Martin and I were inspired to post the 10 best things about our country or region, after seeing a similar post about Austria, so here's mine for Ontario:

1. Niagara Falls (itself, not the city)
2. Toronto (the city, not the CN Tower)
3. Ottawa (the canal system, not Parliament)
4. Algonquin Park (amazing camping)
5. Canada's Wonderland
6. Wasaga Beach
7. The Bruce Trail (along the Niagara Escarpment)
8. Skating outside on the pond in the winter
9. Any beach or watersports on the Great Lakes
10. Any vineyards and microbreweries in southern Ontario

Wellllllllll, my views on England... my opinion is evidently clouded by an affinity for the old Roman cities:

1. London town (specifically, go up to Primose Hill at night and look down over the lights of the city - awesome)
2. Lake District
3. Peak District
4. Yorkshire Dales
5. Bath (slightly biased, but beautiful!)
6. Stonehenge
7. York
8. Chester
9. Oxford
10. The moors and beaches of Cornwall

Nice, one day...one day...

How about it chaps?

10 best places to visit in your country or state/province/department/parish/or whatever

10 best places to visit in Florida, not necessarily in this order:
Disney World (No comment!)
Florida Keys and Key West (The stunningly beautiful overseas highway)
Sanibel and Captiva Islands (Shell collector's dream)
The Everglades (Largest National Park in the USA)
Miami and Miami Beach (South beach, and all that!)
Kennedy Space Centre (Try to visit during a satellite launch)
St. Augustine (Oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America)
Pensacola Naval Air Museum (Considered the world's best)
Palm Beach (Richest enclave in North America)
Panhandle Beaches (consistently rated as the country's best)

The picks by starlagurl and sianeth are pretty awesome. Sianeth, I imagine you live in Bath. My sister lived in Pewsey and we went there often. I've been to Toronto and Ottawa, but I must admit I am missing quite a few of the ten wonders of Ontario.

Here's a challenge: Can you find ten wonders in Saskatchewan? To my knowledge they only have three!

Nice list Sianeth..

I can do Saskatchewan! Dare me?

Also, I would DEFINITELY put the Florida Keys at the top of that list. Soooooo wonderful.

I have indeed lived in Bath for three years - moving out at the end of July though, sad times! My grandparents lived in Pewsey... small world, nice little place though!

I loved the white sand beaches in Panama City in Florida, and of course Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens etc.

And any list for Canada should just have beaver tails on it

Ewwwwww beaver tails and poutine...my favourite... *blech*

I love Bath, its a gorgeous place! I stayed in what used to be an old Brewery in Bath a few years back and visited the Roman Baths etc. so nice, I love the West Country of England, especially Cornwall, and I also lived in Harrogate in North Yorkshire for a bit, and Cambridge! Been all over...

The 10 best things/places I love about my country (England not Japan) are:-

1) London, for its whole old/new mixture of architecture, its history and amazing mixture of cultures.
2) Scones, clotted cream and jam
3) Earl Grey Tea
4) The West Country (basically all of it)
5) Marks & Spencer Food Dept.
6) The National Rugby Team
7) Red Buses and Telephone Boxes (few and far between now)
8) The British Pound
9) Oxford Street for Shopping
10) Cambridge

Wow, that list is very different from Sian's

Mine would prolly be:

(in no particular order)

Cornwall
New Forest & Dorset
London
Cambridge
Peak District
Lake District
York
Chester
Stone Henge
Stratford Upon Avon

I've never been to Cambridge (properly) and all I get is biased opinions from both my brothers at Oxford Uni... whats it like? Better than Oxford?

They are both beautiful, but I've just had some wonderful sunny days in Cambridge, punting down the river, strolling around looking at all the old buildings and it has THE biggest bookshop i've ever seen there - no word of a lie, I reckon you could spend a day in it!!!

(and wow! to both your brothers being at Oxford Uni!!)

Cool - I will go, one day soon, but its just a bit of a pain to get to from where I am! I've heard alot of good things about punting aswell (and a lot of things about people falling in!)

My 10 favourite things to do on the East Coast of Australia (from North to South)

1. Jungle Surfing at Cape Tribulation
2. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
3. Cruising Whitsunday Islands
4. Gold Coast Theme Parks
5. Climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge
6. Skiing in the Victorian Alps
7. Rafting down the King River
8. Traveling the Great Ocean Road
9. Shopping in Melbourne
10.Port Arthur Ghost Tour

Ohhhhh sounds great...one day I will go to Australia too. Australia is actually higher on my list than the UK, sorry Sian!

UK is ber-yeut-iful!!!

You just haffta know where to go!!

Don't worry, Australia is a lot higher on mine than the UK! You have your priorities right

I will chip in on the East Coast of Oz, because I love it and I can't resist:

1. 4 WD and Camping on Fraser Island (HOW did you miss this off!)
2. Sailing the Whitsundays
3. Beaches and Hiking on Magnetic Island
4. Great Ocean Road
5. Diving the SS Yongala (off Ayr)
6. Diving the Barrier Reef
7. Jervis Bay
8. Manly and the Northern Beaches
9. Skiing Thredbo
10. Melbourne cafe culture (and the MCG of course!)

And my favourite thing in the history of time...
The Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra :D

Anywhere is higher on my list than the UK right now...

Lol... I was highly occupied scouring the internet for jobs in Australia last night...

1. Broome in Western Australia
2. Melbourne - nothing in particular it's all awesome and you've heard me go on about it before
3. Kakadu in the Northern Territory
4. The Chinese and Japanese Garden in Darling Harbour, Sydney
5. Jervis Bay (again!) in New South Wales
6. The Grampians in Victoria
7. Jenolan Caves and the Blue Mountains in New South Wales
8. The Kimberleys in Western Australia
9. Tasmania - hiking
10. Cairns, Daintree Rainforest and the Barrier Reef in Queensland

I haven't even made it to numbers 8 through to 10 yet but I'm going to make it one day

Sian - where are you moving to from Bath?

I haven't been to Oxford yet (will rectify that in a few weeks) but Cambridge was nice. Didn't get me swooning over it like others, but then it was a very unusual weekend so that might have coloured it - I ended up unexpectedly on a Scottish bucks night, not getting to sleep all night then snoozing while punting on the Cam...good times

Ha ha, too funny! Sounds like a blast! Yep that would make it a colourful weekend for sure...
I got invited on a stag night once, years ago, by a male friend who said I was the only woman him and his mates knew that didn't nag them! If I told Mike that story he would laugh his a*se off...

Any luck?

hehehe this made me laugh out loud and also screamed "avoid the UK" i have no desire whatsoever to go to the UK even in transit

hehehe i will smuggle you into oz if the job hunting doesnt go well

You old charmer!!! She'd be an asset though to Oz wouldn't she?

i am an old charmer arent i *gives self finger snaps*
Sian is an adopted aussie me thinks......... she's got luv for Australia

Me too! I love the Outback, also our countries have similar population AND the same myths about the North as your Outback AND we also have problems with Aboriginals.

Aw you guys are all so cute! I will try and answer all your questions!

I'm moving to Loughborough in August to do my Masters degree - there's nothing there really apart from the university and a load of sports facilities, buts it near Nottingham and Leicester, East Midlands sort of way. Bit of a dive compared to Bath but will be a change of scenery at least.

Yeah, I'm doing a bit of a reccie for jobs in Australia for after my Masters... not really sure where to look for Sports Sciencey type jobs really, I'll just apply for loads of stuff and see what happens. My last boss now works for the Wallabies rugby team so hopefully he will have a bit of sway for me over there, but we'll see!

Any stolen visas greatly appreciated btw

Yeah, you'll get something good, you're all OVER that job search!

Woop woop... now I need to practice my Aussie accent, with a bit of a British twang to try and be charming

Huh?

I don't think they are as "charmed" by the British accent in Oz as in other places... nice idea though!

Judging by Sian's profile pic I don't think it'd take a pommy accent to charm the Aussie boys much anyway

hahah, aw! But I'm the palest person in the world... I reflect the sun, the Aussie boys think I am some sort of alien type.

Nah, they'll just think you're from Melbourne

I definitely try to hang on to my accent. It still has snob value in the USA. I would imagine on OZ it would be the reverse. Mine has been labeled as a "mid-Atlantic" accent. I wonder if they speak like me in the Azores? Portugues com um acento meio-atlantico!

LOL, do you never get a suntan? Or just burn to a crisp...

LOL, do you never get a suntan? Or just burn to a crisp...

Yes but Martin in the US they have always been "taken" by the accent for some reason! Not sure why its such a big deal still though... I always get told people love my accent, that is once they have determined, or if they do determine, that I am not Australian or South African!

You have been told you sound Mid Atlantic? Really? How funny.. when I was in WA with Mike last year a girl who works in the local coffee house asked me where I was from and then I told her Mike is a local from Port Angeles, and she said he did not sound like a local AT ALL!

Depends on how plummy it is. Any accent is generally a thing to be envied here

Is it really? I didn't think it was the case in Australia! But to be honest neither Sian's (being from Manchester) or mine (being from the area of London I am from) would be considered in the least stuck up! Far from it...she may find her accent is a bonus as its so different to what people may normally hear!

I have no idea if my accent is plummy or not. Pity we don't have audio in Travelpod. Is it good or bad to have a plummy accent?

It's not a bad thing, why should it be, your accent is part of who you are! That's never a bad thing, unless you are a posh serial killer...

A stereotypical send up of the English in Australia would include a plummy accent, snobbishness and a stick up the arse so you might find that people take the piss out of you more often

That is generally a stereotypical English take up anywhere! Its what you generally get on movies etc. well way back it was, may be not so much now! I think the worst modern day example is the bloody Harry Potter movies!!!!

If I had to tell anyone who may not know what an East End accent sounds like, then think of how Michael Caine talks or if anyone has ever seen Snatch or Lock, Stock, then that's the general accent, but obviously more female... I hope!
Oh and I don't use Rhyming Slang like those guys do... I am not a cockney, even though I was born in the right area!

Well as for me, I'm from the UK but been living in Japan for 7 years now - so home is more like here. So here's my list for Japan:

Tokyo - there's no city like it in my opinion. It buzzes and fizzes 24 hours a day.
Hakone - check out Mount Fuji from a cable car and take a boat across the Lake - beautiful.
Nikko - the Shogun Tokugawa has his grave here and it's a massive complex - with the three monkeys see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.
Karuizawa - inbetween Tokyo and Nagano this place is a picturesque postcard for the taking.
Yokohama - a cosmopolitan mix of people and culture with some great boats passing by.
Niigata - the Fuji rock festival in summer is a great 3 days in the country and the sun.
Nagano for snowboarding in the winter and some great hot sake.
Kyoto - temples falling out of its ears - you got to see Kinkakuji and Kyomizudera (my spelling is awful by the way)!
Shibuya - an area in central Tokyo where trends are set and anything goes.
Tamagawa River - regular summer barbecues, alcohol that flow and excellent company.


As to my accent - apparently I confuse people now. I'm from Yorkshire in the North of England orginally but sound nothing like it anymore. I have been told I sound Australian, American, and British. I've decided I have an international accent - I'm a woman of mystery you know ; )

You've been told you sound American? Hmm, interesting...