10 =) Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is always beautiful, no matter what time of year you visit. On my previous 2 visits, the city was basking in the sunshine of midsummer. This time we were shivering in close to zero temperatures of early winter. I was in Budapest to keynote the EDEN Research Workshop, and also to meet with colleagues on the Concede (user generated content) project. This time I stayed on the Pest side of the river for the first time, and spent some time in the freezing air wandering around some of the winding backstreets of the city. I came across several Bohemian cafes where student life had a high profile. This is a picture I took looking across from the Pest to the Buda side of the Danube, with the Firsherman's Bastion (Varhegy) in the distance and two of the popular river launches in foreground. There are several universities clustered along the banks of the Danube, and the nightlife is vibrant as a result. I noticed that just as I had seen during my summer visits to Budapest, people still sit outside to eat and drink in the cafes and bars here. They just wrap up warm and sit huddled together underneath the heaters. Related blog post.
10 =) Helsinki, Finland. Yes, I know I said this would be my top ten, but this is my way of squeezing eleven favourite cities into a top ten blog post. This was also my third visit to the capital of Finland, and again as in previous years, I was priviledged to be there just after the midsummer solstice when the sun in the Northern hemisphere is at it's highest. You need to personally experience the white nights of Scandinavia to properly appreciate how amazing they are. It's difficult to sleep at night unless you have some heavy curtains, because there is no night - only twilight for a few hours. I was invited to Helsinki to serve on a two day panel of experts as we assessed over 4 dozen applications for educational research grants provided by the Academy of Finland. It was hard work but a lot of fun and very fulfilling, as we selected several worthy research projects and signed off several million Euros of research funding for education that day. I took a walk along the southern quayside during my last day in the city, and saw some wonderful views, including this old trawler vessel, now converted into a fun riverside restaurant and bar. Related blog post.9) Leeds, England. Compared to the other locations in my top ten, Leeds may not appear to be particularly silubrious. But you really need to explore the city to discover that it has a lot to offer everyone, whatever your entertainment, cultural or gastronomic tastes. The area I stayed in, around the canal area, is stunning, with extravagant outdoor lighting and some stunning architecture too. I was in Leeds last year to Keynote a Higher Education Academy conference at Leeds Metropolitan University. I enjoyed my visit then, and I enjoyed it just as much this time, where I was keynote speaker for the Txttools Let's talk about TXT event, on the University of Leeds Bodington campus (home of the Bodingtons VLE team). The ALT-C conference will also be held in this fine city in September, on the main University of Leeds city campus. It promises to be another great gathering of the learning technology community.
8) Berlin, Germany. It's the gathering point for the e-learning glitterati at the end of November/beginning of December every year. Online Educa Berlin regularly attracts over 2000 delegates, and in winter the city of Berlin always shimmers in the crisp, snowy atmoshere of Germany's first city. The conference is traditionally held in one of Germany's largest hotels, the Hotel Intercontinental, which is situated centrally in Budapesterstrasse, right next to the city Zoo. I met too many old friends to mention in a single blog post, but also some new friends too. And I was also honoured to be invited to speak at three separate sessions during the conference, with subject as diverse as Web 3.0, digital research ethics and Open Educational Resources. During the event, it snowed heavily, providing a magical backdrop for many meetings and much fun. All too quickly the conference was over and we were wending our ways homeward. Related blog post.
7) Christchurch, New Zealand. I was in Christchurch for my biggest gig of the year, and possibly my largest speaking engagement so far. I was one of 4 keynote speakers at the Ulearn conference, New Zealand's (and probably the Southern Hemisphere's) premier education conference, and my audience on Day 2 of the event was almost 1800 teachers. I also hosted 2 workshops during Day 3, on Teaching with Twitter, and Learning in a Web 2.0 World. My slideshow for my Twitter workshop is available for free download here. I also recorded an Edtalk on OER for the Core Ed people who were running the conference. Wandering around the city of Christchurch was an experience, not least because it was still recovering from the September quake that had damaged it so severely. Christchurch itself reminded me so very much of middle England, with quaint old buildings, punting on the River Avon amid the weeping willows, old college style architecture, and a genuine old English ambience. Prior to the conference, we were rocked by a 5.0 magnitude earthquake - and that was decidedly very un-English. Related blog post.6) Brisbane, Australia. The Gold Coast. Brisvegas. Brizzie. It's just a great place to be. Although I was very jet-lagged, and had been travelling for over 30 hours, it was great to finally arrive in Brisbane. Even though it rained incessantly for the first 3 days I was in the city, it was still very warm, and as my mental fog began to clear, I managed to get out and about and see some of the incredible sights of this glistening city. The South bank cultural area in which I was staying, with its fascinating museums and urbane art galleries was one of the highlights. Enjoying an evening meal on the South bank with Alan Levine and Larry Johnson was another - we all just happened to be staying in the same hotel at the same time - how cool is that? While I was in Australia I also gave a keynote speech to Kaplan University online, and presented two papers at the World Computer Congress, held in the capacious Brisbane Conference and Congress Centre. Perhaps the best highlight of my visit to Brisbane though, had to be the two days I spent with Philip Long's Learning Technology team on the beautiful sub tropical campus of the University of Queensland. My grateful thanks to all of them for welcoming me and looking after me so well with their true Aussie hospitality. Related blogpost.
Tomorrow: My top 5 cities of 2010.
Around the globe by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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