Boston

Boston is by far one of my all time favorite cities in the US, and in the world although the weather sucks there.  But when it is clear and not cold, it is the best city.  I have walked the streets of the marathon many times, and I watched the marathon take place but I never participated (I once read a ten top reasons for why you should not do a marathon, and the item about possible effects on the brain scared the hell out of me).  I lived in Copley Square when I taught at Tufts and I also lived in Copley Square when I did research at Widener Library at Harvard years ago.  Boston, more than other cities in the US (with the exception of New York and Chicago) feels like a city, a distinctive city.