eating up the Big Apple.

Well, we arrived back from New York this morning, and I have to say it really is the most amazing city! We packed a LOT into two days, but we walked most of it and it felt like there was something interesting around every corner. We just kept accidentally finding places that made me do a double take because it didn't seem reasonable that they should just be...well...real...and right there...!

Anyway, we arrived late on Friday night and caught a cab to our hosts' apartment on Broadway. The cab driver was a bit rude, but he was honestly the only rude person we met the whole weekend. For its reputation as a violent and unfriendly city, I felt totally comfortable walking around, and even down in the subway at night. And as opposed to San Francisco, I could count the number of homeless people I saw all weekend on one hand.

Nick and Gin had an amazing apartment with views of Broadway, Wall St, Trinity Church and the Twin Towers sites.

Elsie and I got up bright and early on Saturday morning to spend the day wandering the city. Whilst heading for Wall Street, we wandered by the Trinity Church which seemed surreal to me - a huge cathedral with graveyard in the middle of skyscrapers, but actually there were churches like this all over the place. We went in and found the Rebel Baroque Orchestra rehearsing for a concert of the Monteverdi Vespers, so we stayed and listened for a bit, before taking a few happy snaps of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St.

We went and had a look in yet another big church, this one next to ground zero, which was equally ornate as Trinity but in a very different way, with chandelliers and seating in the round. We visited ground zero and looked at the construction going on (it's still pretty much a big hole at this stage).

We then walked through an area with lots of people selling fake handbags etc, and then wandered through Soho and Greenwich Village, where there were lots of funky little shops and cafes. We stopped for brunch at Joe's Pizza, which is famous for making New York style pizza. It was a bit of a dingy place, and full of workmen (and no women at all), but full it was, so we assumed we were onto a good thing. We ordered a (huge) slice each for below $3 each, and it was delicious. The pizza was thin and crunchy on the bottom but without being hard, and it had a simple tomato sauce with cheese on top. Really really tasty!

After brunch, we took the subway to Central Park. The subway was pretty grotty and smelly, but safe and fast. We didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for a train all weekend, and the tickets were less than $2. First off in Central Park we saw Strawberry Fields - the section dedicated to John Lennon. We couldn't see much apart from a mosaic in the ground, so we wandered further through the park.

It's definitely an oasis in the big smoke, but I think it would be prettier in Spring, when it would be great for a picnic or something. In winter it was basically just grass and trees, although we did see yet another bird of prey (this one eating a pigeon).

We stopped in at FAO Schwartz - one of the largest toy stores in the world, and saw the big keyboard that you play with your feet which was great fun, although the toy store itself was a little disappointing. I think Mr Magorium has spoilt me.

For linner, we opted for a real New York bagel from Ess-a-bagel, and stopped in at the 5th Avenue Tiffany's along the way. . I went for the 'everything' bagel with olive cream cheese and Elsie had a sesame bagel with walnut and raisin cream cheese. They were good - nice and doughey, but BOY do those New Yorkers like their cream cheese! Almost an inch worth! They were very tasty, but I think the pizza was better. I also tried Matzah ball soup.

We found ourselves at the Chrysler building (what did I say about randomly coming across amazing things!?) which was just beautiful, and walked through Grand Central Station (ditto). We made our way to Times Square (I'm not really sure how it's a 'square' because it's very crowded and higgledy-piggledy and full of neon and people selling things) to try and figure out how to get Broadway tickets for the next day.

We then aimed for an Australian Pub (the Sheepstation?) in Brooklyn to celebrate Australia day and decided to get there by walking the Brooklyn Bridge by dusk. It was a great view of Manhattan, however when we reached the other side, we couldn't find a cab (because they were all heading from the bridge with passengers or for the bridge without) and ended up walking through some (slightly) dodgy areas to the last subway station before the pub and catching the train for the last little way.

The pub was weird - kind of what you'd expect an American version of an Australian pub would be, with lots of corrugated iron and wood, and playing 'Waltzing Matilda' and 'Khe Sanh'. But they had Coopers and a (n overpriced) bbq dinner. After dinner we went back to Manhattan for coffee, and stopped by Heath Ledger's apartment where there is an impromptu shrine of flowers and messages for him. Although I wasn't a big fan, it was nice to be able to pay our respects (in a way) to someone we knew a little (in a way).

We finished the evening at Cafe Reggio, which was apparently the first Cafe in New York with an espresso machine. The coffee apparently wasn't too good, but the place was great, with lots of dark, rich furniture and the walls cluttered with old paintings and busts and all sorts. I had a mint frothed milk which was tasty, and now I know what to do with the Italian mint cordial in the pantry.

On Sunday, we accidentally slept in and then got on the Staten Island to see the views of the city, and the Statue of Liberty. Elsie's camera carked it, but I made up for it by taking 75 photos! The views were beautiful, and it wasn't too cold, and all in all it was a lovely way to spend a relaxing morning.

After we got back we finally found a post office machine that would sell me postcard stamps, but I only bought 5 in the end because they were ugly printed ones and not actual stamps. We took a train to Spring Street and looked in the MOMA shop and bought some gifts for our hosts before heading for lunch.

We were aiming for Katz's to have a Reuben sandwich, but on the way found famous Jonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery, so stopped for a knish or two each. A knish is a big potato patty flavoured with different things. Elsie had a spinach one and a sweet potato one, and I went for the traditional plain topped with mustard. They were also very very tasty and I'm going to have to learn how to make them. We kept going to Katz's which turned out to be HUGE, as were the sandwiches. The place was absolutely packed and there were about 10 men behind a counter making sandwiches with lines before each. My sandwich cost $15 plus tax (!!!) but I think it was worth it - it was a serious serious sandwich, with freshly made corned beef.

We took a train to Times Square and joined a giant line for cheap broadway tickets. The line was actually quite fast moving, and we got tickets to Spamalot, a musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We walked to the Empire State building, which was a bit of a disappointment, and I think the Chrysler building was much more beautiful. We decided not to go up, but jumped into a cab and headed for the Museum of Modern Art, to which we got free tickets which was lucky because we arrived at 4:30 and it closed at 5:30 when we were expecting 8.

MOMA completely blew me away, and I just couldn't get over walking around each corner and finding not only works by artists that I studied at uni, but their most famous works - the kind of paintings that they put not only in textbooks, but on the front. I got a bit excited (and dorky) made Elsie take pictures of me in front of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', and Duchamp's 'Bicycle Wheel' among others. There's definitely something about seeing these works in real life - it's so surreal to think that these works that you think only exist for you in books, are completely accessible to millions of locals every day.

After getting kicked out, we wandered up 5th Avenue (and looked in the windows of the expensive shops) before going into the Disney shop where I found a Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey pin. We had a quick look at Rockefeller Centre (and decided that Americans musn't know the difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags after finding ours conspicuously missing for the second time!). Elsie thought about buying some pretty gumboots while I got excited about Radio City Music Hall and CBS and then went to the Shubert (no that's not a typo) for Spamalot.

Spamalot was very entertaining - as funny as Monty Python but thankfully strung together with more plot. The theatre itself was absolutely beautiful inside - quite small but really intricately decorated and painted and gilded.

We went to an Irish pub for dinner and then into M&Ms World which is 3 storeys high and has every kind of M&Ms merchandise you can think of. You can buy M&Ms in any colour under the rainbow, and Elsie and I had our photo taken in front of the giant Elvis M&M.

That was it for the night, and first thing in the morning we jumped in a cab and got on the plane back to Chicago (and I have to say, Australian flights may be overpriced, but Qantas kicks the American airlines all around town in terms of quality, comfort and service).

All in all I loved New York. It was just like I imagined with tall buildings everywhere and something new and exciting or beautiful and interesting there for the finding. There were yellow cabs everywhere and even steam coming out of the grills in the road (apparently that's from the sewage in the subway...ewww...). I think I could quite happily live there because there'd always be something new to do or discover, and surprisingly I felt completely comfortable and safe everywhere. Hopefully I will come back for a longer stay one day.

cold!

I've been in Chicago since Tuesday night and I'm afraid it's been a bit uneventful because a. I've been taking it easy and b. it's VERY COLD OUTSIDE.

On Wednesday I had a big sleep in (we arrived back in Chicago after midnight) and then bummed around. I spent some time on the balcony trying to photograph a snowflake (see most successful attempt left, along with a view from the balcony, notice the yellow schoolbus.)

When Elsie got home, and then we went to the mall. We only had a little time there and it was absolutely huge - at one time it was the largest mall in the world, apparently. I bought another pair of pants from Anthropologie and I think I might be suffering buyer's remorse, but at least they fit. After that, we went to the supermarket which was also huge and it took us an hour and a half to get the whole way through because I was so amused by everything. They mist their fresh produce (which looked incredibly good - much better than Woolies) periodically, and when they do they play 'Singing in the Rain'. I bought a bunch of American foods to try, and I'm afraid the results were not overwhelmingly positive. (Photos above: giant bottles of cheap wine available in the supermarket; unrefrigerated tubes of coloured icing).

Clockwise from top left:
Stripes & Blues chips: not tried yet but Elsie says they're good.
Animal Crackers: Animal shaped biscuits, like a yoyo or the biscuit from an orange cream, only smaller.
Oreos: DIY version like a le Snack. Ick.
Pringles Extreme dill pickle flavour: very strong flavour. Might be nice if you liked dill and salt.
Jarritos Mexican Mandarin Drink: Yum!
Snapple Rasberry & Pomegranite: sweetened fruit juice, like cordial. Quite nice but quite sweet.
Tictacs: berry sour and cherry passion. The passionfruit ones are nice, the others are not.
RiceRoni: flavoured but not instant rice. Tastes a bit like packet chicken noodle soup. Not bad but a bit salty.
Extra apple and watermelon: The packets are much better than ours. You get more per pack, the pieces are bigger and you don't lose them in your bag. The watermelon ones are my new favourite thing and I'll be taking some with me.
3 Musketeers Bar: Like a Milky Way only bigger and not as nice. Milky ways here have caramel like a Mars Bar. I'm not sure what Mars Bars are like.
Butterfinger: crunchy crumbly peanut butter flavoured caramel covered in chocolate. A bit ick.
Baby Ruth Bar: Like a Snickers with 3 Musketeers filling, caramel and nuts.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Valentine Heart.
HoHos: yes really. It was a choice between HoHos and DingDongs which I think are the same only a different shape. Chocolate cake filled with fake cream covered in a chocolate coating. Non-refrigerated. Pretty gross.

Yesterday I went to Elsie's building's gym (which I understand the point of in a country like this where you really can't run around the block in this weather) and did my running on the treadmill. I can't say I like it very much - there's nothing to look at but the stopwatch and I felt very dizzy when I got off. After that I steeled myself for a trip 'downtown'. I put on two pairs of stockings, one pair of leggins, two pairs of socks, jeans, boots, two singlets, two tops, one thick jumper, a coat, a scarf and two hats. I jumped on the train (which are old and double decker) and bought a ticket from the conductor. They look straight out of Enid Blyton with navy blue suits (with waistcoat and red tie) and a navy blue hat with gold trim which says 'conductor' on it.

I got into the city after about an hour and started walking towards Millenium Park. After about 5 minutes I was seriously frightened that I was getting frostbite on my fingers because they hurt so much that I went straight into a shop (the Marshall Field's Macy's as it turns out) and bought a pair of gloves and another scarf. After that I worse Elsie's earwarmers and ski gloves as well. I made it to Millenium park and had a quick look around at some of the sculptures closest to the road. I saw 'the bean', which is a great big polished steel been that reflects the city (and you) and these two huge screens that stand opposte each other and show faces. The faces change expression, and apparently in Summer they spit water at each other! I also went and had a quick look in the Art Insistute which also looks unreal and so I'll have to make a trip back to both next week.

I met Elsie after work and we went ice-skating at Millenium park OUTSIDE. This was excellent because it was so much more fun to skate outside and it's such a pretty area too. The Americans skate the wrong way (ie. clockwise) which made things a little more difficult, but doing some exercise meant I wasn't so absolutely freezing.

After skating we had a nice dinner of pumpkin apple soup a green salad with fetta which was very nice indeed.

Today we're heading for New York which should be exciting as we've got lots of fun things planned. Hopefully it should be a lot warmer than here (ie. it is forecast to be hovering around 0C which will be a nice change) and hopefully I won't freeze on my way to the airport!

adding more photos.

This bird was outside the hotel window.




















San Francisco is a hilly city part 1: this is steps instead of footpath.














San Francisco is a hilly city part 2: the path to these houses.


















Architecture around the city.









































































































Cable Car.







Simón Bolívar and friends.



Don Quixote and Sancho Panza worship the head of Cervantes in Golden Gate Park. (Notice the gum trees. Weird eh?)





Cityscapes.

leaving her heart in San Francisco (no, not really...)

I spent Tuesday taking myself on a walking tour of the city. First of all I went and bought myself an umbrella from Walgreens for $8 (and I have to say it feels a lot sturdier than any other umbrella I've ever owned) because unfortunately it was a drizzly grey kind of a day. I then wandered to Grace Cathedral which is huge and beautiful from the outside and on the inside the stained glass windows were the most colourful and complex that I've ever seen (although I didn't take any pictures as it didn't seem quite the thing).

Chinatown which isI then spent and hour or two wandering through absolutely huge, but basically is just like the one at home only much much bigger. A lot of the shops were pretty touristy (although many of them had nice things) and there were lots of restaurants and a few other specialty shops, such as Chinese medicine shops and tea shops. I bought a pack of Dragon Eye tea, because I love the Jasmine Dragon Eyes, and the lady in the shop said the regular kind is rarer but perhaps even tastier. I haven't tried it yet because the hotel (the Hotel Mark Twain I can now say since I'm not there anymore) didn't have a kettle in the room despite having a coffee machine (apparently this is standard for America). Chinatown was fun, but a bit samey after a while, and I think it would be more fun if you lived there and could actually go searching for interesting ingredients or bargains.


After Chinatown I'd built up a bit of a hunger, so I went to Boccadillos which the internet recommended. It was a cute little Spanish place which seemed popular with local business people as it was quite 'nice' inside (wooden floors, square white plates etc) but pretty reasonably priced. It turns out a boccadillo is a little roll, about the size of a bap. I had the lunch special, which was a small bowl of the soup of the day (roast capsicum/bell pepper), a choice of two boccadillos (I chose prosciutto+walnut+parsley, and chorizo+garlic+rocket) and a little green salad. It was very nice, but I got bitten a bit when what was supposed to be a $12 lunch ended up at $27! That happens a lot here actually - the food seems really reasonably priced but then you have to factor in tax and a tip which takes the price up at least 20%. Of course it doesn't help when you order dessert (yoghurt with huckleberries which are a bit like currants) and a pear soda...oops...

Following lunch, I headed for the City Lights bookstore, detouring on the way to look at some pretty houses I spied and accidentally ending up on the Hindley St of San Fran. Ooops! City Lights is quite famous as it was central during the 60s to the Beat poets. It's still owned by one, and is also just a nice independent bookshop, over three stories with tall shelves and wooden floorboards. I meant to buy a 60s book, or at least an American one, but ended up with some non-fiction on equal-temperament.

Next I climbed Coit Tower which is a tall tower that gives you great 360 degree views of the city and bay. The views were pretty spectacular, even though it was a bit foggy, but there were bits of chewing gum everywhere.

From there I headed for Crookedest St (I'm not sure if that's what it's really called) but it's so crooked it pretty much looks like a long line of connected Ss. I found myself at the bottom and hadn't thought about why the street might be so windy - of course it's because it's so steep that they couldn't cut it straight. Since my way home was from the top though, I had no choice but to climb it! Actually the road leading to it was much worse, because on Crookedest St the footpath was steps, whereas the street before it was just steep and very uneven because the driveways had to be flat). San Francisco is a very very very hilly city (I didn't really realise exactly how hilly, even after the stomach-turning taxi rides, until I started walking) and you would develop very strong legs living there. And you certainly wouldn't want to be in a wheelchair...unless of course you had someone to help with the uphills...

I rode a cable car home, after sweet-talking the driver into letting me jump the long queue, and found myself between a family from Elsie's neighbourhood in Chicago on the left, and two Sydney-siders on the right. It's a small world. The cable cars are very old, and remind me of the old trams. They were invented because the streets are so steep that horses were getting pulled over by their heavy carts and date back from those days. Nowadays they seem only used by tourists, and there's only two short lines, but it's certainly a hoot. I'm surprised they're still running though because the OH&S is a nightmare - the sides are open and you face the street, and you can stand on the runningboard and just hold on if you want. They're powered by an electric motor which pulls the car along a cable sunk under the street, and the driver controls it using a few big levers from the middle of the car. They also have regular trams which look great because (like a lot of American infrastructure it seems) they're also really old - they look like they're from about the 50s with rounded edges and come in bright colours (mostly green and yellow).

All in all I walked about 7ks, and it was nice to be out and about even if it was a bit nippy and hilly.


I met Elsie and her boss back at the hotel, and we had Moroccan for dinner. It was pretty good, and they had a belly dancer after dessert. It was a bit weird because customers were encouraged to put tips town her top and in her skirt, which I wouldn't have thought was exactly traditional... still at least there was no audience participation...

Today I only had the morning to spare as we had to be at the airport in the early afternoon (getting on a plane takes hours here as the whole process takes ages). I had breakfast with Elsie next door in the excellent diner again (actually, contrary to expectations, all the food here has been excellent, especially the fruit) before going for another little walk. I went to find a local Frank Lloyd Wright building, which I think I found but it was a bit of a boring one and didn't really look any different to lots of the other nice old buildings in the city. I then went for a little shopping which was fun as well as frustrating. I went into the Camper shop (and found my shoes $100 off) and then into the Ted Baker shop (and found my red dress 40% off). I then went into Anthropologie which was huge and even more awesome than I expected but I thought I was in a big hurry and only spent a quick 15 minutes in there, in which time I managed to buy a lovely black dress. I will be dragging Elsie back there in Chicago for a proper look I'm sure. After rushing out, I realised I was actually an hour ahead of time (I should really take my watch off Adelaide time already) and so looked in a few more shops like the Gap and Old Navy, Bloomingdale's which was quite fun because you hear about them all the time on TV. The Gap is a bit like a big navy blue Esprit/Country Road, Old Navy is like a big el-cheapo Esprit/Target and Bloomingdale's is like David Jones only with more posh brands. American clothes in general seem much more reasonably priced though (although I think the unlisted sales tax plays a factor here too) and they seem to actually have shops aimed at people my age - everyone is not expected to be 15 years old or 40. Certainly it looks like I'll have no trouble finding pants which fit my bum, which will be refreshing, and even though I'm already pushing my luggage limit, I don't care because it's such a welcome novelty. I have 3 pairs of pants and one is two years old and one is five years old so I really think I should just get them while the going's good.

After the shopping I met Elsie's boss for lunch at the Zuni cafe, wandering through some dodgy neighbourhoods to get there (honestly, it's amazing how quickly on the same street it'll go from DODGY to quite nice and back again). I saw City Hall (their town hall) which is huge and beautiful and UN plaza (boulevard? place?) which was pretty cool, but made me a bit cross because there's all these bits cut into the marble about men and women deserving dignity and basic necessities, and being equal regardless of race, nation etc and there's all these (black) homeless people sitting on the sculptures. Also sitting on the sculptures were heaps of seagulls which here are a bit more terrifying because they're the size of cats (I'm not kidding either). Maybe the obesity epidemic is spreading to McAnimal Kingdom as well. The pigeons here are also a bit scary because there's millions of them and they're not afraid of people but are liable to fly up around you in a big flock if someone comes running from the other direction.

Anyway, I digress. The Zuni cafe is quite famous and I had very high hopes for it, but they were a bit too high as it turned out. It was good, sure, but it was a bit of a posh place without the food being particularly special. Like Grimaldi's with fancier service but without the food being quite as tasty. I had a bowl of egg pasta with mushrooms, walnuts and sage, and Jeff had pasta with clams, which turn out to be cockles. Then it was back to the airport and here I am on the plane (again). It's American Airlines, which is just like Virgin only without the optional frills (ie. a 4 hour flight with no tv) but I did manage to snag an emergency exit row with extra leg-room.

I pretty much caught everything I wanted to see and I think four and a bit days there was about right. I would've liked to have wandered through Haight Ashbury, but we drove through, and to be honest, it looked pretty touristy and like there wasn't much genuine hippiness left, so I'm not really that upset. I also wouldn't've minded walking through the Castro (the gay neighbourhood), but I'm not really upset about that either, because my prevailing impression of San Francisco is that it's just a regular city and most of the really unique interesting stuff has been so touristified that there's not much left underneath. Or maybe it's just really hard to find. The buildings are beautiful and there are nice ones everywhere - it really does look like in the pictures in a lot of places so it's a lovely place to wander around. The big old Victorian houses with the bay windows are so pretty, and made more so since they're painted in lively pastel colours, and even the new houses are built in similar styles so they all blend well together. San Francisco was a fun place to spend a few days because there's lots to do and see, but I'm not sure I really found the heart of the place, and I think I'd prefer somewhere where I'm enough of a novelty to get easily chatting to people, because although I saw a lot of great things, I sort of felt like just another tourist with a dollar sign on her head and I'd like to be able to interact with a place a bit more meaningfully than that.

(Post-script: Oh rubbish, I just found this guide to San Francisco, and am beginning to think I was very much on the tourist trail, even though I didn't think I was...oh well...)

(PPS. I've added photos to the last post if anyone wants to go and have another look).

(PPPS. I'm back in Chicago safe and sound, and watching it snow from Elsie's window. I've been attempting to take a photo of a snowflake (they really are visible beautiful geometric patterns like in the encyclopedia) which is not working out so far, but not for want of trying! Have been having a lazy day inside which is a bit of a waste but I think I needed it. When Elsie gets home from work we're going to the mall.)

(PPPPS. More San Francisco photos in another post soon - blogger is being a bit difficult at this stage.)

in Frisco.

So here I am in San Francisco, late at night scamming dodgy internet while Elsie catches some zzzs for her meeting early tomorrow morning. The hotel we are staying in is extremely nice, and apparently Billie Holliday used to have a room here (where she was subsequently arrested...)!

The flight from Chicago was uneventful (apart from a few minor delays which are apparently par for the course) and I made friends with a nice Montessori teacher whom I swapped ipods with for an hour or two on the flight (of course I put mine on an Australian only playlist, haha). I think the Aussie accent is a bit of a boon here, because it seems pretty easy to start a conversation. It was already evening when I arrived and I got Elsie's message about which route to take from the train station to the hotel a little too late, and ended up walking through quite a dodgy (and amazingly small and isolated) part of town. The homelessness here is really awful - apparently it's much more prevalent here than further north, because the weather is basically like Adelaide's - ie. they don't die off from the cold. Nice, eh? Before I left I was getting pretty frustrated with the rising homelessness problems in Australia, but now I *really* hope it doesn't get worse becuase it's just horrible seeing a few people on every streetcorner begging for money, and people sleeping in doorways all over the place and everybody just walking past and not even seeming to notice.

Anyway, after I made it to the nice hotel, we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was very good, but just goes to show that Chicken Tikka Marsala is the same the world over (or at least the Anglo world anyway).

On Saturday we had many grand plans, but it got a bit lost in the wash. We had breakfast next door to the hotel at this excellent little hole in the wall which you wouldn't expect from the outside to be nearly as good as it is. I had a great little (big) fruit salad and a hash brown (which it turns out is just an ordinary potato fritter but they top them with stuff). I also had a freshly squeezed orange juice which I would've sworn black and blue had added sugar but the waitress seemed amused that I even asked so I guess they're just good at growing oranges here.

We started out for the Napa Valley, but ended up driving over the Golden Gate Bridge (which is *way* bigger than I expected and absolutely beautiful and awesome and I sang this in my head becuase I'm a complete nerd) and then going to Muir National Park which is notable for it's Redwood trees. California is freaking me out in general because a lot of their flora is shared with Australia. The same (or similar at least) Redwoods grow in Tasmania, and they have gumtrees all over the place. It's so weird seeing a bit eucalyptus tree right next to a huge American-looking pine tree. Then again, at home you don't get squirrels in the gum trees so that clears things up quite quickly.

We finished at about 4:00 and, not having had lunch, decided to eat at a restaurant one of Elsie's colleagues had seen on the bay. It turned out to be a (country club-ish) fish restaurant, and, not wanting to order a steak (which was the other option on the menu) I ordered a piece Petrale Sole which is a local fish, and it was really good! Not fishy at all! We also had a beautiful view out onto the bay where *lots* of yachts were moored, and even saw a few seals too.

Later that evening after getting back to the city, Elsie and I went in search of dessert and ended up at Bi-Rite Ice-Creamery which was absolutely delicious. I had a salted caramel ('car-mel') and a honey lavender and both were divine and I'm very glad I got a large because I doubt I'll ever get back. It was a teeny place, but it turned out to have a sister supermarket which was a little organic shop a bit like the Store only nicer and a bit more hippie. We bought a local ash rind chevre and some local beers and had a nightcap back at the hotel (once we'd tracked down a bottle opener).

Today we were a little more efficient with our time and we got up and had breakfast at the same place. Elsie and I then took a cab to Golden Gate park and had a wander around. We saw some painters and some tai chi/sword practice type people, and then we headed for the Japanese Tea Garden which I'd really wanted to see. It was quite nice and all, but (duh) not as good as the one that I saw in Japan. We then went into the Botanic Gardens and looked at the native Californian plants, which were unfortunatly not that exciting since it's winter here. Still, Golden Gate park is big and all lovely, and the locals obviously use it a lot for running especially and photography but also just hanging out. It really drove home the idea that it would be so good if they could do something like that with the Parklands.

After the park we tried to hail a cab with little success, and jumped on a bus instead. The San Francisco Muni seems to have one advantage over Adelaide which is that it's cheaper. Oh and also, the drivers can speak three languages. Walking up the street to the hotel we passed a bit protest/meeting. We concluded it was either a Black Panther rally or Barak Obama speaking.

In the afternoon we went out to the Napa Valley ('wine country' - I think they must be confused because isn't that France?...hehe). First we went to a massive winery called V. Sattui which also had a gourmet section which was the main reason we stopped there - lunch. Elsie and I shared a heap of lovely salads (including Jambalaya which is like a Spanish fried rice) and then we went on to the next winery which I can't remember the name of (maybe I'll fill that in later). We finished at a place called Louis M Martini (great name) and I tried three red wines. I asked about the terroir and the lady asked if I worked in the industry. Ha! Actually nothing I had all day screamed at me but I tried a variety there called Petite Sirrah which I'd never had before which was interesting. It's certainly a very pretty region even in winter, and they have these little yellow flowers that grow under the vines which are quite sweet. The wineries are massive and so in the middle of the vines are huge and often quite beautiful old mansions - from crazy second empire constructions, to the quintessential red american barn. All in all though I think I like Australian wine tasting better, because here they make you pay for it - anywhere from $10 for three wines up seems to be the going rate. Also they're big and busy, and it's not such a relaxing or unique experience.

In the evening we went to a sushi restaurant for tea ('dinner'), after this guy in the street gave us a few helpful suggestions but then turned out to be selling a (free) tourist restaurant map/begging. Then back to the hotel to plan my day tomorrow.

All in all I'm enjoying things here very much. The people are all very friendly and not the loud, arrogant stereotype we have of them (sorry). Everyone I've met has been really extremely helpful, although that being said most of them have been in service industries and thus work for tips (cynical? me?). Still, it seems genuine. The men hold the doors open for women and people seem nicer on the roads too. Actually speaking of the roads, they're amazing here - they have such huge and efficient freeways it's really easy to get anywhere, and also you can hail a cab anywhere in the city and they're pretty cheap. It's very hilly though and my stomach drops everytime a cab driver fangs it over a giant hill in the cbd. The differences in driving are still freaking me out, although not in the way you'd think. The driving on the wrong side of the road seems ok, but I keep trying to get in the driver's side when aiming for the passenger's seat (pretty embarassing in a cab) and thinking I'll have to pay the tolls. And speaking of the roads: the weather. It's very nice here, much warmer than Chicago and pretty similar to Adelaide weather in winter (not surprising since we both have grapes). It's been lovely weather to be out and about, although apparently tomorrow it's supposed to rain.

All in all I like it here, but I don't think I'd want to live here...it just doesn't feel quite comfortable for some reason. For a supposedly chilled out, hippie city, it doesn't really feel that different than any other, and I kind of feel like it's either quite localised or actually quite shallow. But tomorrow I'm going on a big walk around the city by myself so we'll see what I think after that. Sorry still no photos - I did not have the prescience to pack my camera-computer cable. Hopefully Tuesday evening I'll get them up. Sorry if this is all a bit inarticulate - it's late here. xoxo

up up and away!

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about all of this. A year ago I was cross for not having done it sooner, six months ago I was excited, a week ago I was manic. I fully expected to freak out at the airport and cry on the plane, but it didn't happen. Maybe it's just that right now it still feels like a holiday. Actually, what it mostly feels like is that I've got a giant cosmic remote and have just pressed pause on my usual life in Adelaide, and all of this is just a sidestep rather than the new way forward.

The plane trip itself was alright - both better and worse than expected. 24 hours in a big cramped airconditioner actually feels longer and more horrible than I thought it would, but the fact that said airconditioner had on demand movies, tv, and music made things a lot better, because if anyone can watch a screen for that long straight, it's me. I finally got around to seeing Ten Canoes, and the last few episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. LAX was nasty (like a big unfinished warehouse-maze), but surprisingly straightforward and all of the security people were friendly and welcoming. As was George W's photo as I stepped off the plane...

The little bit of America that I've seen so far I've quite liked. It's a bit weird, because I have a lot of preconceptions of the US and some of them are quite true, but others aren't and it's not always what you'd expect. The people so far have been really friendly and nice and I don't feel like I'm in danger of being shot at any given point (although apparently there's a stabbing/shooting going on in a preschool across town right now...). There are a lot more black people than I expected and I keep getting momentarily surprised when they don't have african accents like at home (der) which is upsetting my self-image of open-mindedness. There are also lots of hispanic people, and I saw a hasidic jew, but I'm yet to see anyone muslim. The people aren't as fat as I expected - about the same as Oz I would say (which is disappointing because I was all prepared to feel like Ms Skinny for a fortnight) but the food is huge. I just bought a 750mL bottle of water which was the smallest I could find. The houses look just like in the movies - big two story wooden things painted prettily - although Andrew tells me that his neighbourhood is quite posh and it's not actually like that everywhere. The roads are really wide, and while I can (mostly) accept the fact that the cars go the wrong way, I keep trying to get into the driver's side when aiming for the passenger's seat. The emergency vehicles are really quaint and look like they came straight out of the 50s. The traffic lights say 'walk' and 'don't walk' rather than the little men, just like in Sesame Street. There is a lot of medical advertising here (to the point that across from the airport Macca's there is an ad for in airport cholesterol and blood sugar testing!). The airports are crazy big, and although the security is a bit more regimented and time consuming (big lines, shoes off through security etc) you can actually take a lot more on the plane (tools up to 7 inches and knitting needles!).

So far I haven't actually done much, because I only arrived yesterday afternoon, and today I'm back at the airport again heading for San Francisco. Andrew took me out for dinner at a pizza place which was pretty good, and the pizza was quite comparable to Australia (apparently this is what recommends it, and is not the usual fare, or traditional Chicago pizza). They also had pasta on the menu, and it seems like the concept of 'pasta' here is much broader and incorporates anything vaguely noodle-like. Kung Pow fettucine anyone? They also carded me (which hasn't happened for so long it was actually kind of novel rather than annoying) and since I didn't have any ID they wouldn't let me have a beer, so I ordered a lemonade instead, which turned out to be lemon cordial. Today at the airport I had a Big Mac meal because I figured any airport food would be just as bad and now I can compare...The burgers taste just the same (although is it my imagination or do they usually have sauce?) but you might as well drink diet coke because corn syrup turns out to taste like aspartame anyway. You can get an extra sandwich (burger) with your meal for just $3.20! Which goes some way to explaining the need for the airport cholesterol testing.

It's really cold here, and was actually snowing when I arrived which was awesome since I've never seen snow before. It's kind of floaty like bubbles or dust bunnies and (contrary to popular opinion) I think the novelty will take a long time to wear off. Hopefully it will snow a lot next week and maybe I can make a snowman and ice skating. The cold on the other hand didn't take long to wear off at all. It was so refreshing when I first got out of the airport (after excessive heating and recycled heating for 24 hours) and it's a nice dry crisp kind of cold, but I am cold-blooded by nature and by golly it is COLD here. Many minuses of degrees whether you're counting in Cs or Fs. Mary Janes and cotton socks just do not cut the mustard and I'm glad I brought my boots. Andrew took me to the Bunnings of coat shops, and I bought a new big grey duffelcoat. Since everywhere's heated, you can't actually just layer up and wear lots of clothes, so a big warm outer coat is something of a necessity.

Anyway, I'm off to San Francisco now - on the plane (yet again) as I write in fact. The temperature there should be about like an Adelaide winter, which means that I should be able to just wander round and see what's what, which it turns out you can't do in minus whatever. Hopefully I will have more interesting stories and some pictures next time.

(Update: arrived in San Francisco ok - made it from the airport to the very nice hotel. Accidentally walked through a DODGY part of town to get there [hello! homeless people!] and the SF train system is just like Adelaide's only more expensive, slower and more run down. Apart from that haven't seen much so stay posted.)