A friend of mine from back home had asked me to elaborate on my thoughts on Berlin, as what I said to him came across as a bit of mixed feelings. I've found the best way to describe Berlin is as a city of contrasts. You'll know what I mean if you've been here, if not I can explain further.
One day Robert and I were strolling along the Berlin Wall at a section called the East End Gallery (one of 3 large remaining sections), it's a famous section which had once been a major attraction to artists, now most of the original layers of paint have crumbled off or been chipped away at people wanting to sell parts of the Berlin Wall, so it's a mixture of crappy graffiti and what was once there. We stumbled upon an enterance to a bar situated between the wall and the Spree River.. the bar was a man-made beach with loads of sand and deckchairs. So there amoungst history is a new-age bar resembling something from South-East Asia.
Berlin's a city with loads of awesome old buildings, some of which still have bullet holes from WW2, a piece of history again.. but then you look down at ground level and the walls are covered in crappy graffiti.
You can buy a bottle of fizzy apple juice for around €1.30 or a 500ml bottle of beer for €1.20. Actually you can buy beer much cheaper off the shelf in supermarkets, which still ends up around € 0.40 cheaper than 1L of milk.
There are more examples but I think you can get the gist, besides, I'm going up to Hamburg today so most of my attention is focused on that, and not on updating my blog with interesting facts and stories. Some more information on what Robert and I have been doing... checked out Topographie ds Terrors (1 of the 3 remaining stretches of The Wall which has been left in its original state, and once site of the SS headquarters!), played hide-and-seek in the Jewish Memorial last night scaring people, found the former site of Hitler's bunker (nothing special), saw the Brandenberg Gate flood-lit at night, drank beers on a bridge with a hundred people on a work night here in Kreuzberg.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Monday, 28 July 2008
Berlin
Okay so I'm now in Berlin, it's nice here so far although a lot of the streets are dirty, I don't know if that adds or detracts from the charm?! I can overlook that, but what I can't overlook is all of the bullshit graffiti.. it's everywhere, even on the sides of lovely old buildings and doorways... maybe that's the German way!
I've been here for 3 days now so i've done a few things. Firstly, we're staying with my friend Dorota, she's Polish but living here in the center of Berlin in her own little flat, a very central location and only forking out €300 a month! Crazy. On our first day we did sweet F all due to being exremely worn out from the long days and late nights in Spain, Doro showed us around a little bit until she had to leave us to see some friends. Robert and I made our own way around the East Side Gallery, which is just part of the old Berlin Wall which has some paintings on it.. it looks pretty shit but the history side of things is rather cool.
Since then we've been to the Jewish Memorial area which is very cool, the Brandenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie (where I lost my wallet, only figuring it out 5 hours later when i was about to buy a pair of Birkenstock sandals)... (oh yeah, ended up finding my wallet at some cafe near the checkpoint where i bought a very terrible coffee). Have been all around Alexander Platz and the Mitte District.
Yesterday, Sunday, Doro took us to the Flohmarkt in Prenzlauer Berg.. it's like a huge hippy market in some parwith loads of cool shit to buy, I bought a nice t-shirt which was designed and printed by the guy who sold it to me, since he knew Doro he gave me a €5 discount!! We drank beer in this cool make-shift bar outside under some trees, then finally got a taste of true German culture with a Bratwurst in a small bun!! Cheap as and very tasty. For someone who very rarely eats sasauges, I think I could go for a few more bratwursts!!
Last night, Doro took Rob and I to some park where her friends were playing some football (soccer), a park in the middle of Berlin, and we were able to chill there drinking beers and generally having an amaying time. It was awesome! We also met a few of her friends which was also really good... somethi we wouldn't be able to do if we had chosen to stay in a hostel!
I havn't had much time online recently and havn't had any time to connect to the internet on my laptop, which is why I don't have any new pictures to show. hopefully I'll get my laptop online when in Hamburg in the next week.
Stay tuned for more exciting news and drunken stories.
I've been here for 3 days now so i've done a few things. Firstly, we're staying with my friend Dorota, she's Polish but living here in the center of Berlin in her own little flat, a very central location and only forking out €300 a month! Crazy. On our first day we did sweet F all due to being exremely worn out from the long days and late nights in Spain, Doro showed us around a little bit until she had to leave us to see some friends. Robert and I made our own way around the East Side Gallery, which is just part of the old Berlin Wall which has some paintings on it.. it looks pretty shit but the history side of things is rather cool.
Since then we've been to the Jewish Memorial area which is very cool, the Brandenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie (where I lost my wallet, only figuring it out 5 hours later when i was about to buy a pair of Birkenstock sandals)... (oh yeah, ended up finding my wallet at some cafe near the checkpoint where i bought a very terrible coffee). Have been all around Alexander Platz and the Mitte District.
Yesterday, Sunday, Doro took us to the Flohmarkt in Prenzlauer Berg.. it's like a huge hippy market in some parwith loads of cool shit to buy, I bought a nice t-shirt which was designed and printed by the guy who sold it to me, since he knew Doro he gave me a €5 discount!! We drank beer in this cool make-shift bar outside under some trees, then finally got a taste of true German culture with a Bratwurst in a small bun!! Cheap as and very tasty. For someone who very rarely eats sasauges, I think I could go for a few more bratwursts!!
Last night, Doro took Rob and I to some park where her friends were playing some football (soccer), a park in the middle of Berlin, and we were able to chill there drinking beers and generally having an amaying time. It was awesome! We also met a few of her friends which was also really good... somethi we wouldn't be able to do if we had chosen to stay in a hostel!
I havn't had much time online recently and havn't had any time to connect to the internet on my laptop, which is why I don't have any new pictures to show. hopefully I'll get my laptop online when in Hamburg in the next week.
Stay tuned for more exciting news and drunken stories.
Cazorla
Okay so bit of a round-up of events, I lived with a bunch of Anglos, people from Canada, US, UK, Ireland and Australia.. coming together to teach English to a group of Spaniards who're already at an intermediate level of learning English. I would've been the most under-qualified person there, most people haven finished a university degree or two, and there I was.. a college drop-out socialising with professors and academics of all sorts.
The 8 days in Cazorla were some of the best days I've had so far this year, I learnt how confusing the English language is and how many stupid sayings we have (the last straw.. for example), learnt a little about myself, a lot about the Spanish; their cultures and languages. I made friends with people I will befor the people I met keeping in contact for a long time to come, hopefully some I will be able to see again!
I find it hard to some up my experience as a whole, each day brought new experiences, each night brought new experiences. The copious amounts of wine at lunch and dinner was an experience in itself, who knows how much Euro I saved from mostly drinking this wine instead of buying drinks at the bar!
I recommend this Pueblo Ingles program to anyone and everyone, if you'd like more information just ask me. There's more places you can go to teach, I'm already thinking about going to teach in Pals which is just North of Barcelona, sometime next year.. partially so I can see some of my Spanish friends who live in or around Barcelona and Madrid. That also gives me good reason(s) to finally learn some Spanish. I already know how to order a coffee on ice, but that's deffs not enough to get me by!!!
The 8 days in Cazorla were some of the best days I've had so far this year, I learnt how confusing the English language is and how many stupid sayings we have (the last straw.. for example), learnt a little about myself, a lot about the Spanish; their cultures and languages. I made friends with people I will befor the people I met keeping in contact for a long time to come, hopefully some I will be able to see again!
I find it hard to some up my experience as a whole, each day brought new experiences, each night brought new experiences. The copious amounts of wine at lunch and dinner was an experience in itself, who knows how much Euro I saved from mostly drinking this wine instead of buying drinks at the bar!
I recommend this Pueblo Ingles program to anyone and everyone, if you'd like more information just ask me. There's more places you can go to teach, I'm already thinking about going to teach in Pals which is just North of Barcelona, sometime next year.. partially so I can see some of my Spanish friends who live in or around Barcelona and Madrid. That also gives me good reason(s) to finally learn some Spanish. I already know how to order a coffee on ice, but that's deffs not enough to get me by!!!
Monday, 21 July 2008
Cazorla
Cazorla (ka-thor-la) is a small town in the South of Spain, below Madrid.. but not quite at the Mediterranean. For those who don't know.. I'm teaching English here for a week, it's volunteer work which means I don't get paid, but I'm put up in a villa with free food and lots of free Spanish young wine. I have the best views from my bedroom. For example, and this is the truth, from my bathroom I can be showering whilst looking out of the bathroom window, looking towards the horizon and all I can see are Olive groves... as far as the eye can see!!
Behind me would be some big hills, and on the opposite side is a famous National Park. The moon rises from behind these hills, the past few days it has been a full moon too.. so it lights up with sky, but then you get the silhouette of the hills! It's great! There's also a castle here within view of.. where I'm teaching. It isn't just me here, there's a bunch of people teaching English, people form Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and America.
This has to be the best way to experience Spain; going to a town off the tourist trail and experiencing a side of Spain most people never have the chance to see. I've become friends with many of the Spaniards here, a few of them are very high up in their respected industries.. yesterday I had a 1-on-1 with a man who works as an engineer within Nuclear Power Plants/stations, there's another bloke.. Javier, who is a Health Inspector.. so if someone complains about a doctor.. Javier will go and sort out the problems. I'm learning a great deal about the Spanish, Spanish culture.. and of course myself. Something this program does to people is it makes them reassess their lives, opens up our eyes and can literally change lives. That's not taking things over the top, this is an amazing program.
I have plenty more to talk about so I'll leave that for another time, keep looking back for updates!!
Adios.
Behind me would be some big hills, and on the opposite side is a famous National Park. The moon rises from behind these hills, the past few days it has been a full moon too.. so it lights up with sky, but then you get the silhouette of the hills! It's great! There's also a castle here within view of.. where I'm teaching. It isn't just me here, there's a bunch of people teaching English, people form Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and America.
This has to be the best way to experience Spain; going to a town off the tourist trail and experiencing a side of Spain most people never have the chance to see. I've become friends with many of the Spaniards here, a few of them are very high up in their respected industries.. yesterday I had a 1-on-1 with a man who works as an engineer within Nuclear Power Plants/stations, there's another bloke.. Javier, who is a Health Inspector.. so if someone complains about a doctor.. Javier will go and sort out the problems. I'm learning a great deal about the Spanish, Spanish culture.. and of course myself. Something this program does to people is it makes them reassess their lives, opens up our eyes and can literally change lives. That's not taking things over the top, this is an amazing program.
I have plenty more to talk about so I'll leave that for another time, keep looking back for updates!!
Adios.
Madrid
I once thought Adelaide was slow-paced and relaxed but I think I might have to change my mind about that! Madrid is wonderful, peaceful and... just awesome. It's not as much a tourist destination like some fancier Spanish areas (San Sebastian for example) but is still very good. Spanish coffee is the best I've ever had, I can order a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) for 1.20 euro's.. which is cheap, especially for such a great coffee!
I actually did quite a bit in my 3 days here, whilst I have a journal with information on everything Robert and I got up to, I wont bother touching on more than half of it. There are a lot of squares here... open areas, where people hang out and drink or eat, or both!.. mostly both. I enjoy this sort of thing and spent some time, even on my own, sitting in cafe's experiencing this part of the Spanish culture. Another facet i enjoy is the siesta break.. most if not everyone who works will have a siesta in the middle of the day.. which could go from 40 minutes to 2 hours. People seem to work longer hours but they do get a 2-hour break in the middle, some people sleep, some people hang out in plaza's/square's.. some people go swimming.
Madrid also has a good network of public transport, both overland buses and underground trains called the Metro, it's quite similar to London's tube system with 2 exceptions; the Metro isn't as old as the Tube, and instead of varying types of English.. everyone here is Spanish!
Some more things I saw/tasted.. Spanish wine, Sangria, Paella (which is not pronounced with the L's), chocolate con churos, proper pizza + pasta, spanish beer, coffee's and pastries.
In short, Madrid is wonderful and I want to see the rest of Spain, I also want to learn Spanish once again so hopefully I can get some lessons sometime, somewhere!
I actually did quite a bit in my 3 days here, whilst I have a journal with information on everything Robert and I got up to, I wont bother touching on more than half of it. There are a lot of squares here... open areas, where people hang out and drink or eat, or both!.. mostly both. I enjoy this sort of thing and spent some time, even on my own, sitting in cafe's experiencing this part of the Spanish culture. Another facet i enjoy is the siesta break.. most if not everyone who works will have a siesta in the middle of the day.. which could go from 40 minutes to 2 hours. People seem to work longer hours but they do get a 2-hour break in the middle, some people sleep, some people hang out in plaza's/square's.. some people go swimming.
Madrid also has a good network of public transport, both overland buses and underground trains called the Metro, it's quite similar to London's tube system with 2 exceptions; the Metro isn't as old as the Tube, and instead of varying types of English.. everyone here is Spanish!
Some more things I saw/tasted.. Spanish wine, Sangria, Paella (which is not pronounced with the L's), chocolate con churos, proper pizza + pasta, spanish beer, coffee's and pastries.
In short, Madrid is wonderful and I want to see the rest of Spain, I also want to learn Spanish once again so hopefully I can get some lessons sometime, somewhere!
London
My last post for London right now. So I've mentioned that a couple of my friends are overseas right now as well, and my last day in London, which was Monda the 14th, was spent with friends Ben and Kara.. and obviously Robert. I hadn't seen Kara since May when i was fortunate enough to accidentally bump into her at Adelaide Airport when she was leaving for the UK.. so was good to catch up again.
One of the best things we did today was chill out in Regent Park, it would be similar to the East Terrace parklands in Adelaide.. except much nicer, more flower beds and fountains.. and squirrels!! We spent some time gawking at a particular couple who were asleep and had a squirrel running all around them and sometimes climbing onto their legs! Oh yeah Ben took photographs.. and he looked like a massive perv!! haha.
I finally got around to buying a UK sim card for my mobile phone, but in order to use the sim I had to get my phone unlocked, most people who can unlock phones are all indian/paki and rip people off, most of these people said they could unlock my phone in 2 hours and it'd cost 25quid, this was shit as Robert got his phone unlocked in 15 minutes only 2 years ago. As luck would have it we found a shop which could unlock my phone in 15 minutes.. but still charged me 25quid.. i couldn't argue, i wouldn't have anyway, so just accepted it and tryed to forget about it. Everything ended well, I bought a sim with O2.. one perk is free texts to any UK number within the UK!
One of the best things we did today was chill out in Regent Park, it would be similar to the East Terrace parklands in Adelaide.. except much nicer, more flower beds and fountains.. and squirrels!! We spent some time gawking at a particular couple who were asleep and had a squirrel running all around them and sometimes climbing onto their legs! Oh yeah Ben took photographs.. and he looked like a massive perv!! haha.
I finally got around to buying a UK sim card for my mobile phone, but in order to use the sim I had to get my phone unlocked, most people who can unlock phones are all indian/paki and rip people off, most of these people said they could unlock my phone in 2 hours and it'd cost 25quid, this was shit as Robert got his phone unlocked in 15 minutes only 2 years ago. As luck would have it we found a shop which could unlock my phone in 15 minutes.. but still charged me 25quid.. i couldn't argue, i wouldn't have anyway, so just accepted it and tryed to forget about it. Everything ended well, I bought a sim with O2.. one perk is free texts to any UK number within the UK!
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Tower Of London, Tower Bridge
By now we had relocated to a much nicer hostel with a great location.. literally 20 seconds or so walk from Piccadilly Circus! This was great as we were now central to London, made the most of this with an early start to our Sunday in London and went to the Tower Bridge, having lunch on some grass nearby, then crossing the bridge, and then making our way to the Tower of London.. this VERY old structure everyone should see!
A Beefeater a large group (which we were apart of) on a tour of the Tower, he was pretty funny and involved the crowd at times, was a great story-teller as well. It's not easy trying to explain how cool this place is, I could go on and on about its history but until someone sees it.. what I type are just words on a screen, to be here is just something else. Maybe do a wikipedia.org search and you'll learn much more than I could tell you in a couple of paragraphs.
After the Tower of London Robert took me to this almost secret pub, hidden down some backstreets in a part of London I can't even remember. The pub is called the Lamb and Flag and is around 150 years older than Australia as a country! Crazy hey! Almost everything there is original, the floorboards are even slanted and on different angles to each other, probably just by so many people walking over them in the course of time, I presume. We had some proper English ale.. the type silly Australians complain about saying "they drink warm beer over there!" Turns out it's not warm, it's below room temp, and in a cold climate.. why would you want an ice cold beer?!
Rob and I ventured out to China Town for dinner which was alright, the portion of food here is much smaller than it is back home, and way smaller than the asian food I had in Thailand. I still find this strange, but didn't let it get to me, it was nice food however.
Pretty sure we went out tonight to a place called O'Niels, apparently it's really good on Saturday nights but was a bit average tonight, and due to being etremely tired I called it a night after 1 beer and finally had a bit of an early night (11pm) back at the hostel, excited for what was to happen on Monday!
A Beefeater a large group (which we were apart of) on a tour of the Tower, he was pretty funny and involved the crowd at times, was a great story-teller as well. It's not easy trying to explain how cool this place is, I could go on and on about its history but until someone sees it.. what I type are just words on a screen, to be here is just something else. Maybe do a wikipedia.org search and you'll learn much more than I could tell you in a couple of paragraphs.
After the Tower of London Robert took me to this almost secret pub, hidden down some backstreets in a part of London I can't even remember. The pub is called the Lamb and Flag and is around 150 years older than Australia as a country! Crazy hey! Almost everything there is original, the floorboards are even slanted and on different angles to each other, probably just by so many people walking over them in the course of time, I presume. We had some proper English ale.. the type silly Australians complain about saying "they drink warm beer over there!" Turns out it's not warm, it's below room temp, and in a cold climate.. why would you want an ice cold beer?!
Rob and I ventured out to China Town for dinner which was alright, the portion of food here is much smaller than it is back home, and way smaller than the asian food I had in Thailand. I still find this strange, but didn't let it get to me, it was nice food however.
Pretty sure we went out tonight to a place called O'Niels, apparently it's really good on Saturday nights but was a bit average tonight, and due to being etremely tired I called it a night after 1 beer and finally had a bit of an early night (11pm) back at the hostel, excited for what was to happen on Monday!
Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye etc.
Today was a good day, the first stop was at Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, seeing these 2 places up close was pretty amazing, so I celebrated with a muffin from Tesco's and walked in the opposite direction towards the London Eye, this is a HUGE ferris wheel and is pretty stunning when you see it up close, if it were cheap to go on then i'd do it. While walking around we passed through Waterloo Station which was some fun, you could catch a train there and go to the centre of Paris in a matter of hours!
Next was the unimpressive Tate Modern, strange that i'm into art but didn't enjoy this place.. suuuure it's HUGE but the quality of work is low, although not understanding most of the exhibits had something to do with this. So I left there impressed with the size of the building but unimpressed with the work on show, and we made our way over the Millenium Bridge and to Saint Peters Cathedral whch was pretty cool, and old.. like all of London really!
We squeezed all of that in before lunch-time, which is when Robert and I met up with long-time school friend Ben, in Piccadilly Circus. This was really cool as the last time we were all together was at a pub back in Adelaide, and talking about our up-coming trips! Eventually we made our way to Hyde park to drink some beers and relax, which we did pretty well!
Ben had to leave to go to his sister's place in Fulham, so Robert and I met up with one of Robert's friends, Josh, and had dinner at some pub in Hammersmith, the meal was really nice.. a burger and chips + salad for close to 4quid! (beats subway anyday). Later in the night we made our way to Soho for a bit of a night out on the town but since I forgot to being my ID card we couldn't do much, and left just as soon as we got there!
Next was the unimpressive Tate Modern, strange that i'm into art but didn't enjoy this place.. suuuure it's HUGE but the quality of work is low, although not understanding most of the exhibits had something to do with this. So I left there impressed with the size of the building but unimpressed with the work on show, and we made our way over the Millenium Bridge and to Saint Peters Cathedral whch was pretty cool, and old.. like all of London really!
We squeezed all of that in before lunch-time, which is when Robert and I met up with long-time school friend Ben, in Piccadilly Circus. This was really cool as the last time we were all together was at a pub back in Adelaide, and talking about our up-coming trips! Eventually we made our way to Hyde park to drink some beers and relax, which we did pretty well!
Ben had to leave to go to his sister's place in Fulham, so Robert and I met up with one of Robert's friends, Josh, and had dinner at some pub in Hammersmith, the meal was really nice.. a burger and chips + salad for close to 4quid! (beats subway anyday). Later in the night we made our way to Soho for a bit of a night out on the town but since I forgot to being my ID card we couldn't do much, and left just as soon as we got there!
London
So before I go on about London I have to mention something that happened at LAX; Robert and I were waiting to check in with Air New Zealand when a bunch of religious finatics (catholics we assume) began singing and playing the tambourine, we were very glad that we weren't on their flight to Sydney!
I can't be bothered going back to update something from mid last week so i'll just ramble on about London, London's great, I was excited for a change of scenery as well and the colder English climate tickled m fancy, turns out that my first day there was quite warm.. maybe 19-degrees celcius, though did rain briefly. Robert and I stayed at this hostel in an area called Bayswater.. a nice place really. Out hostel was a big crummy, breakfast was below mediocre and the place could've done with some general maintenance.
We got lost 2 times trying to find the hostel which wasn't a good start, especially considering when Robert has the pocket-sized A-Z street guide of London, but we found the place eventually and that's all that matters now. Our dorm had a balcony which was pretty cool, we sat out there for a bit and ended up doing some drinking there too.
I can't be bothered going back to update something from mid last week so i'll just ramble on about London, London's great, I was excited for a change of scenery as well and the colder English climate tickled m fancy, turns out that my first day there was quite warm.. maybe 19-degrees celcius, though did rain briefly. Robert and I stayed at this hostel in an area called Bayswater.. a nice place really. Out hostel was a big crummy, breakfast was below mediocre and the place could've done with some general maintenance.
We got lost 2 times trying to find the hostel which wasn't a good start, especially considering when Robert has the pocket-sized A-Z street guide of London, but we found the place eventually and that's all that matters now. Our dorm had a balcony which was pretty cool, we sat out there for a bit and ended up doing some drinking there too.
Friday, 11 July 2008
Quick update - London
I still have a couple of posts to do on Santa Monica, but I'm in London now, it's my first day here and am really enjoying it so far, have already been on the tube numerous times, sussed out Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street and stuff.. i saw Big Ben from a distance!
No idea if i'll have time to update this in my 4 days here, maybe i will.. if not then i'll try to when i'm in Madrid for 3 days next week. The week from the 18th July i'll be in a small town South of Madrid teaching English and won't have internet access.
Peace always!
No idea if i'll have time to update this in my 4 days here, maybe i will.. if not then i'll try to when i'm in Madrid for 3 days next week. The week from the 18th July i'll be in a small town South of Madrid teaching English and won't have internet access.
Peace always!
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Santa Monica, Hollywood, Venice
This place is amazing, so relaxing and easy-going, it's similar to the Gold Coast.. but better, SO much better. There aren't high-rising buildings which is great, there's a 3-block promenade similar to Surfers Paradise's Caville Mall.. but the one here is still better.. part of that has to do with being in California. 1 block away is the well famous Santa Monica pier which has a roller coaster, ferris wheel and other rides and games on it. Crazy how this massive pier is able to support so much on top of it.. and not sink in the sand!
Our first day here consisted of roaming around and just sussing things out, didn't really do much today that I can remember.
Our second day started with one of those popular tours to movie stars homes, hollywood and some other stuff. This was alright, and by alright I mean really average, how lame can you be to gawk over movie star's houses? Truth is a lot of people do this and record everything on their video cameras. I find it strange that people (especially tour-bus drivers) waste so much time of their life spent talking about lives of movie stars, just baffles me! So this first section didn't interest Robert and I and we were quite bored.
Rodeo Drive was next and this area is average, just upper-class shit, expensive shops and places to eat. Robert and I had lunch here though which was a bad decision as the next stop had a nice shopping area with a Farmers Market.. had cheaper and better food.. oh well! Next was Hollywood and the Hollywood sign.. we saw it from a large distance and much thanks to LA's smog.. the sign was hardly visible, nevertheless the view from our lookout was really nice. We also went to the main boulevard with the stars in the concrete and all of that jazz, once again not something I particularly cared about but was worth seeing... i guess?!
The main good aspect of the tour was being able to be driven around for 4-5 hours in a comfy bus and having many sights packed into this small tour. Robert and I were thinking of going to some of these places on our own, which would've taken ages!!
Later in the afternoon we hired old fashion bicycles and cycled down to Venice, all the way along the boardwalk area on the beach! This was so amazing, being there cycling along a famous beach (which is nice, as well as famous) was just something else.
Our first day here consisted of roaming around and just sussing things out, didn't really do much today that I can remember.
Our second day started with one of those popular tours to movie stars homes, hollywood and some other stuff. This was alright, and by alright I mean really average, how lame can you be to gawk over movie star's houses? Truth is a lot of people do this and record everything on their video cameras. I find it strange that people (especially tour-bus drivers) waste so much time of their life spent talking about lives of movie stars, just baffles me! So this first section didn't interest Robert and I and we were quite bored.
Rodeo Drive was next and this area is average, just upper-class shit, expensive shops and places to eat. Robert and I had lunch here though which was a bad decision as the next stop had a nice shopping area with a Farmers Market.. had cheaper and better food.. oh well! Next was Hollywood and the Hollywood sign.. we saw it from a large distance and much thanks to LA's smog.. the sign was hardly visible, nevertheless the view from our lookout was really nice. We also went to the main boulevard with the stars in the concrete and all of that jazz, once again not something I particularly cared about but was worth seeing... i guess?!
The main good aspect of the tour was being able to be driven around for 4-5 hours in a comfy bus and having many sights packed into this small tour. Robert and I were thinking of going to some of these places on our own, which would've taken ages!!
Later in the afternoon we hired old fashion bicycles and cycled down to Venice, all the way along the boardwalk area on the beach! This was so amazing, being there cycling along a famous beach (which is nice, as well as famous) was just something else.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Haight/Ashbury
Does Haight/Ashbury ring a bell to anyone? Well apparently it's where the whole Hippie movement began.. although you wouldn't think that if you hadn't previously been told. With such a fruity history you'd think this area is just amazing, but it isn't.. it has nothing on Byron Bay (if you didn't know, i used to live there for 6 months). Despite that, it's a nice little area and its main street is Haight Street, strangely enough. This street is packed with good shops, selling shit from second hand gear to brand spankin' new gear... I ended up buying some white shoe laces. We also had some really nice burritos for lunch at some Mexican corner store.. not as good as Burp Burrito back in Adelaide but at least here you get authentic Mexicans serving you Mexican food.
Oh yeah, Haight is right next to the Golden Gate Park! We went there as well, being my second time there, I knew exactly where to roam. Robert and I passed an open air Salsa dance class.. anyone walking past could join in for free. Seriously, it looked really cool and fun, people were joining in with no shame.. and no Robert and I didn't dance.. though we did joke about giving it a shot haha. We ended up in the Japanese Tea garden, sure it has nothing on the real-deal in Japan but it was still quite nice and relaxing.
From the GGP we obviously went to Haight, then back into downtown San Francisco to the main shopping district that is Market Street. We ended up in Union Square again which was great, I was laying under a tree on some grass writing in my journal while Robert was over checking out the HUGE Macy's department store. They have 3 HUGE stores, one of children, one for women and a small one for men! I hung out in the main sitting/open area of Union Square and when Robert came back from Macy's he commented on how I looked like a local just sitting there relaxing! We decided for a better view of the square and went to the rooftop decking of Macy's, there's a restaurant up there as well. The view was well nice, there was a flat open section with tall buildings on every side just leaning in on it.
This was our last day in San Francisco and it ended up being very nice, the first 2 days we didn't do much but then packed in a lot in the last 2 days. We were to catch a Greyhound coach bus from here to LA.. as of writing this I'm now in LA.. in Santa Monica, so I can comment on the bus.. it was crap, the floor was sticky and there was food scattered all around, the chairs were average, and we ended up being dropped off at some totally shit bus depot in a shit area in downtown LA. I'm glad to have chosen a bus over a plane.. the experience was good.. now I know how bad buses can be haha, it's my own fault anyway for wanting to take a bus.
Entrance to the Golden Gate Park.
Free swing-dance lessons.. no I didn't do it :-)
Japanese Tea Garden, GGP.
Burrito and corn chips for lunch in Haight.
Union Square, San Francisco.
Oh yeah, Haight is right next to the Golden Gate Park! We went there as well, being my second time there, I knew exactly where to roam. Robert and I passed an open air Salsa dance class.. anyone walking past could join in for free. Seriously, it looked really cool and fun, people were joining in with no shame.. and no Robert and I didn't dance.. though we did joke about giving it a shot haha. We ended up in the Japanese Tea garden, sure it has nothing on the real-deal in Japan but it was still quite nice and relaxing.
From the GGP we obviously went to Haight, then back into downtown San Francisco to the main shopping district that is Market Street. We ended up in Union Square again which was great, I was laying under a tree on some grass writing in my journal while Robert was over checking out the HUGE Macy's department store. They have 3 HUGE stores, one of children, one for women and a small one for men! I hung out in the main sitting/open area of Union Square and when Robert came back from Macy's he commented on how I looked like a local just sitting there relaxing! We decided for a better view of the square and went to the rooftop decking of Macy's, there's a restaurant up there as well. The view was well nice, there was a flat open section with tall buildings on every side just leaning in on it.
This was our last day in San Francisco and it ended up being very nice, the first 2 days we didn't do much but then packed in a lot in the last 2 days. We were to catch a Greyhound coach bus from here to LA.. as of writing this I'm now in LA.. in Santa Monica, so I can comment on the bus.. it was crap, the floor was sticky and there was food scattered all around, the chairs were average, and we ended up being dropped off at some totally shit bus depot in a shit area in downtown LA. I'm glad to have chosen a bus over a plane.. the experience was good.. now I know how bad buses can be haha, it's my own fault anyway for wanting to take a bus.
Entrance to the Golden Gate Park.Free swing-dance lessons.. no I didn't do it :-)Japanese Tea Garden, GGP.Burrito and corn chips for lunch in Haight.Union Square, San Francisco.Golden Gate Bridge
Saturday 5-7-08
The day we finally chose to cycle across the world famous Golden Gate Bridge ended up to be the best day we had in San Fran! We considered ourselves quite lucky to have had the bridge in full view as for the days leading up to today.. the bridge was blanketed in fog. The cloud lifted soon as we approached the bridge, so had some brilliant photo opportunities there. Once on the bridge though.. the fun really began!
I'll try to explain the size of the bridge; it looks massive from afar and looks massive from up-close. It really is an impressive structure and I'm baffled at how it was created SO long ago.. incredible. We were having such a good time that we ended up getting sun-burnt, I was worse off with lovely pink forearms which (now 4 days later) are still pinkish. Also, I taunted a little boy who was also cycling over the bridge, I rode up right behind him and ringing the bike's bell frantically.. he shit himself and peddled off real quickly!! Once over the bridge you have the chance to drive/walk up to this lookout which is roughly at the same height as the highest part of the GGB.. this was crazy.. we could see the clouds rolling into the bay and over the bridge, in fact we were IN the clouds at times! It was very windy and quite cool.
From here on we cycled to a little fishing village called Sausalito, a beautiful little town with some wikid nice cottages and views of San Francisco.. which is pretty much directly opposite it over the bay. I could imagine living here.. if I had my dream job here that would be nuts.. and if you want to goto San Fran you could just catch a ferry there.. which is what we ended up doing. We had lunch in a little cafe which was pretty cool.
Waiting for the ferry was pretty relaxing, everyone who was riding bikes just let them stand in line and everyone would walk off... then come back in time to catch the ferry. Robert and I did this too, bought some iced tea and chilled out by the water's edge. The ferry ride back to SF was nice, and once off the ferry we had to ride along the bay to drop the bikes back off at the bike rental stall.
So you can understand just how much of a good day this was, every other day was foggy, even in the CBD. Clouds were out in force from the morning with only a small break in the afternoon.. and back out again in the late afternoon, so having an almost cloudless 3-5 hour period was just awesome.
There it is!!
Leaning on the Golden Gate Bridge.
View from the hill on the opposite side of the bridge.
Relaxing in Sausalito after hours of riding.
The day we finally chose to cycle across the world famous Golden Gate Bridge ended up to be the best day we had in San Fran! We considered ourselves quite lucky to have had the bridge in full view as for the days leading up to today.. the bridge was blanketed in fog. The cloud lifted soon as we approached the bridge, so had some brilliant photo opportunities there. Once on the bridge though.. the fun really began!
I'll try to explain the size of the bridge; it looks massive from afar and looks massive from up-close. It really is an impressive structure and I'm baffled at how it was created SO long ago.. incredible. We were having such a good time that we ended up getting sun-burnt, I was worse off with lovely pink forearms which (now 4 days later) are still pinkish. Also, I taunted a little boy who was also cycling over the bridge, I rode up right behind him and ringing the bike's bell frantically.. he shit himself and peddled off real quickly!! Once over the bridge you have the chance to drive/walk up to this lookout which is roughly at the same height as the highest part of the GGB.. this was crazy.. we could see the clouds rolling into the bay and over the bridge, in fact we were IN the clouds at times! It was very windy and quite cool.
From here on we cycled to a little fishing village called Sausalito, a beautiful little town with some wikid nice cottages and views of San Francisco.. which is pretty much directly opposite it over the bay. I could imagine living here.. if I had my dream job here that would be nuts.. and if you want to goto San Fran you could just catch a ferry there.. which is what we ended up doing. We had lunch in a little cafe which was pretty cool.
Waiting for the ferry was pretty relaxing, everyone who was riding bikes just let them stand in line and everyone would walk off... then come back in time to catch the ferry. Robert and I did this too, bought some iced tea and chilled out by the water's edge. The ferry ride back to SF was nice, and once off the ferry we had to ride along the bay to drop the bikes back off at the bike rental stall.
So you can understand just how much of a good day this was, every other day was foggy, even in the CBD. Clouds were out in force from the morning with only a small break in the afternoon.. and back out again in the late afternoon, so having an almost cloudless 3-5 hour period was just awesome.
There it is!!Leaning on the Golden Gate Bridge.View from the hill on the opposite side of the bridge.Relaxing in Sausalito after hours of riding.Saturday, 5 July 2008
Independence Day
Today wasn't as crazy as I expected, there weren't idiots running around doing dumb shit, people were like the were on any other day. My day began with another morning stroll down the the bay to write in my journal, heading back to the hostel shortly after and then leaving once again, but this time to Golden Gate Park. I was going with a Danish couple who were interested in checking out some museums, the first one we went to was based on comic book art.. but was closed!! So we caught the metro to GGP.
The park was fairly blanketed in fog which was pretty typical by now, but really cool (literally) as being inside a cloud is sort of wet and cooling. The park is huge and I only covered a small area, there's a lot of plants and grass and flower beds.. and joggers! SO many joggers. We bought discounted tickets for this 9th floor observatory town with amazing views, once again.. the fog was an issue, so my view stopped after 200m or so. Bu still that was cool, I then left the couple and made my way back downtown, had some taco's for lunch in the main shopping district along Market Street.. and then making my wa back to the hostel for the Independence Day rooftop BBQ!
The BBQ was SOOOO good, everything supplied for us, food, salad, bread, sauces! I had 2 vegetarian hotdogs and some salad, drank some Stella and hung out in the sun chatting and watching a fellow guest beatbox on his microphone. The hostel roof has a wooden decking so was lovely to be on, and had some nice views towards China Town. After lunch we walked to Market Street to check out the shops, there's some huge department stores here, they even have a Westfield which was really cool. Not spread out much.. it just goes up many floors. Union Square was alright.. nothing that fancy.. but a nice area to hang out in I guess. We went back to the hostel for dinner, back up on the rooftop again, and I had a nice home-style cooked hamburger.
Later on we were hanging out in the common room with 2 English lads, getting our drink on a little and only left the hostel around 9:10PM... knowing full well that the fireworks began at 9:30. Drinking the whole way to the wharf, we managed to get there just in time for the last 10 minutes of fireworks. Downside was the clouds were back over the bay so half of the fireworks could hardly be seen, just large bursts of colour really. We're not sure why but after the fireworks almost everyone left the wharf area, the cit really needs to capitalize on the crowds and somehow keep them down there to party longer, ultimately.. to spend more money and have fun. We actually left as well so can't really bag out the locals haha, and we ended up in an Irish pub we went to on the pub crawl.
These English guys have no shame, whatsoever, lucky they couldn't see themselves from someone else's point of view because 2 drunk English guys break-dancing in the middle of a pub is only half as cool as it sounds, but made for good laughs + conversation starters. I left a little after midnight, Rob stayed there for a bit longer and told me some funny stories of things that happened later on, like some random guy out the front of the pub who could do back-flips. This is a fascinating city, San Francisco.
Drinking Stella on hostel's rooftop
Rooftop BBQ
I love love
The park was fairly blanketed in fog which was pretty typical by now, but really cool (literally) as being inside a cloud is sort of wet and cooling. The park is huge and I only covered a small area, there's a lot of plants and grass and flower beds.. and joggers! SO many joggers. We bought discounted tickets for this 9th floor observatory town with amazing views, once again.. the fog was an issue, so my view stopped after 200m or so. Bu still that was cool, I then left the couple and made my way back downtown, had some taco's for lunch in the main shopping district along Market Street.. and then making my wa back to the hostel for the Independence Day rooftop BBQ!
The BBQ was SOOOO good, everything supplied for us, food, salad, bread, sauces! I had 2 vegetarian hotdogs and some salad, drank some Stella and hung out in the sun chatting and watching a fellow guest beatbox on his microphone. The hostel roof has a wooden decking so was lovely to be on, and had some nice views towards China Town. After lunch we walked to Market Street to check out the shops, there's some huge department stores here, they even have a Westfield which was really cool. Not spread out much.. it just goes up many floors. Union Square was alright.. nothing that fancy.. but a nice area to hang out in I guess. We went back to the hostel for dinner, back up on the rooftop again, and I had a nice home-style cooked hamburger.
Later on we were hanging out in the common room with 2 English lads, getting our drink on a little and only left the hostel around 9:10PM... knowing full well that the fireworks began at 9:30. Drinking the whole way to the wharf, we managed to get there just in time for the last 10 minutes of fireworks. Downside was the clouds were back over the bay so half of the fireworks could hardly be seen, just large bursts of colour really. We're not sure why but after the fireworks almost everyone left the wharf area, the cit really needs to capitalize on the crowds and somehow keep them down there to party longer, ultimately.. to spend more money and have fun. We actually left as well so can't really bag out the locals haha, and we ended up in an Irish pub we went to on the pub crawl.
These English guys have no shame, whatsoever, lucky they couldn't see themselves from someone else's point of view because 2 drunk English guys break-dancing in the middle of a pub is only half as cool as it sounds, but made for good laughs + conversation starters. I left a little after midnight, Rob stayed there for a bit longer and told me some funny stories of things that happened later on, like some random guy out the front of the pub who could do back-flips. This is a fascinating city, San Francisco.
Drinking Stella on hostel's rooftopRooftop BBQI love loveJuly 3rd
It's not easy knowing what to expect for July 4th, there seems to be some clouded hype about it for people outside the US, turns out that it's more of a family orientated public holiday, the real partying goes on the night before (though might not be the case everywhere). I started the day with a walk down to a bunch of piers, sat and had a coffee and wrote in my journal, finally making my way back to the Hostel where I caught up with Rob, and we went to a corner diner for some lunch.
The next few hours was spent wandering the streets, photographing many steep streets and admiring the cottages overlooking the bay area. We meandered through Fishermans Wharf again but this time it was very packed and the atmosphere was good. Lombard Street was next, it's the most windiest street in the world.. apparently. All I know is living there would be shit as your street would constantly be filled with tourists, if you were in a hurry you'd have to plan to leave your house at least 10 minutes early! Filbert Street is another steep one and with a funny name too :-)
We had a new girl in our dorm, Sheila, who is from Ireland.. and we took her to a local pub for happy hour, being Irish she was glad to come along. This pub was small and only sold local micro-brewery beers. There were 3 American guys about my age pissing on pretty hard, mirrored the cliche image of an American Jock from all of those football/teen movies. Funny guys, spent most of their time asking for high-5's from passerbyers.
We went out on a pub crawl that night with Sheila and her friend Jennifer, as their old hostel was doing a pub crawl. It was pretty fun.. getting cheap drinks and checking out some quaint bars, I think I left the group around midnight as I was (and as of writing this.. still am..) very tired from my flight here.
The next few hours was spent wandering the streets, photographing many steep streets and admiring the cottages overlooking the bay area. We meandered through Fishermans Wharf again but this time it was very packed and the atmosphere was good. Lombard Street was next, it's the most windiest street in the world.. apparently. All I know is living there would be shit as your street would constantly be filled with tourists, if you were in a hurry you'd have to plan to leave your house at least 10 minutes early! Filbert Street is another steep one and with a funny name too :-)
We had a new girl in our dorm, Sheila, who is from Ireland.. and we took her to a local pub for happy hour, being Irish she was glad to come along. This pub was small and only sold local micro-brewery beers. There were 3 American guys about my age pissing on pretty hard, mirrored the cliche image of an American Jock from all of those football/teen movies. Funny guys, spent most of their time asking for high-5's from passerbyers.
We went out on a pub crawl that night with Sheila and her friend Jennifer, as their old hostel was doing a pub crawl. It was pretty fun.. getting cheap drinks and checking out some quaint bars, I think I left the group around midnight as I was (and as of writing this.. still am..) very tired from my flight here.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
San Fran: Fisherman Wharf/Mission District
Today was Robert and my first full day in the city, started with a brisk 6am start thanks to the sun and noisey people in the dorms.. strange how the dorms dont have doors and the walls sectioning off each room don't reach the ceiling! Anyway, we went for a stroll in random directions, one of the first things to happen just near our hostel was some (possible gay guy) yelling out at us from across the street.. "HEY GUUUUYS" in a typical gay accent, it was hilarious; best start to the day!
The streets are fairly steep here which is fun, I think the steepest street is California St which has an incline of 31.5% or so. We found another street so steep that the footpaths were steps; just to make walking up/downhill that much easier. We loitered there for a good photo opportunity, then moved on towards the Wharf areas again. If i were to live here I'd want to stay in the North bay area, the houses here are marvelous and the views fairly incredible. I think the only downside is the large homeless population, but they tend to keep away from these nicer areas.
We sussed out the Mission District after lunch time, it's a mostly Latino area, I felt pretty uncomfortable there as most of the people looked sketchy as. I also took note on how people acted towards each other, there seems to be no sense of community, looks like the people who speak Spanish separate themselves from everyone else, and the latino/black/white people stay in their own groups. Though I could be wrong, but that's my observation. I noticed this most when in a little dingy supermarket similar to some in Adelaide's China Town, and some little negro lady and her son were wanting to buy something but couldn't get to the end of the line, so I let her in front of me, and although she was very thankful.. I could tell that the people behind me were rather unimpressed. It's not fair to pigeon-hole American society based on a couple of experiences, but I get a feeling that any largely populated city here is exactly the same as the next, and that the friendly people live in smaller towns.. maybe I should go to the towns? :)
After the mission district we hung out at the Hostel chillin with the Serbian girls who were sharing our dorm with us, they were really fun, one said I look like Justin Timberlake and thus led her to call me JT for the rest of her stay here haha. Rob and I ended up going to Fisherman's Wharf again, this time the fog had cleared and the place was busy, compared with this morning when the area was dead and cold (but that was at 7am). We ended up having a pint of Anchor Steam Beer (San Fran lager) at some pub at the wharf, was really nice, eventually making our way back through the Itaian district and to our hostel for beers and food. The beer here is cheap, especially the imports!! The rest of the night we chilled at the hostel, talking with Danes and a guy from Melbourne, eventually ending back in our dorm and out on the fire escape getting high on the outside fire-escape with a guy from the Philippines and a guy from El Salvador.
Am living by this quote right now, "everyday of my life's the best day of my life!".
Peace always.
Very steep hill photo opp.
Fisherman Wharf + busy crowd.
San Francisco Lager, very nice!!
The streets are fairly steep here which is fun, I think the steepest street is California St which has an incline of 31.5% or so. We found another street so steep that the footpaths were steps; just to make walking up/downhill that much easier. We loitered there for a good photo opportunity, then moved on towards the Wharf areas again. If i were to live here I'd want to stay in the North bay area, the houses here are marvelous and the views fairly incredible. I think the only downside is the large homeless population, but they tend to keep away from these nicer areas.
We sussed out the Mission District after lunch time, it's a mostly Latino area, I felt pretty uncomfortable there as most of the people looked sketchy as. I also took note on how people acted towards each other, there seems to be no sense of community, looks like the people who speak Spanish separate themselves from everyone else, and the latino/black/white people stay in their own groups. Though I could be wrong, but that's my observation. I noticed this most when in a little dingy supermarket similar to some in Adelaide's China Town, and some little negro lady and her son were wanting to buy something but couldn't get to the end of the line, so I let her in front of me, and although she was very thankful.. I could tell that the people behind me were rather unimpressed. It's not fair to pigeon-hole American society based on a couple of experiences, but I get a feeling that any largely populated city here is exactly the same as the next, and that the friendly people live in smaller towns.. maybe I should go to the towns? :)
After the mission district we hung out at the Hostel chillin with the Serbian girls who were sharing our dorm with us, they were really fun, one said I look like Justin Timberlake and thus led her to call me JT for the rest of her stay here haha. Rob and I ended up going to Fisherman's Wharf again, this time the fog had cleared and the place was busy, compared with this morning when the area was dead and cold (but that was at 7am). We ended up having a pint of Anchor Steam Beer (San Fran lager) at some pub at the wharf, was really nice, eventually making our way back through the Itaian district and to our hostel for beers and food. The beer here is cheap, especially the imports!! The rest of the night we chilled at the hostel, talking with Danes and a guy from Melbourne, eventually ending back in our dorm and out on the fire escape getting high on the outside fire-escape with a guy from the Philippines and a guy from El Salvador.
Am living by this quote right now, "everyday of my life's the best day of my life!".
Peace always.
Very steep hill photo opp.Fisherman Wharf + busy crowd.San Francisco Lager, very nice!!Tuesday, 1 July 2008
San Francisco
It's about 11:15pm here, am mega tired.. pretty much spent 27 hours getting here and had some amazing broken sleep, sucked hard.. i need to get one of those sweet travelling pillows. The stop in Auckland was alright, the airport is nothing special but the food they gave us on the plane was awesome, especially the NZ wine.. Montana.. very nice stuff!! I had 3 glasses :)
The transfer to San Fran was smooth, real nice flying in to the airport.. on my side of the plane was a lot of rivers and.. wetlands (i think), quite stunning really. Has been dark the entire time i've been here so am looking forwards to seeing the city in the daylight tomorrow.
Can't really say much more right now as I havn't done any cool stuff yet. Oh I must comment on Americans; they have the most goofy accent I've ever heard. My first encounter with one was on the plane from Adelaide > Auckland,
he asked me how i was and i replied fittingly, then asked him how he was and all i got in response was "yep". Though we have met some nice americans, one in particular helped us get a train ticket from the SF airport > CBD. I hope I don't meet too many negative ones.
The transfer to San Fran was smooth, real nice flying in to the airport.. on my side of the plane was a lot of rivers and.. wetlands (i think), quite stunning really. Has been dark the entire time i've been here so am looking forwards to seeing the city in the daylight tomorrow.
Can't really say much more right now as I havn't done any cool stuff yet. Oh I must comment on Americans; they have the most goofy accent I've ever heard. My first encounter with one was on the plane from Adelaide > Auckland,
he asked me how i was and i replied fittingly, then asked him how he was and all i got in response was "yep". Though we have met some nice americans, one in particular helped us get a train ticket from the SF airport > CBD. I hope I don't meet too many negative ones.
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