Ahem. So, here is the new International Monopoly game board. New York is the only city in the United States to make it, which will undoubtedly piss off Los Angeles...good.

I don't want to knock a place I haven't been but...Montreal gets the pivotal Boardwalk spot? I'm sure it's lovely...but Montreal? Wait, wait...Riga gets Park Place? I don't even know where Riga is for crying out loud. Let's see...let me hit my Google key here...Riga...it's in f'ing Latvia? Why not Paris, London, or Rio? Hell, even Detroit would be fine...at least people have at least heard of it.

Cinematically Correct note: Family Guy Monopoly is my favorite Monopoly, even though I find the entire game to be shallow & pedantic.

Pēterburgā var veselu dienu nostaigāt "bļe" nedzirdējis - Rīgā pats nevari 5 minūtes noiet "bļe" nepateicis

Avots: http://twitter.com/oriansanvari

Ar šādu lepnu ievadu sākās DB.LV rakts. Ko lai saka - malači letiņi, balsojumu rezultāti un aktivitāte attaisnojās un esam ne tikai iekšā, bet arī starp dārgākajiem :) Taču turpat - gribas domāt par pavisam citu "ainu", dēļ kā Rīga tur iekļuvusi - ka tik te pie vainas nav tas pats nelaimīgais Dienvidu tilts (no kura balstiem pēc tā ekspluatācijā palaišanas - es noteikti ar kuvaldu izdauzīšu ārā kādu pamatīgu betona kluci, lai to aiznestu uz mājām un noliktu goda vietā un parakstu apakšā "Pasaulē dārgākai betona klucis"). Un gan jau arī savu lomu te nospēlēja Purvciema mikrorajona zil-kakainajos motīvos skautās paneļu mājas ar vienistabu dzīvokļu cenām, da vispār - ar visu šo nekustamo Latvijas sviestu.

Bet nebēdāšu: labāk pacelšu degunu augšā. Jo galu galā, lai arī maza, bet toties - dārga tauta.

Tog idag tag i det hela och gjorde en ny blogg, v.2.0, som förhoppningsvis ska bli lite mer uppdaterad än den förra.

Min sambo, vi kallar henne för MB, bloggar ju sen en ganska lång tid tillbaka och hon e skit duktig på att uppdatera så jag får väl följa hennes exempel helt enkelt.

Idag när min sambo kom hem hade hon med sig en för mig helt främmande hund, vi ska tydligen vara hundvakter sön-tors nästa vecka. Kul? Nja... jag vet inte riktigt om jag tycker det men, så kom jag på att jag ska ju vara i Riga tis-tors så då går det ju alldeles utmärkt med 3 vovvar här hemma. (Jag ska iväg på en konferens med jobbet, ingen rolig nöjes-tripp mao.)

Smaskens fillibajs y'all!

Šovakar, kad Marta likās tik ļoti priecīga un laimīga kā nekad, vēroju salūtu un klausījos operkoncertu no kāda balkona iepretīm AB-Dambim. Kosmoss tāds, ka tās uguntiņas un krāsiņās nemaz nepiesaista, nē - nav tā, ka nevaru skatīties uz salūtu, jo man iztek acis un izkūst smadzenes, vienkāŗši es nesaprotu kas tur TĀDS ir. Kas salūtā tāds, ka neskaitāmi cilvēki, ar neskaitāmām alkohola pudelēm ceļo uz centru, baros, vienatnē un vēl kā tik vēl nē, tikai tapēc, lai redzētu kā pāris tūkstoši latu tiek uzspridzināti, kā rezultātā debesīs planē krāsiņas un gaismiņas.  Šķiet, esmu no pārāk tālām kosmosa dzīlēm, kur šādas kosmiskās krāsiņās un gaismiņas ir pārāk pierasta parādība, zvaigznāju izskatā, ka te nekāds vietējais salūts nespēj nekādīgi aizskart nevienu no manām emo-cionālajām stīgām. Labāk ar tomātiem nomētājam kādu baltu sienu!

Vakar atklāju jaunu LĪMENI sabiedriskajā transportā - Mikriņā. Šķietami, civilizēti dzērāji. 2L "Plostnieku" alus nevis pa taisno tika liets rīklē ne sev ne sievai, bet pildīts plastmasas glāzēs, no kurām tikai tad tika baudīts šis gastranomiskais (alkoholiskais?) brīnums. Žēl, ka glāzēm ir tendence plīst, it īpaši tad, ja tajās ir šķidrums.

+ internetā uzdūros 11.klases skolnieces(ču) prezentācijai Powerpointā par narkotikām, tāds kosmoss - 5slaidi un "informācijas pārpilnība" tiešām mani izglītoja attiecīgajā jomā. Te nu skrīnšots.

Es tiktiešām gribu zināt jūsu viedokli par šiem "secinājumiem" - omgwtflol.

„Black Ice“, schwarzes Eis, durchzieht das sanft gewellte Hügelland im einsamen Süden Estlands. Schmale, glattgeteerte Landstraßen schlängeln sich bergauf und bergab durch die scheinbar endlosen Wälder. Hinter jeder dritten oder vierten Kuppe schmiegt sich ein schwarzgrüner See in eines der vielen Täler. „Das war der anspruchsvollste Teil unserer Strecke“, wird Tourleiter Helge am Abend die Mühen der zehn deutschen Inlineskater bilanzieren, die einen Nachmittag lang auf Rollen die Umgebung des Wintersportstädtchens Otepää erkundet haben. Mit 3500 Einwohnern zählt das weit in die Landschaft gestreute Nest zu den größeren Städten Estlands.

Die steilen, langen Abfahrten machen den Skatern zu schaffen. Manche hängen sich bergab lieber bei einem der mitreisenden Fahrradfahrer an. „56 Stundenkilometer, mein bisheriger Rekord“, verkündet Peter* nach einer langen Schussfahrt mit einem Blick auf den digitalen Tachometer an seinem blau-weiß glänzenden Schuh. Die beiden Störche, die von ihrem Nest hoch über der Straße auf die bunte Gruppe deutscher Inlineskater blicken, scheint das nicht zu interessieren. Während sie die milde Nachmittagssonne genießen, quälen sich die Rollschuhfreaks den nächsten Hügel hinauf. Die Abfahrt endet an einem Badesee: Sandstrand, eine große Liegewiese und warmes, weiches Wasser. Helge holt für alle Eis.

Vor zwei Tagen war die Baltic-Skate-Explorer-Tour des kleinen norddeutschen Reiseveranstalters key move in der estnischen Hauptstadt Tallinn gestartet. Nach einer kurzen Einweisung führte key move-Inhaber Helge seine rollenden Gäste über die fast drei Kilometer lange, fast glatte Strandpromenade auf olympischen Spuren ins Seebad Pirita. Hinter dem weiten Sandstrand breitet sich jenseits der glitzernden Ostseebucht die Skyline von Tallinn aus: Neue, gläserne Hochhäuser umrahmen die Silhouette der mittelalterlichen Altstadt mit ihren Türmen und Türmchen. Von den sowjetischen Olympiastätten in Pirita bröckelt der Beton. 1980 kämpften hier die Segler um Medaillen. Die Tour geht- über meist angenehm glatte Wege - durch Plattenbauvororte aus Sowjetzeiten zurück in die von der UNESCO zum Weltkulturerbe erhobene Altstadt. Tapfer kämpfen sich die Skater – oft mit den Händen an den Häuserwänden - über holprige Gehwege und katzenkopfgroße Pflastersteine durch den Feierabendverkehr in der Innenstadt.

Auf dem Markt in Valga, der kleinen, zwischen Estland und Lettland geteilten Grenzstadt, verkaufen alte Leute die Früchte ihrer Gärten direkt aus dem Autokofferraum. Nur ein blaues Schild mit der Aufschrift „Latvija“ im europäischen Sternenkreis lässt die Reisenden wissen, dass sie sich nun in Lettland befinden. Gut 100 Bus-Kilometer sind es noch in die baltische Hauptstadt Riga.....

mehr von den Baltic Skate Explorern direkt bei mir....

Laikam jau dažreiz ir arī tam jāpateicas , ka sinoptiķu prognozes ir tik neprecīzas, jo solītie lietus mākoņi tā arī nepārklāja  Rīgas debesis. Skatītāji tiešām bija ļoti daudz, par to laikam jāpateicas organizatoru lieliskajai vieti un laika izvēlei, kas sakrīt ar Rīgas svētkiem.

Par pašu strītbolu organizatori vēsta, ka pieteikušas bija 120 komandas visās vecuma grupā, un tā ari varētu būt, bet galvenās un karstākās cīņas notika Masters grupas ietvaros, kur spēkiem mērojās Latvijas , Lietuvas, Igaunijas un Krievijas komandas. Nākot tuvāk izškirošākajām kārtām cīņām līdzi nāca aizvien vairāk asuma un azarta, kas beidzās ar deizgan biežu un nopietnu grūstišanos. Tomēr kautiņi izpalika un viss beidzās mierīgi.

Skatītājiu izklaidei tika piedāvāti dažādi konkursi un paraugdemonstrējumi. Fresstyle paraugdemonstrējumus rādija frīstaileri no Latvijas un Iganijas vienā uznācienā. Bet kā jau tas ir tik ierasts Latviešu publikai pārsvārā viss tiek pavadīts ar skatienu un aplausi skan tikai pēc lūguma vai acinājuma pēc tiem. Tapat iespaidīgi bija ar Slum Dunk paraugdemonstrējumi, kur jaunie censoņi no Latvijas parādija arī dažus zvaigžņu spēlēs cienīgus bumbas triecienus no augšas.

Kopumā ņemot jāpateicas par iespēju spēlēt tieši krastmalā un pie tik daudz skatītājiem. Šāds cilvēku daudzums bija vērojams tikai pašos strītbola pirmsākumus Latvijā. Fantastiska spēle

Skatītājiem tiks piedāvāti streetball freestyle paraugdemnstrējumi, kur piedalīsies gan Latvijas labākie frīstaileri, gan arī ciemiņi no Igaunijas. Lūk igauņu video

Diemžēl sinoptiķi ar labu laiku diez vai mūs spēs iepriecināt un sola lietu , tomēr sestdien krastmalā ir ari Rīgas svētki kas šo posmu pie attiecīgiem laika apstākļiem varētu padarīt par vienu no apmeklētākajiem. Skatītājiem tiek solīti dažnedāžādi konkursi un atracijas.

Par to kā šis posms izvērtīsies patiesībā pastāstīšu rīt.

Der Spaziergang / Digitale Fotoarbeiten Detlev Foth

http://www.foth-malerei.com/

I also felt kinda sorry for him, as he had to deliver the ultimate bad news to a customer who has already waited silently and patiently for an hour (yes, really) for his meal to arrive. “There's been a mistake. They've cooked the wrong meal”, he told me with this really sad, apologetic look on his face. I just knew he was the bunny for some major fuck-up in the kitchen. As it was, it was only the difference between steamed and fried dumplings, so I just smiled and told him it wasn't a problem. And besides, he was cute.

“I've never been so hungry in my life since arriving in Latvia”, a bloke told me in a bar last night. I knew exactly what he meant, as I've felt the same way. I'm guessing by the popularity of the central markets, most people eat at home and there isn't a significant restaurant or cafe culture here. The food I've had has been pretty good, by and large, but there are nowhere near as many places to eat as you would find in a similar sized town in Western Europe.

And there aren't that many restaurants, cafes or anything really in the area where I'm staying. There's just lots of shops with absolute crap in them. Like really useless crap. OK, that's maybe an exaggeration as I'm about 5 doors down from the Benetton Store, but I hope you get the meaning.

The bloke I met in the bar was Irish. He'd been here for a few days for a wedding and because his boyfriend (who was Latvian) needed to renew his passport. I went up to him and said hello, “Do you mind if I join you” because he was the only other person in the bar, literally.

I'd searched around on the internet for the names and locations of gay venues in Riga, and could really only find one that was suitable, as the only other venue sounded more like a sex club than somewhere you might go for a drink and conversation. Luckily it wasn't too far from where I'm staying.

But to get in, you need to press a buzzer. A bloke greeted me at the door and told me it was 2 lats entry (about $5) which I happily gave him. “Turn on the music” he shouted to the bloke behind the bar. And that's when I realised that, for the second time in the same week, I've been the only person in a gay bar.

The barman who was very nice gave me a wry apologetic smile as I sat alone in the corner waiting and hoping that someone else might come in. I smiled back, reminding myself it wasn't Sydney or San Francisco, it was Latvia on a Tuesday night.

And when you're sitting there all by yourself, you start to notice things you've never noticed before. For example, the decore. The place was fairly well decorated in strong red colours, including red leather lounges and with “Tom Of Finland” images all over the walls. I don't think I've spent as long observing the decore of a bar in my life.

Finally, after about 30 minutes, the door bell rang again. It was a bloke unwilling to pay the cover charge, so he left. Later, there was a group of about 5 blokes who also wanted to come in, but baulked at the cover charge. If the owners of the bar are reading this, can I suggest dropping the cover charge on a Tuesday night, as I reckon you'll make more money over the bar if you just let a few people in.

I think it was about 1 or 2 in the morning before the place had a modest crowd of people. And when I say modest, I'd say the bar peaked at about 20 people. I'm sure it's busier on the weekend.

All of these restaurant and bar experiences remind you it's not so long since Latvia was part of the Soviet Union, with all that implies. And this leads me into telling you about the amazing experience I had today at the Latvian Occupation Museum.

The museum covers the period 1940 to 1991 when Latvia was under the control of Russia, then Germany, and then Russia again. A strong theme of the exhibition relates to the agreement between Hitler and Stalin just weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War. Although a student and great lover of history, it's an agreement I wasn't that aware of. And although the US and UK said they did not support the Soviet occupation after the war, another theme of the exhibition is the west did nothing about it either.

The museum is very moving. On a couple of occasions I found myself a little teary and a little overwhelmed by the many terrible things that were done during this period. The exhibition, for example, describes the terrible position of the Prime Minister at the time when Russia moved in. On the one hand, it's argued by asking Latvians not to resist, he may have saved the lives of many people, but he may also have condemned them to something also quite terrible. It's explained he went missing within a couple of weeks, died soon after and his grave was never found. Chernenko apparently presented the Independent Latvian Government in 1991 with the last known photograph of that man.

The exhibition also takes you inside the kind of huts people lived in at the Gulags, and describes how people were just left to starve to death. Unlike the Nazis who killed people systematically, the Soviet system was to put people in such terrible situations they just died.

There's a ray of optimism though, as the struggle of the resistance movement is well documented. Something I wasn't aware of was the two-million people who in 1989 protested the Soviet occupation by joining hands, linking Tallin, Riga and Vilnius. And there's a great photograph in the museum of the celebrations when independence finally came back to Latvia.

It's one of the best museums I've been to, to be honest, and an absolute highlight of my three days in Riga.

After that I went for a bit of a wander and then went on the hunt for some food. Tonight I settled on a very Latvian looking self-serve restaurant chain. Although I don't recall the name, their signage features a rather jolly looking older woman inviting you in. In some ways, I felt like I was at the Lismore Workers Club bistro. Looking around at what was on offer I tried to find something “very Latvian”. I have no idea if I succeeded or not. It was pretty tasteless actually.

So tonight is just a night of packing, updating my blog and backing up my photographs. And I have to be up early because tomorrow, it's Prague (via Brussels). Yes, I've got a cheapie flight that involves a two hour stop-over in the capital of Belgium, which I'm sure will be loads of fun. Apparently these stop-over hub flights are quite common in Europe. When you consider the geography involved, it sounds totally bizarre, but it's cheap and better than spending a day on a train in my humble opinion.

My research had told me that when Latvia was part of the Soviet Union, the town Jumarla was a favourite holiday-resort and tourist destination for high-level Communist Party officials, particularly Brezhnev and Khrushchev.

I'd also read that you could take a 2.5 hour river cruise from Riga to Jurmala at a very low cost. Unfortunately, for whatever reason the vessell wasn't running today. And so I settled, initially, for the vessel called "Jurmala", which of course doesn't actually go there. Instead, the "Jurmala" takes you on what is possibly the lamest one-hour river cruise I've ever done.

There wasn't a lot to see, aside from a distant view of the town, the television tower, a building that looked like a penis and the nude beach. Well, maybe not a nude beach per se, but as we toured along the riverside I noticed a couple of guys having a skinny dip. "Should I take a photo?", I thought to myself, responding with "why not?". I've blurred the faces of the two blokes, though, for their anonymity. And especially since they had a bit of cuddle seconds later. And besides, if they were to be recognised you'd hope it was for their faces and not their genitals, as I think D.H. Lawrence once said.

Arriving back in town I headed towards Central Station, walking through the Central Markets. The fresh produce on display looked very good. The people here seem to really love their food, though I've found a disturbingly low number of restaurants in the area in which I'm staying.

There were a couple of things about the area around Central, though, which disturbed me. First of all, there was a lot of begging. Lots of people with missing limbs and other disabilities. A lot of people who look like they might have been from the countryside. And there were a couple of quite old women. It was enough to make me feel very, very teary.

But there was also a lot of dodginess about the area too. As I walked through the Central Markets there were two separate blokes who said something to me in hushed tones. I suspect it was something along the lines of "you wanna buy something". I don't know exactly what the "something" was, but it was enough to make me feel pretty uncomfortable with the area.

Later this evening at Jurmala, I had a similar problem with a bloke trying to sell me a "classic Russian camera". He looked pretty out of it, but was also really quite insistent and followed me around the station for a while. He even followed me in to buy a ticket. Although I don't speak Latvian or Russian, I found the phrase "fuck off" delivered a fairly universal message.

As it was, I caught a mini-bus to Jurmala. It was my second trip on a bus today. The first one I didn't pay for, as I had an older driver with whom I couldn't communicate at all. As it was, he just told me to sit down and not to worry about the ticket. The bloke in the mini-bus was similar.

By mini-bus Jurmala is about thirty minutes from Riga, by train it's about forty. And it's obviously the beachside resort that most locals would go to, even now.

As you walk along the beach, however, you can still see remains of 1940s/ 1950s hotels and the grand era of the Soviet Union. One of those old resorts was burnt out, while another remains in a state of disrepair.

In their place are modern resort hotels. Russians still seems to be the most common kind of tourist you find though. When I went for a swim at one of the indoor pools, for example, the only language I heard spoken was Russian.

And obviously there's something quite fascinating about what's on offer at these spa resorts. There's a salt room to clear your sinuses, mud baths, honey baths, all kinds of things. As it was, I just had a swim.

Though there was an odd kind of massaging waterfall associated with the pool which I gave try. Imagine if you would standing underneath a waterfall with the water gently massaging your shoulders. After watching two blokes use the contraption, I thought I'd give it a go as well. The water pressure was so strong I actually fell over, much to the amusement of onlookers. Even when I recovered my footing, I found the pressure so incredibly strong that I just couldn't stand it any longer and left before the "shower" ran out.

After my swim I decided to check out one of the bars in the resort hotel, the Baltic. Oddly enough, as I drank my glass of white wine there was a basketball match on television between Australia and Argentina. It's the third time in as many days when I've seen a television with the Olympic Games, and every time there's been an Australian on screen. Is it like that back home too? Or is it, as I suspect, only Australians on the television coverage?

I've arrived home tonight and my feet are aching. But my mind is also spinning. English isn't widely spoken at all, except by the very young. A local "expats guide" says you're best relying upon younger women for advice, as they both speak English and are willing to help. I think I'd agree with that assessment.

Heading back to my hostel tonight, I discovered Latvians have a great sense of humour. The graffiti of Borat was too funny for words.

I'm heading out for a drink tonight at the local venue for gentlemen such as myself, and then tomorrow I want to see some more of the history associated with Russian occupation.

Oh, by the way I found this blog which is pretty funny...

Latvia is famous for beautiful girls and ugly boys. If you are a homosexual, this is probably not the best place unless you like rough people who look like they have just got out of prison.

Read more...

Siamo arrivati ieri sera in ostello, pieno d'italiani che si passano qua 15 giorni!!! (quando torneranno soffriranno di astinenza). Siamo sicuri che il volo su Yerevan c'e', nonostante la guerra limitrofe, quindi magari sara' piu lungo ma in persia ci arriveremo!!! abbiamo speso la giornata tra mercato generale, birra e tante foto (anche a culi!!!), ma cio' che forse ha lasciato il segno qui e' stao il Museo dell'Occupazione, l'unico negli ex paesi sovietici che ci ha fatto capire che sto popolo ne ha passate tante tra tedeschi e russi.

Stupisce pertanto la generosita' nei costumi, e questa apertura cul-turale nei confronti di questa marea di sbarbati (e non ) di affamati italiani.

Ora dobbiamo andare in Aeroporto....domani armeni, tappeti inshallah!!!

Checco e Titta

First, there's the language. While Estonian is actually quite close to Finnish, Latvian is more of a language you would associate with Central Europe. And on top of that, you have a greater percentage of Russian speakers. As you walk around town, a significant number of signs are in Russia, and you can hear a lot of people speaking Russian.

These are the people who were either left-behind when the Soviet Union collapsed, or who were born and raised here, and who consider themselves to be Latvian, albeit Russian-speaking Latvians.

Second, the people look different. While in Tallinn there was a significant number of people who you would describe as “Nordic looking”, here there's a far greater number of people who would say “look Russian” or “look Central European” (if you know what I mean). It's a clumsy way to describe someone as “looking Russian” because of the large physical diversity that represents, but I hope you get my meaning.

The town also looks quite different to Tallinn. There are a lot of buildings still standing which were created in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first years of the twentieth century. These grand buildings escaped much of the damage of the Second World War bombing. You get the impression from the architecture that Riga was once a very grand city, and probably quite wealthy.

Whereas the Old Town dominated Tallinn, here it's also just a part of a much larger city. Riga has much more of a “Western” feel to it, with many more of the trappings of Western society including a lot more street advertising, and more modern buildings including a few sky-scrapers.

After arriving on the bus this morning, I checked into my hostel. It's on Barona Street and is called Barons Hostel. It's a decidely English language variation of the street name, possibly because the owners are Australian (and the building is also the home to the Australian Business Chamber in Riga). We're on the top four of an old building, with reasonably large spacious rooms, free internet, free tea and coffee. And there's hardly anyone here. I'm sharing a 6-bedroom dorm with just one other person, a young French speaking woman. It's dinner time now and I haven't seen another person, aside from the woman who checked me in. At a cost of about $25 Australian per night, I think it seems like exceptionally good value.

The bus tour was similarly under-utilised today. For a while I was the only person on one of those hop-on/hop-off tours. The tour I went on cost $25 Australian for a 90 minute audio -guided tour. And if I want to, I can hop back on again tomorrow. Also quite good value, I think.

I thought it was a good way to get an introduction to the town. Of course I also did some unguided sught-seeing too. In doing so, I I saw a wedding underway at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral which spectacularly dominates the area in which it's located. I also learned of a really great local wedding custom where couples attach an inscribed lock to the bridge where, presumably, they have their wedding photographs taken.

For lunch today I risked having a pizza. “Risked” because I haven't been all that lucky so far with “ethnic cuisine”. But the Proscuitto and Parmesan pizza I had at Velvet Cafe and Nattklub was quite good. “We don't have local beers”, the waitress told me, so I had a Heineken to accompany.

Compared with the last few days, food seems a little more expensive here, so I'll have to think hard about how I spend my money. By the way, the Latvian Lat is actually worth more than the Euro. The exchange rate to Australian dollars is about two and a half to one.

I'm gonna head out for a bite to eat shortly, and then maybe have a look at one of the local bars. The gay scene here is quite underground, even compared with Tallinn where things were much more open. When they first attempted a Pride Parade a couple of years ago, it was stopped by Neo-nazi and Christian protestors. The following year it was banned by the government as a “threat to national stability”. The parade is back on track, according to what I've read, though the guide books advise discretion.

Another local guide book warns of the high rate of organised crime (something I've neglected to mention to my family for obvious reasons). And in one of the magazines I've read today, there's about half a dozen venues the United States Government has warned its citizens against going to. Mostly they're strip joints and they weren't high on my list of priorities anyway...

“Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there” 

The operational version of this truism would be that tourist cities and livable cities are different cities. The Twilight Zone explored this concept at a surreal level in the Episode, “A Nice Place to Visit” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nice_Place_to_Visit)

The truism has been named the Visit/Live Theory for the purposes of this study.  Two lists that rank cities were compared.  The first list ranks cities according the number of tourists that arrived in a city.

The list and a description of the list can be found at:

http://www.euromonitor.com/Top_150_City_Destinations_London_Leads_the_Way

The second list ranks cities according to livability.   Mercer Human Resources looked at 39 quality of life issues including political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing and the environment. 

The Mercer list and a description of the list can be found at:

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/livable_cities_worldwide/

Table 1 shows all the cities on both lists in alphabetical order.  In addition, the difference in rank was calculated for each city when this was possible.  If a city was on only one top 100 list then the difference in rank could not be calculated.  The tourist destination study looked at 150 cities, but for the purposes of comparison, only the top 100 tourist destinations were used in this study. Many cities were only on one list and not on the other list.  The number of cities on both lists was counted.  The number of cities only on one list was also counted.  If the number of cities on both lists was greater than the number of cities not on both lists then this would suggest the truism is not true. 

Table 1: Alphabetical List of All Cities