So, after the longest day of my life so far, I arrived in LA for a hit and run type tour. I've been to LA before and done all the 'touristy' stuff, so didn't mind too much not repeating all that. I stayed in Santa Monica, an area of LA I really like. It is close to Venice, and 'Muscle Beach', where you can walk along and watch some big guys pumping up their guns...
In Venice, I happened upon a 'Hare Krishna' festival, which was rather bizarre, and very colourful.
Venice is a nice area, found some random canals which run through the middle of the streets...guess maybe that's where the name 'Venice' came from.
To begin with, it was a bit of a culture shock being in LA, having flown from peaceful Fiji, with around 30 people on each island, to LA with absolutely tonnes of people walking/jogging/cycling/rollerblading/buggy racing along the boardwalk, it was kind of crazy!
I sat on a wall for a minute and got accosted by an LA pimp, we had a little chat, he was pretty amusing, it's amazing the 'different' people you meet when you are travelling!
My LA stopover was just 24 hours, then I flew to San Francisco! I had never been here before so was looking forward to it and I was coming to visit my American friend, Emma. Emma has a cool little apartment in the centre of San Francisco with a coastal view, you can see the famous 'Golden Gate Bridge' whilst eating your breakfast, it's ace.
I didn't know much about San Francisco before I got here, but have had a busy week sightseeing so feel like I know a bit about it now. It is full of hills, most of the houses are built on steep hills all over the city which offer amazing views. This is 'Lombard Street', the 'crookedest street in the world'. At an incline of 27 degrees, this hill was too steep for cars to climb so in the 1920's they revamped the street to look like this, so the cars could manage it...must say, it did always seem to have a queue of traffic built up at the top of it...
San Francisco has become well renowned for its still operating 'cable cars'. I thought these would be like the kind you get when you go skiing, but apparently they are 'gondalas', these cable cars look more like a tram. Anyway, I went to the cable car museum, which was actually more interesting than it sounds, and learnt how they were going to stop them all because they were out dated and newer more modern forms of transport had been invented, but a local member of the community started a petition to keep them as she loved them and got the community involved and they ended up keeping 4 lines - made me realise that sometimes normal people can make a difference, even if it does involve old fashioned cable cars. Anyway, figured I should have a go on one, so took one from one side of the city centre to the other (3 miles), which took about 20 minutes. I was lucky enough to be the last one on, so got to hang off the side for my life as the guy next to me wrenched around with the brake everytime we hit a hill (quite often).
I'd read in a guide book that the 'Westfield' shopping centre in San Francisco is one of only 3 places in the world to have curved escalators...when I nipped in there, it was slightly less exciting than it sounds...
As San Francisco has quite a built up centre, they have quite a few 'rooftop gardens' that you can go and chill out in, they're pretty cool, and you get a nice view of the city. Here I am experimenting with my cameras timer...
Whilst walking through Chinatown, was excited to see actual Chinese people playing 'Chinese chequers', it was like some kind of underground gambling park, with people all over the place playing either chinese chequers or cards on pieces of cardboard and dollar bills changing hands.
I spent a day wandering around the 'Mission district', which is a kind of arty place and has lots of street art, graffitti and painted murals on the buildings. I really liked it, despite the crazy people on the bus and the man that punched the bus driver, this place had a nice feel to it.
On Friday I went on a Segway tour of the City! I have seen people riding around on these, sort of inwardly mocking them, but really wanting a go myself, so that's exactly what I did. It was hilarious, with a max of 10mph, we ripped up the streets of San Fran. Incase you don't know what a Segway is, here is a picture of me modelling the look.
The weekend consisted of a fantastic tour around the city and beyond with Emma, my host, beginning with pancakes, American style, for breakfast...
These are the 'Painted Ladies', some well photographed houses that tourists like to see, so I thought I'd better not let the side down.
This is me enjoying my first ever 'Peanut Butter and Jelly' sandwich, which is apparently an American delicacy. Yes, I'm really sinking my teeth in (even thought it looks like I don't have any here).
Went on an amazing night tour of Alcatraz, the famous prison on an Island just off the coast of San Francisco. Alcatraz was a maximum security prison from 1934 - 1963 and housed some famous inmates, including Al Capone and 'The Birdman'. There was cool audio tour you did as you walked around and then we listened to the life story of Al Capone. I was really pleased I had actually seen the film 'Escape to Alcatraz' when I was staying in the prison in Christchurch, randomly. It put some of the things about Alcatraz in context as the film is about 3 prisoners who escaped and were never found. Here are a few pics I took from the trip.
Alcatraz Island from the boat
A cell
The view of San Francisco from the prison
Emma and myself pretending we are prisoners...
We found a cement 'death slide' where you take along your own cardboard boxes to whizz down...with some friendly signs from the neighbours at the bottom, requesting you not to scream.
San Francisco does not refer to August as 'Fogust' for no reason, it has been foggy most days, but i've still had a bit of sunshine inbetween, here are a couple of foggy views...
The Golden Gate bridge, appearing through the fog
Here are a couple of other views of San Francisco...
Some tiled steps made by the local community
Graffitti in a derelict boat yard building that Emma and I explored in
Bye Emma!
A
