The making of a Great City

This late afternoon, while Lori took a nap, I went walking around the city one more time. The temperature was in the upper 50s and the air was very dry. We’re still sleeping at weird hours and last night I had a bad dream, which hasn’t happened in like forever. The details were fuzzy as with many dreams, but the story goes something like this….Lori was cheating on me while we’re trying to adopt. What are the chances of that happening? I woke up pretty shaken and had to go out for a walk afterwards!

So what are the attributes that elevate a regular city into becoming a Great city? Here are the main points I jotted in my head as I walked around and observed:

• Comfortable air temperatures to encourage walking (the 7 days a year we get in Houston don’t count!)
• Separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic
• An attractive plaza with a significant monument, statues & water features where groups of people can gather organically
• Durable, imposing, detailed and somber architecture that conveys a sense of grandeur and scale
• There’s a magical ratio between the building heights and the street’s width (I’m talking about Kreschatyk). This road is wide but feels “right”
• Multiple walking options for pedestrians, lined with trees and places to sit and enjoy seeing other people walking
• Several kiosks and vending machines to get coffee, snacks, ice-cream, beer, etc. and people selling flowers
• Street performers: break dancers, live music, caricature artists, etc.
• The occasional drunk guy that tries to join in the fun while everyone else makes fun of him
• Topographical changes so you’re not always walking on a flat plane. This adds a lot of interest and helps you see other parts of the city in the background, making you feel “contained” within the landscape
• Roads that meander and intersect at angles other than perpendicular to each other
• Lots of shops, restaurants and coffee houses at street level, open round the clock or late at night
• An efficient public transportation system, especially an underground train
• Underground shopping, which is great for cold cities to keep business bustling on dreary winter days
• Drivers that drag race whenever they can down the main street!
• A variety of expensive, “chic” districts, and others more down to Earth
• Beautiful people that are not afraid to show some skin (you know what I’m talking about!)

These are all attributes of Kiev, but words don’t do it justice. We’ll leave the city behind in a few hours to hopefully return in a few weeks to conclude our trip. I doubt I’ll be able to take a walk by myself next time ;) Here are some more pictures of our Sunday discoveries (click to play full screen slideshow).