There were a blend of close finishes and strong victories in the second round of The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2011 that have left quite a few underdogs in the Sweet 16. This week we get our second battle of Italy in Bellagio vs. Florence, watch little Lubeck take on Istanbul, and wonder if Prague will maintain its dominance in this round.
There are now only 16 cities left and we’re two weeks from the Final Four. Decide who advances and which cities will be out by voting below before next Monday, March 21 at 09:00am US EST. There is $200 on the line – who will win it? (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through to this page to vote.)
You can view the entire tournament bracket in full size or click the image to view in wide-screen.
A few of you have asked so just for the record, the cities with the higher seeds from the preliminary round are always listed first (e.g. Cuzco vs. Chiang Mai). Leave your votes and next week this competitive group of cities will be narrowed down to only 8.
Don’t worry if you missed this contest, I run several throughout the year. You can be the first to find out about the next one by signing up for my email updates, RSS feed, or bi-monthly newsletter.
Who else is predicting Istanbul v/s Prague in finals?
Prague right now seems pretty unstoppable but Istanbul is barely keeping ahead of Lubeck. Not a bad guess for the final though thus far.
Damn, I think you guys are jinxing it! 😛
What, I have to go head to head with Prague! So fixed 🙂
So, so bummed my city has fallen out of the tournament! Thanks for letting me play again this year … I’ll be back to vote next week!
So sorry JoAnna, a good run though and appreciate you giving New Orleans a chance. Next year I’ll do a pool along side the contest so there’s a double chance to win 🙂
oooh. Istanbul has made it into the top 16. Anyone open to bribes?????
…I’m listening… 😛
Oh man, Chiang Mai vs Cuzco? Really.. Man.. My Chiang Mai has a tough time with this one.
A very tough one but CM has been behind early for most of the rounds I believe. Can’t turn your back on CM Cuzco!
I’m torn between Prague and Budapest, only because Budapest has to beat Paris first. Still, I’m saying Istanbul vs Budapest for the finals. (Good job, Natalie! I <3 Istanbul!)
Interesting match up that would be. Somehow I get the feeling an unexpected city will sneak in there though…
what a great idea — love this!
Thanks Michael. I’m planning on expanding the contest quite a bit next March so it’s even more bracket-y fun 🙂
This is a great fun idea! Boy, Lubeck and Istanbul have quite a duel going on. Guess I’ll have to check back to see who wins.
I’m guessing it will be down to the wire next Monday.
looks like Lubeck and Instanbul are neck and neck.
Definitely the hottest race going on right now though I think it’s making it that much easier for some other strong contenders to sneak by unnoticed 🙂 (Cuzco I’m looking at you!)
I know, Istanbul versus Lubeck has almost double the votes than the pair immediately below it, Prague versus Kyoto! Awesome!
this is getting addictive
Porto and Bratislava was a really hard
haha, I know how you feel! It’s fun to watch the voting races – think yours is going to be a close one too.
Watchout with Porto guys… 😛
amazing town btw
Istanbul!!!!!
Istanbul voted 🙂
hehe, why am I not surprised 😛
God!! I have just seen Istanbul and Lubeck. Neck and neck. This is getting nerve wrecking now Anil!!
Whoa, a tie – just when I think one city is going to pull away from the other it balances itself back out again. Going to be a close race up until the deadline. 21 hours and counting…good luck!
I think David may have beaten Goliath in this case! Unless Natalie can rally the troops quickly that is! 🙂
Julia
Very, very close although there are some invalid votes in there which may change the final results when I go through them.
I was going to say Anil, the figures seemed to be jumping around a bit. What are invalid votes and how do you know?
@turkeysforlife. You have obviously seen my begging and bribing messages on facebook then!! LOL. I have no shame!!!
Whenever a vote is cast, a bit of information from the computer is recorded to limit each person to one vote. There are ways though to hide the identity of the computer and make many successive votes to skew things in one direction. It’s very obvious when it’s done, although it costs me quite a bit of time looking through records!
Unfortunately this means I have to make people register to vote to keep them honest. I hate doing it because it discourages votes but it’s a trade that will have to happen.
The numbers are now as they should be. Good luck in the next round!
Oh, that is a disappointment. Guess it is like a favored ball team, “Wait until next year.”
Edinburgh seemed in the lead over Jerusalem any time I happened to visit during the week (which like others included some begging to friends on FB 🙂 And then the numbers disappear in the clean up.
Some other pairings shifted like that one, and others seem the same but with lowered numbers. I like that: to stay in the same ratio seems to affirm the voters’ first opinions.
Time to get more serious with my vote, I think. I will be casting a critical eye on each new pairing and picking the city to which I think I could travel.
There can only be one! It’s the fun of it, although I’ll have a side thing going on next year so those who are eliminated can continue on with a chance to win something 🙂
Yes, the votes did change quite a bit and went through each of them very carefully two times over. I hated having to do such a thing but there were so many inconsistencies that I didn’t want anyone to be unfairly eliminated. Learned my lesson however – force registrations for each contest. I just like making everyone else’s life easier with a simple click!