a bunch of islands conglomerated together to form Japan. When you get out of Tokyo and Yokohama respectively, you will find smaller and smaller communities. And real cool stuff to see, eat and photograph!

That’s it for moi! As always, if you have any comments, then leave them in the comment section. Any questions? Ask away! Think about those smaller places when you’re planning to visit large ones. Where ever you may go, I wish safe travels for you all…get out there and see the world!