Best of 2005

I recently entered a photo contest where we were to select our best photo of 2005.

In a year that I visited 17 countries and taken nearly 10,000 photos of some of the most spectacular places in the world, the one I selected was from the Berkeley hills, exactly halfway between where I was born and where I was raised.

Now I'm not saying that the Bay Area is THE most spectacular place in all the 18 countries and 47 states I've been to. But I do believe it's up near the top. If San Francisco were in Europe, it would certainly belong in the first tier of destination cities along with London, Paris, Venice, and Rome.

As I've said before, it's very hard to compare american and European cities. There's nothing in Europe quite like San Francisco, though Plymouth, England may come the closest. And there's nothing in America quite like London, Paris, Venice, or Rome.

I feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to visit these places, and to have grown up in an area that can be mentioned in the same sentence as some of these places I've visited. The latter I never really appreciated until now.

posted by Matt @ 9:02 PM