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But only because I think every place is worth visiting at least once. I don’t think I’d make it a point to go back. It wasn’t terrible at all, but on the whole it didn’t really make an impression. I was there for a conference, which it is well-suited for, but it doesn’t seem like a place that would be fun to go visit and hang out around.

A very profound, peaceful space.

It starts to hurt your head after awhile, and cacophonous sounds accost you on your way in and out, but it’s definitely worth a visit, if only for those reasons. There are some very interesting pieces – even if you don’t appreciate modern art, they’re fun to look at. There’s also a lot of communist and war propaganda posters that I found really interesting. The rotting fruit video is one of the most intriguing things I’ve seen there, and the room where red life-sized staues of people are sweeping up little paper people is worth a visit too.

One of the most tragically romantic castles I’ve ever seen – it’s straight out of Tennyson or something similar. Autumn is a wonderful time to visit because the colors are so striking and the air is so crisp. Also, there is a New Year’s Eve event every year where you get to stay in a room in the castle, and they have an amazing six-course meal, and bagpipes, and fireworks, and champagne, and breakfast the next morning. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I don’t usually go for such luxury, but the experience is definitely worth the money and all the people I met were very down-to-earth and nice. Including the newly-hired castellan who’s butler kept interrupting our dinner to tell her that her children needed something. Butler, seriously. Sweet.

One of the most beautiful, unique, remote, northern-most places in the British Isles.

Maybe I only think it’s worth visiting because I’ve lived there, but it really is a beautiful place. I lived in Egham, home to the Royal Holloway, University of London. If you want to see a spectacular building, I suggest a visit. The main building on campus is very Hogwarts-esque, and it is HUGE. It houses part of the library, a dining hall, a picture gallery (with some great art), a chapel, about five million admin offices (bureaucracy … it’s England, after all), tons of dorm rooms, the Health Centre, and a pub. It has two quads in it’s centre and it’s based off of a seventeenth-century Norwegian (I think) model. Very ornate. The campus is also beautiful, very big and woodsy.

Right next to Egham and the university is Runnymede Green where the Magna Carta was signed. It’s the local claim-to-fame, which, of course, results in all kinds of festivals and fairs and statues and special days. You can even see the exact spot where King John signed it …

Also in Surrey are Guildford (the county seat), Woking (which has a huge, American-style shopping mall that is somehow completely hidden from the outside and you don’t realize it’s there until you walk into it) and Staines (terrible name, decent place – it’s a typical English town and they have a street fair every Saturday, which is fun).

You can also get easily to London, Windsor, Reading, Bristol and most of the West Country by train from most places in Surrey.

Seattle is one of my favorite cities, even after I lived in London for a year and travelled all around Europe. There is something so special about it that no other city has. It is friendly and beautiful and sophisticated and has so many different sides that anyone will fit in anywhere. There are flowers on the sewer grates, bums give each other money and it’s green all year long.