introduction_cities.html

---
description: Sail through an eclectic collection of writing by Peter Hilton and others.
keywords: Peter Hilton, Marion Smits, Robert Hilton, peter hilton, marion smits, robert hilton, writing
layout: hh
---

<p>	In his book,

	<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bill+bryson+neither+here+nor+there">

	<em>Neither Here Nor There</em></a>, Bill Bryson says</p>



<BLOCKQUOTE>

	Is there anything, apart from a really good chocolate cream pie and receiving a large unexpected cheque in the post, to beat finding yourself at large in a foreign city on a fair spring evening, loafing along unfamiliar streets in the long shadows of a lazy sunset, pausing to gaze in shop windows or at some church or lovely square or tranquil stretch of quayside, hesitating at street corners to decide whether that cheerful and homy restaurant you will remember fondly for years is likely to lie down this street or that one? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city.

</BLOCKQUOTE>



<p><a href='photos_antwerp.html'><img src='picture/photo/belgium/antwerp_hilton_ps.jpeg' width='125' height='198' alt='Antwerp: the Antwerp Hilton - no connection to Hilton Harbour whatsoever' title='Antwerp: the Antwerp Hilton - no connection to Hilton Harbour whatsoever' style='float:right'></a>
That's just <a href="poetry.html">poetry</a> to me, and to some extent
that is what I'm doing with my life. During the last few years I have done this in
<a href="amsterdam.html">Amsterdam</a>,
Antwerp,
Berlin, 
<a href="bordeaux_guide.html">Bordeaux</a>,
Breda,
Brussels,
<a href="budapest.html">Budapest</a>,
<a href="pppp.html">Paris</a>, Cologne,
<a href="cambridge_cafes.html">Cambridge</a>, 
<a href="galway.html" title="Galway Cafes">Galway</a>,
<a href="florence.html" title="Florence Cafes &amp; Restaurants">Florence</a>,
href="leuven.html" title="Leuven Cafes">Leuven</a>,
<a href="london.html" title="London Cafes">London</a>,
<a href="international_assignment.html">Luxembourg</a>, 
<a href="maastricht.html">Maastricht</a>,
<a href="madrid/index.html">Madrid</a>,
<a href="oxford_cafes.html">Oxford</a>,
<a href="pppp.html">Paris</a>,
<a href="rotterdam.html">Rotterdam</a>,
Trier,
and <a href="out_in_vienna.html" title="Out In Vienna">Vienna</a>
among other places. What I like to do, towards the end of those sunny afternoons, is to sit in a <a href="european_cafe_watch.html">cafe</a> drinking tea or coffee, reading or writing (avoiding computers if possible
<a href="why_i_hate_computers.html" class="why" title="Why I hate computers">&nbsp;WHY?&nbsp;</a>).</p>

<p>In the past I've got thinking about
<a href="cccc.html">crosswords</a>, <a href="car_ownership.html">cars</a>, <a href="meta_content.html">media content</a>,
<a href="web_site_architecture_requirements.html">web site architecture</a>, <a href="critical_camera.html">consumer camera technology</a> or
<a href="machine_translation.html">machine translation</a>, and listening out for <a href="tips.html">good advice</a>, for example. If I'm overseas then I like to practice <a href="european_phrase_book.html">foreign languages</a> on whoever's serving the drinks, or possibly even other customers. <a href="luxembourgish_verb_table.html">Obscure languages</a> are more fun, of course <a href="why_obscure_languages.html" class="why" title="Why obscure languages are more fun">&nbsp;WHY?&nbsp;</a>.</p>

<p>Once, I was even organised enough to create
<a href="index.html?theme=pastimes" title="the contents of Hilton Harbour, organised by 'pastimes'">contents</a>,
<a href="index.html?theme=index" title="an alphabetical index of every page on Hilton Harbour">index</a> and
<a href="new.html">history</a> pages for this web site. There's even an <a href="introduction_themes.html">alternative introduction</a></p>