I hear Istanbul is similar, actually. Full of cats…
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I have no doubt. I’ve heard it said that no matter where you are in NYC, you’re never more than 10 feet or so from a rat.
And I agree: an incredibly fun and amazing place to visit. Would never want to live there. Not really because of the rats.
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The weather i would definitely hate and the cost of living goes without saying. I think i would enjoy living in a city like New York but doubt i’d want to be there for longer than a couple of years. As is i’m perfectly happy visiting it whenever i get the chance, i’m comfortable where i’m at.
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I am not well-traveled by any means, but when it comes to actual urban environments, the only cities I’ve been genuinely tempted to live in are San Diego and London. San Diego has the advantage of climate (and since downtown is right next to the ocean it doesn’t get as hot as the suburbs I grew up in about 20 miles east) and a culture in which I feel perfectly at home. And London amazes the hell out of me everytime I visit, though I know it’s probably way more of a pain in the ass (not to mention prohibitively expensive) to live there full time.
I liked Edinburgh a lot, but since I was there in the first week of January I learned just how damned cold it gets. Paris felt like walking around in a city-size museum during the 24 hours I was there, so it didn’t really resonate with me. San Francisco bugs me for many reasons. New York intimidates the shit out of me just for its sheer crowdedness. And L.A. isn’t actually a city, but just a run-down backlot.
They all have cats, though, I guess.
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I recently visited Stockholm and walked almost everywhere and i really loved it. Even with me hating cold weather i’d probably put up with it because it was wonderful. It’s an expensive city to live in, but one can still make due with a normal job or one can live a bit further out and commute in. I’m hoping to go on a scandinavian road trip with my best friend next year if everything works out.
I’d love to check out London but doubt i’d want to have much to do with it beyond visiting. But maybe some day i’ll have a chance to visit and see how i feel about it 
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I’d love to see Stockholm, and check out the rest of Scandinavia as well. I especially want to see Copenhagen. My father’s father was from Denmark, and I’ve always wanted to see where he came from.
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You should go and open a bodega there 
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Istanbul has this statue memorializing a beloved neighborhood cat.
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That’s awesome… but it’s still not Constantinople.
… been a long time gone… Constantinople…
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“Her eyes were… Siam…
Her nose… was Hindustan…
And on… her knees… was Greece.
Her back was Brazil…
Her chest was Bunker Hill…
Her hips… were Con-stannnn-tin-o-po-ple!”
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And dogs.
We went there in 2010, it’s a lovely city with the most amazing people.
Lots of stray dogs and cats, though from what I understand it used to be worse and there was an effort to spay and neuter that really worked. And they would actually send them back out if they could not be adopted.
I took the below shot and you can see the tagged ear on the dog - while he sleeps to the music.
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The noise, the constant noise that infiltrates everywhere drove me insane in short order.
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Now see having grown up in an urban residential neighborhood with a main arterial a block away the dead quiet gets to me.
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Give me dead silence so my sweet sweet tinnitus can sing me to sleep.
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I love that… the cat looks like a fat version of my cat, actually.
Also, Istanbul is where an old prof of mine found his kitty-boy.
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I hope I get a chance to go. I have friends from there and would love go hang out sometime.
Also, what is that guy playing? Any idea what that instrument is? @japhroaig, you ever seen one of those?
I don’t know…
I hope you get to go. And I hope the theocratic assholes get pushed out of power there.
It really is a beautiful city. The history is amazing.
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With an old lady?
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