Advertisement
Published: July 20th 2006
San Diego
A classic sign which Richard wanted to buy but could not find for sale.Yes, another entry so soon. Does anyone actually read this thing or am I getting writers cramp for absolutely no reason? Hello?!
Only in the US for a couple of weeks so a relatively short entry which is good after that huge Australian entry.
We arrived into the US with no guide book and feeling a bit lost and very Jetlagged! We left Brisbane July 2nd at about 9am and made a stop in Auckland (which was delayed) and then, over 24 hours later we arrived in Los Angeles at about midday July 2nd!! Very confusing. Bloody daylight saving!
I've been to America a few times with my parents when I was younger but I never noticed how many crazy people there are (Greyhound bus stations are the worst)! When I pointed this out to Richard he said "it's like someone decided 'OK America, you can be the superpower of the world, but you have to take the majority of the worlds mental people!".
We decided not to stay in L.A. (too many crazy's) and got a bus straight to San Diego (only 3 hours). Found that backpackers aren't catered for here as much as in Australia
San Diego
Classic street. and the hostel we found was in Ocean Beach and full of very young paople. Hundreds of them and four bathrooms. Pants. Not much sleep was had in this hostel as after the clubs close everyone comes and sits in the street outside. We deemed to spend as little time there as possible. On July 4th we walked all around San Diego and BilBao park which was really pretty. We wandered into Little Italy which confusingly is on India Street and has a large British pub?! Many people were wandering around with American flag t-shirts, jumpers, shorts, hats etc. but we've come to realise that they wear this stuff all the time and not just on July 4th! Our favourite gettup was when two guys strolled path wearing Amercan Flags as capes and carrying a stereo playing the Team America (the rude and hilarious puppet film) theme tune "America F*** yeah!". Due to the various laws (not being allowed to drink on the streets or on the beach after 8pm and everything closes at 2am) people struggle with what to do on July 4th and so decend onto the beaches and get drunk really early on and then after the
San Diego
Balbao Park. fireworks display stumble into the clubs. We watched the fireworks and then had a few beers and I went off to use the toilet/shower in the hostel and as I was sitting there (as you do) I noticed something odd about the sink plunger in the corner...."is that a lense?" I thought to myself. I picked the plunger up and discovered that some sicko had cut out a small circle of plunger and plugged a transmitter camera inside the plunger! Someone (nearby to be picking up the signal) was watching me and anyone else that used that shower or toilet (they are mixed)! I went balistic to say the least and later wished I hadn't reacted so quickly or loudly as it wasn't the managers fault (i hope) who looked mortified and imediately had someone check all bathrooms thouroughly. They found another plunger witha h hole cut in it in the opposite bathroom but no camera....had "the watcher" witnessed me discover the camera and removed the 2nd one whilst I was ranting to the manager? A memeber of staff? We still don't know but I spent the next couple of days scanning every inch of the bathroom before going about
San Diego Balboa Park
A typical Sunday scene in the park. my business in there!
On the plus side of the day, everybody being drunk so early meant we were actually able to get a good nights sleep and weren't kept awake by people coming in at 3-6 am! Excellent! I spoke to the staff the next night to see if they had caught anyone out and they said "no, the exact same thing happened about a month ago and we didn't catch them then either"...wHAT!!! I did ask if they maybe hadn't figured out that it surely must be a staff member for it to have happened twice....someone that has access to the building. They clearly weren't too bothered and Richard did what he does best and wrote a long detailed response when they stupidly e-mailed him asking for feedback on the hostel!
We had a scheduled flight from LA to San FRancisco and so got the Greyhound bus back to LA where I had booked us into "Backpackers Paradise Hostel" in a very dodgy part of town. AS it was only for somewhere to sleep before our flight in the morning we didn't mind so much. They messed up the booking but it worked out well
San Diego
We just had to visit HOOTERS! as they had to give us a suite which we had to share with 3 very nice Irish girls. They took the bedroom and we had the pull out sofa in the living room with the TV and a fridge to keep our beers warm!
San Francisco
A really beautiful place with so much character and an awful lot of hills! The hostel "The Green Tortoise" is a great old building with a massive ballroom which is now used as the dining and realxing area where we get free breakfast every morning, free dinner three times a week and a big kitchen for cooking yourself and free internet! At $25 a night (each) the freebies help and we were very pleasantly surprised to find that the free food is all freshly prepared and really very good! Guests offer their services for making up rooms and cleaning and cooking to gain a free nights stay. We stayed in an area called "North Beach" which is unfortunately nowhere near a beach and it's slap bang in the middle of the Italian quartre so you can imagine the pain we had to endure when they won the world cup and filled the
San Diego
We walked down to the sea to visit the seals! Very cute little family! streets with cheering and screaming for the next 12 hours. The restaraunts are so good that you have to forgive them for being italian!
On our first day in San Francisco we walked for miles including over Goldengate Bridge! This is one time you really will not hear me saying "it's not so big" as the Goldengate bridge is unbelievably huge at 1.7 miles long, 185,500 tons and 746 feet tall! WE started our walk at the Fine Arts museum and then walked to and over Goldengate Bridge and continued walking to Sausalito town before catching the ferry back past the famous prison Alcatraz. Our walk took us a few hours and we were very tired but at least we didn't have to go far for dinner as it was a free dinner night and we enjoyed shepherds pie with salad and corn bread.
We visited all the best "view points" to see the famous zig zagged street and climbed many stairs to Coits tower for amazing views across hilly San Francisco. Coits Tower where I learned about the benefactor of the tower Lillie Coit whose life really was interesting! Here is the story of Lillie Coit -
San Diego
It´s a yard of beer! Tricky to get the bottom part without throwing it into your face! Lillie Hitchcock Coit, was destined not only to become a legend but to attain that eminence long before her life ended.
She came to San Francisco in 1851 from West Point with her wealthy family. When only 15 years old, she began her famous career with Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5. when one afternoon the pioneer fire company had a short staff on the ropes as it raced to a fire on the very steep Telegraph Hill.
Lillie Hitchcock, on her way home from school, threw her books to the ground, ran to a vacant place on the rope where she exerted her feeble strength and began to pull, at the same time turning her flushed face to the bystanders and crying: “Come on, you men! Everybody help!"
Lillies parents had difficult work attempting to keep their daughter from dashing away every time an alarm was sounded. As it was, there never was a gala parade in which Lillie was not seen atop Knickerbocker No. 5, embowered in flags and flowers. She was, literally, the patroness of all the firemen of her city.
San Francisco society of the day was exclusive and right. As the Hitchcocks were valued members,
San Francisco
The Palace of fine art. Stuning building and surrounding grounds. society frequently agonized over the vagaries of its Lillie. But she seems always to have done exactly as she pleased without giving real offense.
Lilli married a man her parents did not want her to marry and went off travelling around Europe and the Orient and she would dress up as a man in order to enter the gambling dens!
She was a notable figure even at the court of Napoleon III and a maharaja of India.
When Mrs. Coit died in July 22, 1929, at the age of 86, she left one-third of her fortune to the city “to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved.” And that is the story of Lillie. What a magnificent little madam she was!
We attempted to visit the beach as the weather was so brilliant but our bus journey there gradually decended into San Francisco's famous fog and when we reached the beach you'd think it was the middle of winter! The sky was so thick with fog that you couldn't tell where the sun was supposed to be!
We both loved San
San Francisco
The Golden Gate Bridge! Took about a half hour to walk to this point from Palace of fine arts...and then we went over to the overside! Francisco but won't miss the hills! Such a work out on the legs!
Dallas
Our last stop in America. Good God what a massively dull city. If JFK hadn't gone and got shot there no tourists would ever go! We wandered around for hours and just got bored. The JFK tour was actually really interesting but like I said....that was it. That's all I have to say about that.
Mexico here we come!
x
Ay ay ay aaaay!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.183s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0485s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
mummy
non-member comment
yes we do read all of it
surprised Hooters didn't offer you a job!! Pleased you enjoyed San Francisco, it's an amazing place, crocked street is Lombard Street and as you said has featured in many adds and films, is the huge slice of tree trunk still standing just over the Golden Gate Bridge?continue to enjoy, you both look relaxed and happy. love mum