What was your biggest surprise/favourite thing about the cities you've visited?

[kw5150]

Stupid thread. Sorry, it is. Good intentions but a big fail as usual with all of the usuals chiming in.

Give it a rest!

[jodelli]

What was your biggest surprise/favourite thing about the cities you've visited?:

Nearly every time I've visited TO since I was a teenager I get tourists and or out of towners asking me for directions. My theory is that I must be moving just a touch slower than the locals, on top of the fact that I have no phobia of strangers.
After telling them I don't actually live here either I generally get them pointed in the right direction.

Calgary is a pedestrian/cycling/kayaking dream for such a dense urban environment.

Vancouver, the only surprise was venturing through East Hastings after being warned and finding out it was no big deal, especially compared to Detroit which I was familiar with.
The favourite part, just about everything else

Montreal, no surprises there, just a series of favourite things

[jodelli]

I see some American cities being posted, so:

Miami was suitably pleasant fun to be near. The surprise was that you didn't have to be IN Miami to experience this. Pretty much the entire coast past Boca offed a similar experience.

Chicago's architecture and big city feel from the south loop to Oak Street is awe inspiring, along with tons of things to do in other areas such as Lincoln Park.
What surprised me was how friendly people seemed to be for such a big city, ALIME.

Detroit, nothing surprises me, except that the inner city core around the downtown has emptied out to the point of being deserted, which means that development is slowly beginning to fill some of the space. Areas like the Riverwalk actually get crowded now.