And still defending champion....

For pure beauty of a city, Edinburgh, Scotland is still leading. I just finished visiting Rome. It is without a doubt rich in history and fascinating sights, but they are in pockets throughout the city, with normal big city life intermixed. So I would still put Edinburgh as the leader, in my humble opinion.
While in Rome I did all the normal tourist sites; Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican City (Basilica, St Peter’s), Trevi Fountain, etc. They were all as to be expected…beautiful and historic. In these tourist areas you don’t get a real sense of the people of the city. I have found so far that in the major cities that are very touristy, when you wander into the ‘locals’ areas, you find attitudes that match the stereotypes for a culture. I encountered some of what I will call true Italians. They didn’t want to be bothered by a backpacker tourist. I couldn’t even get anyone to break me change to use the payphone. But it has given me a new perspective on how I view people that would bother me during my normal life. You know, the one’s that slow down at every intersection because they don’t know what street they are looking for, or that stand in the middle of the sidewalk and gaze around, blocking everyone that is scurrying through life.
I continue to be unsuccessful at trying to explore activities outside of the tourist norm. I have tried several times now to plan a scuba diving trip. But between the difficulty to quickly become knowledgeable of a new city, and then communication problems (internet, phone, and just language), it has eluded me so far. It looks like I will need to try to plan ahead more than a day and anticipate where I will be several days in advance to get something scheduled.