Fake Tales Of San Fransisco

So, the second half of the week has been spent in the city of San Fransisco itself.....

I love it here!!

The sun has shined all week, the people are so relaxed, and there are hills..!!! It was only on arriving here that I realised how flat the East Coast actually is... Spending three years at Uni in Bristol I thought I was prepared for a city built on hills - but this is quite something! After 5 days of walking around I have thighs of steel!

The city itself feels so different to all the other US cities I've visited so far, and definately very un-American. Which is great. There are huge numbers of harmless crazy and homeless people, I'm told they all moved out here when they cleaned up Times Square and New York about 15 years ago. There's a real eclectic mix of people, and it makes for a really exciting city, with a number of different neighbourhoods. Anne joined me for the weekend here, and we've done a lot of just walking about, soaking up the city.

Yesterday we biked a 16 mile round trip around the bay, across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito for lunch and ice cream, and back to the city. It was a gorgeous day - and helped tone those thighs even more! I almost made it up all the hills, only getting off to walk once or twice!

San Fransisco has a reputation for being quite the party town, although I kept being told it's nothing compared to the hippy heyday of the 60's.....I think it would have been an incredibly exciting place to be back then. I think the city has certainly lived up to it's reputation, and I've had a few of the most fun, insane and wild nights out I can remember having in a long time....(how many Halloween drag queens dressed as Sarah Palin is it possible to see in one night!?)

Tonight, I finally move on down the coast to Santa Brabara to sit on a beach and do nothing for a few days. After all the hills and nights out, I am looking forward to relaxing and doing absolutly nothing....!

Yosemite National Park

A quick update on what I've been up to....

I spent the first half of this week on a hiking trip in Yosemite National Park. After spending the last month and a half in cities, I was totally ready to be in the country for a while..

I was picked up from the hostel early, however as I boarded the bus - my first thought was - they are all old! (I mean like in their 60's...) The guide book had promised me this was a tour for young people!! Soon however a few more young-un's were picked up, (a Ducth, a Kiwi...not sure what the punchline is..!?), we stuck together, and the oldies turned out to be not bad company after all..... It was a 2 1/2 hour drive out from San Fransisco to the park, and the scenery gets progressively more exciting the further inland you go.

Yosemite Valley itself is just truly stunning - there's just nothing like I've ever seen before. The sheer scale and size of the park itself, and the mountains is unrivalled by anything in Europe I have experienced before. It's difficult to put into words really, so I'm not going to try - but will post some photo's as soon as I can. The perefect place to practise my slowly advancing photography skills, and watch yet again, some truly glorious sunsets...(how many travel cliches in one paragraph!??)

On the second day we hiked to the top of Taft point, a stunning viewpoint of the entire valley, about 7300 feet above sea level (even some of the oldies made it!) that offered some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. Again - will try and post some pictures as soon as I can!

After a good couple of days of walking (could have done more, and would love to go back and do some more exploring and further hiking) I treated myself to an an evening of the spa and sauna at the hostel, which was brilliantly relaxing and the perefect way to end a really great trip.

51 Hours On A Bus...?!?!?!?!?

What was I thinking!???

It'll be great, I'll get to meet loads of interesting people, see so much of the country by land, it's ridiculously cheap, and it's not as if I'm in a rush...besides, what could be more romantic an imagine than taking a bus 'out west' as the sun sets....??

....at 2.30am in Salt Lake City, after two nights of no sleep, with my curly Jew/Welsh-fro all greased up, more hair on my face than I'd care to describe and feet that smelt like 5 day old cabbage, the image couldn't have been further removed from what I had in mind. As a group of early morning Mormon's tried to convert me I could do nothing but smile....it may sound naff, but it is insane moments like these that make travelling all the more perfect.

And you know what? The trip could well have been the most fun I've had since being away (well not quite, but almost). I did indeed meet some brilliant people, who I hope to keep in touch with, also met some of the strangest people I've ever met in my life, read two books, witnessed two fights, one abandonmnet (I hope that poor old man got picked up!), driven through about 6 states of the USA, stopped in 7 major cities, seen the landscape change from cornfields (yes, it really is as high as an elephant's eye..), to mountains, and to the Pacific ocean, I have seen two of the most glorious sunsets, and wonderful sunrises ever......

.....and I made it to the west coast, and San Francisco in one piece....

As I arrived at the hostel this afternoon I may have smelt like something terrible had died in my underpants, but at that moment I couldn't care less; I've crossed a contintent by land and feel like Michael Palin.....

Rich
xxx

And All That Jazz...

A week in Chicago!

I did try to refrain from singing too many musical theatre songs...

So Josh was another American that I Drove Helicopter Style with this Summer, and him bieng the recipient of the Zoolander award and all, how could I not pay him a visit. Problem 1; he was on tour with the Latino dance company he lighting designs for when I was due to arrive...however therein comes solution 1; his amazing, awesome and wonderful housemate Drew and friends who put me up, and showed me round the city last weekend while he wasn't there. Had a brilliant time, and was quite upset that Josh came back to ruin it all....! Did all the very touristy stuff, (the bean is a highlight to entertain even the most sceptical of tourist..) in the freakishly warm October weather. To be shown the sights by a local was a real treat. In the evening another of Josh's friends Chelsea, who is a designer/prop maker arranged free tickets for a performance of Eurydice, which was really wonderful. The evning beckoned and we sampled the Chicago nightlife......more stories to tell in private should you wish to know.....my Mother does read this blog after all.....

Josh and his girlfriend Kay arrived back on Sunday night, and we spent the evening sitting outside in the warm, reminding ourselevs of the crazy summer we spent in Edinburgh. Again, I've not even known Josh 6 months, but it felt so good and natural to catch up, and he and all his friends have been so welcoming.

Monday night football was a highlight, although Josh, I must profess to still not having a clue as to what the hell was going on....

Tuesday was a visit to the Art Institue...and I fulfilled an ambition of seeing for real the Georges Seurat painitng that inspired Sunday In The Park With George (my favourite musical, for those who didn't know, and the basis for my 10,000 word final year dissertation....geeeek!!) Other highlights included sampling Chicago deep pan pizza (basically just a mozarella pie..mmmmm!!) and basking in the sun by Lake Michigan (whose size, as it happens, I still cannot get my head around...it's huuuuge).

So, on Thursday after an awesome week, I bounded on to another Greyhound bus, for perhaps the most surreal three days of my life...

Next installment to come soon....

Rich
xxx

A Flight Across Wisconsin

Just wanted to blog about my awesome day yesterday....

Michael, Annes Mums partner was going north of the state yesterday on buisness (his company does something to do with old buildings, and making sure they don't fall down!)

Having not flown in a small plane since I was about 14 - I did quite a lot of this in my formative teenage years having been an Air Scout until I was about 15 (tragic, i know!) - I jumped at the chance to join him. So up at the crack of dawn to a tiny airport, and into a small 4 seater plane as we flew for 3 hours on a crisp beautiful day right across Wisconsin. It was perfect! The land of the state os so flat that you can just see for miles, and miles. It of course helped that the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. Although winds were quite strong, and it was rather bumpy!

We stayed up there for a picnic lunch, and then flew back late afternoon, just in time to see the sunset before we landed.

This week has been really totally awesome. Wasn't even expecting to make it to the Mid-west, and to have been so looked after, and had so many cool experiences (whilst also catching up on lots of sleep!) has been brilliant. Anne and her family have made me feel so much at home, and hope I can repay the favour when Anne comes to London (which I hope will be sooner rather than later..!)

Rich

xxx

Livin' The American Dream

So.......a gorgeous Autumn day.....not a cloud in the sky, sun shining brightly, and just warm enough to be wearing a t-shirt........and I spend the afternoon riding along the shores of Lake Michigan on a Harley Davidson.....

Perfect!

Rich

xxxx

Washington DC, A Greyhound Bus Ride And An Edinburgh Reunion

I spent about 5 days in Washington DC - after after my week in NYC with Rach, it couldn't have been more different, but was probably just what I needed. The hostel I was staying in was relatively calm, but I did share my room with a comic Irish guy named Conner, and a succession of various Europeans - drinking with the Germans on the last couple of nights being a highlight.

DC is a pretty amazing city, if a little surreal. It was built for the sole purpose to hold the Government, and to be the capital city. So it's perfectly laid out and full of huge very grand buildings. On the plus side all the museums and art galleries (of which there are hundreds) are entirely free - a great place to be after you've spent a week in New York spending too much money! The weather was gorgeous, so I did a huge amount of walking - the National Mall is at the centre of the city, and holds monuments to many of the major wars, and presidents. The Vietnam Memorial is a very simple black wall carved into the ground with all the names of those who died on it, whilst I was there there was one woman in her 50's, who had never been before, and had found the name of her brother who had died in service age 19. It's become a tradition to take an engraving of the name from the wall, and was really quite moving to hear her talk to the park ranger about what she remembered of her brother.

I also visited Arlington, a mass grave site where many important figures from American military and politics are buried. A kinda strange morbid fascination, and it did indeed feel odd standing in front of JFK's grave with 20 other tourists, but I'm glad I've been.

Unfortunately the Museum of American History was shut so I didn't get to see Judy Garlands ruby slippers...but hey ho! You had to make an appointment at least 6 months in advance to go on a tour of the White House, but on the last day I did go into the Capitol Building, which again, was great to see, and really very interesting - although the American political system still goes over my head a little! The whole country is in the grip of election fever right now, and seems to be all anyone is talking about, so it was great to say I'd been in Washington at this exciting time...

So, then came my first long bus journey. All I can say is that Greyhound buses are my new favourite mode of transportation, simply for the people, the drivers, and pure comedy value! I felt like I was in a bizarre episode of an American version of Little Britain, and it was amazing! Some memorable quotes from the 22 hour journey to Milwaukee include...

• 'What the hell is that smell?!, What kind of person waits till they get on a bus to take to take a shit...?!' - after an old man had spent far too long in the toilet.
• 'The government have a new rule, you're not allowed to take any of your clothes off on the bus.' 'What, so I can't take my sweater off?' 'Ah Mam, I don't know, it's the government, not me - take it all off if you realy wanna'. The woman then began to sing a strip song as she took her sweater off.
• 'If you're too cold, or too hot.....tuff shit, you should have brought a coat'
• 'You're from London, that's waaaaay cool'. 

So I made it to the midwest...after 22 hours, lots of crazy people, and finally sobbing my way through the last couple of chapters of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Now, for those of you I haven't spoken to since leaving London in June you may be wondering what the hell I'm doing in Milwaukee....over the Summer in Edinburgh, through various circumstances I bonded with a group of quite amazing Americans (and a Canadian) over a shared love of travel and Driving Helicopter Style Three Quarters Of The Way To The Moon...long story! Anne and I also lived together for the summer, and became firm friends after discovering we were both total musical theatre geeks and stayed up until the early hours discussing our respective Stephen Sondheim dissertations.....tragic!

After only a month or so, it has been wonderful to see her again. Anne and her family have been perfect hosts, and I've had a truly wonderful time here so far. We spent the weekend at her Mum's partners cottage in the woods  - totally gorgeous, and went to see a Eugene O'Neil play on Saturday night at an open air theatre in the woods (Ann'e favourite place, for those Driving Helicopter Style people who remember those stories...).

On Sunday there was a huge baseball game, as the Milwaukee Brewers had got further into the play-offs than they had in 15 years or something. Had said from the start I really wanted to go to a baseball or American football game, and Anne's Dad had managed through his work to get amazing 5th row tickets, which he very kindly shared with us. It was so much fun, absolutely crazy - and probably the most 'American' thing I've done so far. They didn't win - which made me feel very much like I was at home watching a Welsh rugby international...

Anne is at work this week, so I'm taking it easy, doing my washing, catching up on emails and going for some long walks along the lake. Last night we went to a very cool bar called the SpyHouse which was slightly insane - you need a password to get in, and the place is filled with mad little spy holes, gadgets, and ways of looking at people in secret!

Wisconsin is famous for cheese, so I'm eating a lot of that too! Hooray!

On Friday we are going to Chicago for the weekend to catch up with another American from Edinburgh, and I'm still planning my next move after that....

Tonight is the second Presidential debate, which should be a lot fun...! I really am fascinated by American politics, it seems so much more exciting and flashy than anything back home, but I'm still not entirely sure what anyone actually stands for.....

Rich

xxx