LA - last stop

Los Angeles

LA was a whirlwind stop on the way home to avoid a very long stop over at LA airport from San Francisco. We have been here 3 whole days and are at this moment packing to get ready to catch the plane for the long trip home tonight at 10.30pm.
We leave here 10.30pm Tuesday night and arrive home at 7.30am Thursday as we cross the International Date Line from the west of the line so therefore we subtract a day from our year. Immediately to the left of the IDL is always one day ahead of the date or day immediately to the right of the IDL in the Western Hemisphere- for all those who were curious.
We arrived very tired from San Fran and had two very big days already booked for the Sunday and Monday so we decided to get an idea of LA and Hollywood by taking another tour - yes we did another touristy thing.

What would Hollywood be without it's famous sign?

Stars along the walk of fame 

This tour drove up and down the famous streets of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Belaire and Homby Hills where the house prices range 3.5 to over 80 million and of course these are the homes of the rich and famous. Various homes of celebrities were pointed out and we also went to downtown LA. This tour finished in the Farmers Market where you can buy any type of food available in America as well as fresh produce. Next to this is a very popular place to shop called The Grove with every up market store but we were a little shopped out from NY so didn't venture into The Grove. It is said that it is a good place to celebrity spot but we didn't catch any glimpses.

Only in America a bakery just for dogs- at the Farmers Market ( Cath thought you would love this place they were selling pup cakes unbelievable)

Sunday we had a tour booked to Universal Studios. This was a very interesting and enjoyable day. We got dropped to the front door at 9am and let loose until either 3.30 or 6.30 pickup. The tour of the 'back lot' takes you through the sets of many famous movies and has an unbelievable 360 3D experience of King Kong. We saw many unbelievable special affects shows and rides that just were fantastic such as - Shrek 4D, Jurassic Park ride, Terminator 2 :3D, Special effects stage, The Blues Brothers and Water World. Thank heavens the day was hot as we had great viewing seats for Water World BUT they were also the seats that the occupants got soaked from water thrown by the actors or from water guns and also from jet skis turning so fast as to create a wall of water. By the end of the show we were very wet. Fantastic Day.

The red carpet and entrance to Universal Studios

Icon of Universal Studios

Building facades of the back lot of the studio in the foreground 

We were sitting right near the black rail at the bottom of the pic any wonder we were soaked by the end of the show.

Monday another long but fabulous experience. We went to Disneyland. Had a wonderful day being big kids on heaps of rides. Disneyland is all you imagine it would be and more. The dream, forethought and inspiration of Walt Disney to create this land is shown with the quality and diversity of every piece of Disneyland. We went on rides that took you to another place and time in the future, to rides from the wild west, to adventures in the jungle, to Matterhorn bobsleds, to splash mountains, to Nemo submarine voyages and of course to fantasyland.
We had so much fun.

Entrance to Disneyland

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Mad Tea Party

Its a small world after all

Mickey's Soundsational Parade above and below

Lots to see and do here in LA but it will have to wait till another time.

The past 3 and a half months have been a wonderful adventure and I want to thank Mez for all her hours and hours of organisation and planning, for Eli and the boys for looking after the ranch and for everyone at school making it possible for me to leave it all in safe hands especially Cath and Gracie.
Its been a blast.
I
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San Francisco

Hi Everyone
San Francisco - what a city we loved it. Everything you see in the movies is there and more. The cable car rides up and down the steepest of streets, famous Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown( the next biggest outside of Asia), the quaint hippy trendy suburbs of Mission and Haight, Castro the Oxford Street of San Fran, the Pink Ladies(houses that are in movies and TV shows such as Mrs Doubtfire), the notorious prison and island of Alcatraz and of course The Golden Gate Bridge.

Union Square just down the road from the hotel

look closely that is Mez to the right of the pic

SF from the ferry back from Alcatraz

The Pink Ladies that we got 2 buses and a cable car to see but the view of the city from Alamo Park that Mez is in was worth it. 

In the short time we stayed here, 4 days 5 nights, we managed to do some of it, we could spend weeks in this area of California.
The weather was very kind to us as well having rather hot days and only one morning of fog. When we arrived we had to wait for our room to be ready so sat at the bar and chatted to a very helpful local who told us that every day the fog comes in and sometimes stays and then other days burns off. The day the fog rolled in it burnt off early.
We stayed in a upmarket(definitely very much more upmarket from some of our accommodation) hotel right in the heart of the city near Union Square called the Sir Francis Drake and it was just perfect. Being on the 19th floor of a 22 floor building we had fab views of the city. The cable car pulled up at the front door and the other transport systems that they have such as the bus and subway were all close by.

Cable car passing the front door of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel

Mez and the doorman

Of course you cant come to San Fran without a ride on the cable car and on one occasion the only room left for us was on the running boards holding onto the outside of the car. It was great fun but you had to watch out for parked cars and road obstacles just in case you hit them, again this would not be allowed in Australia for safety reasons.

A typical street in SF

A view looking down one of the streets from the side of the cable car

We did the tourist thing and went to Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch at The Wipeout Bar a really cool place with great food and interesting decor.

Fisherman's Wharf and we only had those fries as they were full of GARLIC - good for us

Wipe Out Bar full of old surfing bits and pieces 

We also took a bike tour of the bay area and rode across The Golden Gate Bridge. Didn't realise at the time the number of hills that would be involved as the tour was to follow the bay. It was very tiring but so good to ride over the bridge and go to a hip town called Sausalito. We then boarded the ferry from Sausalito back to Pier 39 at the wharf. 

Don't we look a treat in our helmets with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

We wandered around Chinatown and had some authentic dinners, strolled through the streets of Mission and had drinks at a local hangout in Castro called Twin Peaks- for all those that remember what a good TV show that was I loved it.

We took the boat across to the famous Alcatraz Island and had a roam around the island seeing an 18 minute video of the history of the island from the early military days, to the implementation of the prison and then the settlement of the American Indians until the present day as a tourist destination. They also give you headphones to follow an audio of the history of the prison and the escape attempts as you roam the cell corridors, exercise yards, shower block and the mess hall. A very interesting and comprehensive view of prison life and the many infamous prisoners eg, Al Capone also known as Scarface also Robert Stroud so called 'Birdman of Alcatraz' only to mention a few, is gained.

Alcatraz from the ferry

Closeup of a typical cell and below cell row

Sign as you arrive depicting the different eras of this island

Shower block at Alcatraz

Last night we were very cheeky and hitched a ride on the side of the cable car up from the subway. As the cable car stopped at the lights we jumped on the running board(with the drivers permission) then jumped off a few stops up the steep hill without paying but the driver was cool and had a bit of a laugh.

There must be something in the water here though as there are quiet a number of souls that are weird and wonderful- if you get my drift. 

All in all we had a great time and San Francisco is definitely one of my favourites.

Off to our last stop Los Angeles and then home.

New York

Hi Everyone
NEW YORK- well we made it and this means that the holiday is heading for home in a couple of weeks. We spent a very busy time in this famous city firstly taking the hop on hop off bus all over doing the uptown one day and the downtown another. As well as that we bought a 7 day ticket to the subway and we walked and walked all over.
Our first day of adventuring took us, unexpectedly, to a festival in Eighth Avenue where most of the road was closed off to traffic and the street was lined with stalls of food and fair for miles. Eighth Avenue is like most streets in New York very very long and wide and is part of the grid system of naming streets and avenues. The Avenues run from north to south and the streets from east to west. It makes finding your way around clear and simple if you know in which direction you are facing because when you come up from the subway you really need a compass to know in which direction to head or you do like us and walk to the next street to know if you have headed in the right direction.
There are over 8 million people just in New York City and there were a lot of them there this day.

Eighth Avenue and the throngs of New Yorkers and tourists

Stayed around the area until dark to visit Time Square by night- nothing like this place anywhere that we have seen on our adventure. Flashing lights, crowds of people just stopping and watching, massive billboards and of course the hundreds of yellow cabs.

Time square by night

The hop on hop off bus took us downtown to Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial site. We were very lucky to obtain tickets to the new 9/11 memorial reflection pools and surrounding grounds. You need to obtain a ticket which gives you a time and date that you can obtain access to the site but this has to be done online which we didnt know until arriving there. One guy in his usual abrupt New York style said no way today but I asked another more hospitable New Yorker and he handed me 2 tickets for 12.15 that day so off we went feeling very lucky indeed.

The security to this site, right next door to where they have started work on the new trade centre which when finished will house 7 new buildings the tallest being 104 stories high, was unbelievable- more than going through the airport.

Inside the site are two reflection pools that are a foot print of the original twin towers and around the edges of these pools are the names of all those that perished on that fateful day. It was a very moving experience and one that if you get a chance is a must see.

This is going to be the tallest of all the new towers and is only half finished is going to be twice this size when completed. There are 3000 working on this site around the clock to get this completed. 

One of the 2 reflection pools. They are  simplistic in style and there are purposely no flowers on the site. The water cascades from the sides down to the floor of the pool and this water then flows into the smaller square in the middle. 

Closeup of side of pool

The side of the reflection pool with the names of all the departed.

From there back on the bus to Battery Park to catch the Ellis Ferry (part of the hop on ticket) to the Lady of New York - the Statue of Liberty. A most impressive monument.

On ferry heading to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

The Lady of New York standing proud and tall. She has become an international icon of freedom and liberty, the most recognisable symbol of democracy in the world.

We were very fortunate to have booked tickets to see the New York Yankees(baseball team) play the Tampa Bay Rays. Sitting in the new multi million dollar stadium we were entertained by the crowd as well as the players warming up. Game starts to the whole stadium singing 'God Bless America'- very patriotic these Americans and then they all start singing 'Take me out to the ballgame'-entertaining to say the least. The game starts and as well as the most impressive mastery of skills I have seen there are all sorts of distractions in between innings. They have competitions running where they pick someone from the crowd and ask them questions to win prizes. And what I found unbelievable were the Vendors. These are the guys that walk up and down the isles selling everything from candy floss to hotdogs to beer to icecreams you name it you dont have to move everything is bought to you. They were also very entertaining. All in all it was another must see.

New Yankee Stadium

Closeup of the Candy

Candy on the left and popcorn above just 2 of the numerous items available for sale            

We were also fortunate while in NYC to see 3 very good but very different broadway shows, actually 2 broadway and one off broadway show.

Firstly we saw Fuerza Bruta, an off broadway show that was nothing like I had experienced before it stimulated the senses there were no seats in the theatre and all of the action was overhead. At one stage they had people swimming in a pool on top of you- am not doing this show justice by my explanation think Simony is the one to ask.

Then Memphis was the next Broadway show and how good was this. We loved the historical storyline and the singing - out of this world.

Then came War Horse-different from the other 2 shows but wonderful. It is a play about a horse being enlisted into WW1 and his young owner enlisting, although only 16, to try to find him. A very moving and enthralling performance. At times the audience were teary and gasping as they were transported back to the trials and historical events of the time. The use of puppetry was unimaginable as the actors brought the horses to life, if for no other reason but to see the use of puppetry you have to see this if you ever get a chance. I was amazed at the talent and imagination used.

Shopping was another activity that we undertook in NYC so much so that we have both bought another suitcase and they are both full.

Lunch in Madison Square Park near our hotel(The Gershwin) after shopping

Of course, a trip to NYC is not complete without taking a trip up to the Top of The Rock, Rockefeller Building that is but unfortunately the day we picked to go it was a bit cloudy but still could see for miles.

The Rockefeller Building

Famous  picture of workmen building the rock

From the top with Empire State Building behind Mez's head

Had a busy and great time in NYC mastering the subway,although not as easy or as good as London, shopping, shows, the baseball and walking through lots of suburbs on our early morning walks- need to do a lot more of these when we get home as the food is not the best for the weight situation.
Some of the sites of NYC below-

The Flatiron Building

Billboard

This is for Eli - 'Thank God its Friday' is a bar in NYC

Car parking NYC style

And the NYC cabs are everywhere

The brownstone buildings that reflect an era of construction in NYC

Farewell NYC off to San Francisco.