Cable Cars, Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods, ...

After a short breakfast and watching the lucky penalty of the Italian soccer team I headed towards the youth hostel at the Fisherman's Wharf. The hostel was easy to find at reminds me a big school camp. There I could storage my luggage and I went out for a sightseeing trip.

I went back to the wharf, bought a ticket for Alcatraz (I will go the following friday) and continued along the shore. On different piers I could take some nice pictures ... finally I took a street car back to downtown. I visited the Apple shop and got a couple minutes of free internet access :) As it was almost dark I headed back to the youth hostel and had the opportunity to ride a cable car for free ... for it was a "Spare the air day" and thus the ride was free for everyone. It's a really funny experience to ride the cable train on the footboard ...

Later on that night I wrote a couple more postcards and went to bed soon.

The next day I planned to visit Golden Gate Bridge by bicycle. Thus I went to a rental shop ... rented a bike for a day ($ 28) and headed towards the Golden Gate bridge. It was a cloudy day and the Golden Gate bridge was hidden by fog. I passed the bridge and did a small bycicle tour on the other side of the bridge before I went back to the Presidio neighborhood. Presidio is a beautiful neighborhood with beautiful mansions and a wonderful seashore.

I was pretty hungry and I didn't have anymore water ... biking in San Francisco makes pretty tired ... up and down and up and down ... so I finally found a family restaurant at the Cliff House and I really enjoyed the food. Later on I visited the Golden Gate Park before I finally brought my bycicle back to the rental shop. At night I had some laundry to do and met some nice people of Canada. They asked me to travel with them the next days; unfortunately, I already had my own plans ...

The next day I went to Muir woods ... a national park with lots of old Red Wood. The trees are very old (several hundred years, some over thousand years) and very tall. The trees have some interesting qualities ... for example do they need wood fires to spread out and they sometimes grow in a circle around the mother tree. The also need this foggy weather to survive (weather you'll have lots of time in summer around San Francisco ... actually looks more like low clouds than fog to me).

I already was back for lunch time and decided to visit a tower downtown as well as some beautiful gardens (Lombard street). At night I got some Japanese food, yet a shame for I still didn't know how to eat Japanese food ...

The day after I went to Yosemite Park ... was pretty cool. It's a mountainous area with impressive granite rocks and waterfalls. On the trip I met people of Malta, Australia, England and the USA ... was amusing to talk to these different people :) Yet we didn't have so much time to visit the countryside for the journey was pretty long. Before we headed back toward San Francisco we visited some of the famous Sequoia trees ... they have huge trunks ... some are famous for cars can drive through the tree.

At night I met the Canadian people and we spent the night together by having a beer at a nearby pub. They were really friendly ... we also had planned to go to Alcatraz together ... unfortunately they were too late and the tickets were already sold out.

Thus, today I went alone to Alcatraz. Was an amazing trip and the prison is pretty impressive. However, I was surprised by the bad condition of the buildings on the island ... pretty bad for such an important touristic spot. Yet, I enjoyed the audio tour and learnt some stuff about Native Americans (the occupied the island in the late 60s in order to get attention for their interests). Later on I moved my luggage to the bus terminal ... went downtown visiting some shopping malls ... and now in a couple of minutes I'll take the bus for Portland.

Have a nice weekend ...

San Francisco

20 minutes on the counter ... I'm still in Reno with my story ... let's continue :)

After watching the soccer game Beverley showed me some Casinos in downtown Reno. Yet I didn't feel confident enough to play Black Jack. We had a drink later on and Beverley decided to head towards university again. Yet I decided to take some pictures ... and ended in a Casino again.

I joined a Black Jack game ... and spent 20 bucks ... played one hour ... had once only 12 bucks left, yet later over 30 bucks (my goal was 40 bucks) ... I finally ended the game with 24 bucks. For I didn't know the strategies people had to laugh sometimes ... it seems I made some stupid decisions. For sure it was fun ... (no no I won't get addicted)

At night we spent our time in a pub close to university ... had some food and good conversations.

The next day we rented a car to head towards Lake Tahoe. The countryside between Reno and Lake Tahoe is pretty impressive, for it changes from desert to a mountain like scenery. The lake is beautiful ... really clear and picturesque. Beverley showed me were she works (making bicycle path on the countryside) and later on we visited a small but gorgeous waterfall. Unfortunately, on the way there we had a small accident ... Bevereley drove and hit another car on her left side ... yet I think she is well off for the car was insured.

Later on we headed back towards Lake Tahoe and visited some nice lookout points along its shore. As we arrived back in Reno we picked up some people and were looking forward to visit a rodeo ... unfortunately we couldn't make it for all the tickets were sold out. We still could enter the fairground and it was fun to see lots of people dressed as cowboys (the real US?) ...

Finally we visited the movies and watched Nacho Libre ... a comedy movie ... about a priest in Mexico that wants to be Wrestler ... kind of stupid sometimes, yet still fun.

The next day I had to get off early in the morning for I had to catch my bus for San Francisco at 7:30 in the morning. The journey was pretty short and after a few hours I already arrived in downtown San Francisco.

There I tried to get a taxi ... but all the driver refused me ... until I understod that the Gay Parade was going on and that many streets were closed. So I walked for a while, crossed the parade (yet seemed to be over already) and finally found a taxi that brought me to the youth hostel. Some people I met on the trip told me that the area around the hostel is dangerous ... yet for sure it's not the safest area in San Francisco but it still wasn't as bad.

After updating my blog I decided to visit the hilly area and its cable cars. It's really impressive and it reminds me the scenery in couple of movies. Thus I walked up and down, visited China Town and finally went back to the youth hostel. There I read a few pages, wrote my first postcards (yes finally!!!) and went to bed early.

The next day I changed the youth hostel ... let's talk about it later ... :)

San Francisco ... yuppeee!!!

Time goes on so fast ... and as usual I have to hurry to write my blog entry :)

As mentioned I went back to Salt Lake City after I brought my stuff to the greyhound terminal. The Arts Festival is nothing really special, lots of artist sell their paintings and there are some concerts going on. After a while I got hungry and the food on the Festival wasn't as cheap; thus I decided to go back to the Chuck-A-Rama (the place you eat for 10 bucks). Afterwards I went back to the Festival and was looking forward to listen to a Symphonie Orchestra Concert ... they should have started at 8:30, yet until they began it was after 9:00 and I just had a couple of minutes before I had to leave in order to take my bus towards Reno.

As I left the festival I waited for the bus ... and after a while I had to figure out that there was no bus to the greyhound terminal anymore (at 9 pm?!?). Yet, I could take another bus and had to walk for a while ... got a bit lost ... got in a hurry ... saw lots of strange people (so I also discovered that not anything is shining in Salt Lake City ... but almost) ... and finally still could get my ticket on time for my bus.

And then big surprise ... guess ... yes bus drivers of Greyhound don't seem to like their job ... another bus driver didn't show up ... the second time in a couple of days. It was kind of bad because the next day I had to be on time, for I was meeting Beverley in Reno (an English girl I met on my first trip in Washington; she was only reachable by email) and I didn't know how to notify her. Ok so the driver didn't show up and we didn't know a lot what was going on ... there were some rumours that the bus would leave around 3 am in the morning. So we were waiting and I had the opportunity to talk to some guys. I met a guy who served the US army and spent a couple of years in Germany (it seems there are lots of them in the US) ... he told me about German beer and girls *funny*. I also talked to a girl that had 8 brothers and sisters (her parents got both divorced) ... for sure it was also funny to talk to her.

After 2 o'clock we all got curious what was going on ... there was kind of a stupid security officer ... you know this kind of person ... they have no power in their private life but as soon as they get some in their professional life ... they're really proud about it and like to use it (same situation in the army ... I hate these people that fuck you up all day) ... so he felt that we were kind of rude towards him and that he had to handle us the same way. What do you think if someone tells you at one clock (in the morning) that if someone complains he kicks out every single person of the bus terminal and that it is not his problem that we have to wait ... so what happened finally was that before we were able to take the bus he made a personal security check on every person. That means that he checked all our bags for weapons and stuff and he checked every single person with his stupid metal detector. By the way we had to stay in a row and "if your bag is not open and ready to be searched, you'll have to wait at the end of the line and you won't be able to take the bus at 3 am" (so you would have to wait until 11 am). I was kind of afraid because I had my swiss army knife and I wasn't ok to lose it (yet I was able to hide it). Finally he told us that it's our own decision to travel with Greyhound ... and that he didn't travel with Greyhound for 35 years ... ok, enough ... I know I got excited again :)

Honestly, I still think Greyhound is ok ... just expect to be late ... yet it works and you'll meet lots of funny people ... and it's pretty cheap (depending on ticket/pass) ...

So the next day I arrived late in Reno (after 11 am instead of 7 am) and as I got out of the greyhound terminal I was looking for Canada Hall. Google Map had cheated on me, Canada Hall I had found was just a building under construction (and not the building I was looking for). Yet I had a street name and after a hike with my luggage I was able to find Canada Hall at the University of Reno. Yet the next problem was that I expected that nobody was waiting for me ... for I was as late.

I waited for a couple of minutes ... a girl came out and I asked her about Beverley ... and I was so happy ... she was informed about the Swiss Boy. So she could tell me where Beverley was ... Beverley and her friends were looking soccer ... and it was Switzerland against South Korea ... so I was able to see the soccer game too ... and was happy that Switzerland won (most were Korea supporters actually). I will try to see the game tomorrow ... good luck again!!!

Ups I'm still in Reno with my story and not in San Francisco ... yet I've got only 01:35 left ... tztztz ... talk to you later guys ...

Best regards from San Francsico!!!

My days in SLC

Hey I really enjoy my time here in Salt Lake City.

Yesterday I finally arrived around 10 o'clock in Salt Lake City and the first thing I did was to look for my accommodation. Yet everything worked out well and after 20 minutes I already arrived at the motel. Yet it was too early to check in ... and I was looking forward to get a shower for I was travelling since two days, yet I had to wait until the afternoon.

According to the motel manager and my lonely planet ... I had to check first Temple Square. Temple Square is a small area downtown Salt Lake City with impressive churches and buildings of the Mormons ... Salt Lake City's importance to the Mormons is comparable to Rome for the catholics. Thus I entered Temple Square and as soon as I entered I got invited for a discovery tour led by missionars of this church. Was kind of weird, they were always talking about their beliefings and made lots of advertisement for their church ... yet the buildings were nice and I still got some points about their religion.

Later on I visited the local city park and climbed part of the mountain right behind the city. The capitol and a nice residential area are located there. I had the opportunity to take some pictures and also to discover Salt Lake ... a big lake that gave its name to the city.

Afterwards it was time to get back to the motel and I really enjoyed to take a shower :)

At night I did a short discovery trip to the university (really beautiful ... a nice place to study) ... had some good food at a restaurant (a tasty buffet for $10.25) and later on I went to the movies ... and guess ... I met some Swiss girls, I couldn't believe it ... the first Swiss since I am in North America ... and I met them at the red light asking for directions. Yep ... the world seems to be small sometimes ...

We saw Lake House ... not too bad but kind of confusing ... yet besides the movie I enjoyed to talk Swiss german to some guys ;) After the movie the two Swiss women couldn't get back to their motel, for the public transportation wasn't working anymore (too late) and we couldn't figure out the number of a taxi company (a weird guy tried to help us ... but he seemed to know nothing). I then got a crazy idea and just asked a young couple if they could offer a ride to the other Swiss guys. Everybody seemed a bit confused first (by my action), yet it worked out ... and everybody (including me, ok I my motel was so close I could walk easily) got a free ride from some nice local people. That was really cute!

The next day I went back to the university area, checked the olympic park (nice arena) and spent some time at university again. On the way back I went again to the library, changed reservations for my hostel in San Francisco (the hostel at Fisher's Wharf seems to be located in a much better neighborhood according to the Swiss people I met the night before) and I updated my blog (right now).

Later on I will bring my luggage to the bus station, will have a look on the Arts festival and get some food before I finally will take the bus at 10:30 pm to head towards Reno.

Cu again in Reno ... an good luck for the Swiss Soccer Team ... I hope to see the game too!!!

Welcome in Salt Lake City :)

Hey guys ... once more I got internet access at a public library ... out of an hour only 36 minutes are left :) Yet I prepared some writing on the bus, for I had over 50 hours to spend ... :)

Before I left for my second trip it was time to say good bye to Yui, for she wouldn't be in Winnipeg anymore. Together with Lisa and Mark we celebrated my last night at the Earls; it was kind of sad for it also remembered me the night I had to say good bye to Shinya as well on how it will be at the end of July (my final leave-taking).

However, we spent a good time at the bar and after midnight I finally got home. I didn't feel well, for I had so much to do (preparations) and at the same time I was tired of the half marathon I ran the same day.

The half marathon was a very good experience. After a few hours of sleep I had to get off at 6 in the morning. Together with my roommates we all had decided to run the half marathon; so we had to get ready early (my roommate bet me, I thought I was late coming home at 2 am, yet I think it was even after 2:30 am as he arrived *smile*). It was a rainy day; however, this was the perfect weather condition for it keeps your body cool.

It was surprising to see thousands of people on a early Sunday morning ... all willing to run a half or even a full marathon. During the first few kilometres I wasn't able to run fast for there was such a crowd. Yet, it made me feel good to pass lots of people ... it really motivates to keep a faster pace. It was also amazing to see all the people along the street cheering up the runners. Some even distributed beer (for free!), others served pieces of fruit, ice or also water.

The half marathon went over good so far and I had no problems during my first fifteen kilometres. Unfortunately my right knee started hurting and I had to fight against myself in order to keep running. Especially, the last 2 km were very hard ... after 1:55:06 I was happy to have finished my first half marathon (something more than 21 km).

But back to that night ... I was tired and I wasn't prepared neither had I cleaned my room. I was upset that I had to do all that stuff at the last moment in time. Finally around 04:45 am I was done and I just had a bit more than one hour to get a rest. I also didn't sleep well and was pissed off to go alone (to my upcoming trip). At this point in time I would have preferred to cancel the entire trip; but that wouldn't have make sense for everything was already organized (and I was just to tired to think logically).

After I had a shower and I finallz was ready to leave I felt better. My roommate oferred me a ride to the Greyhound Bus Terminal. Lots of people told me lots of stories about Greyhound and I got curious the know the truth :) So my fears (about the trip) were gone fast and I got excited.

As I talked to the Grezhound employee he got kind of excited about my long journey to Salt Lake City (50 hours trip (including breaks) and over 3400 km long). On that journez I had to pass Grand Forks, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha, Kansas City, Denver and so on ...

During my ride to Kansas City I had the opportunity to talk to some guys on the bus. I met two girls, who headed towards Texas and I also talked to a black guy who moved from Fargo to Omaha. He got kicked out by his parents two days ago for he had to deal with the police (under legal age alcohol consumption). He already went to jail (because of booze?) and also had a kid. Finally he was unemployed ... all that with only 19 years of age ... made me feel kind of sad to see differences of lifes and opportunities that different people face ...

After Kansas City I met some other funny guys who had to travel for as long as I did too. One came from North Dakota and headed towards Las Vegas, another came from New Orleans and traveled as well to Salt Lake City. He told us bad stories about New Orleans (people lost all their belongings they ever worked for, still lots of crime there, ...), yet was pretty happy to get back to Salt Lake City and to enjoy holiday for a while.

In a small town we suddenly didn't have any bus driver, for the 'take over' driver (what's the right word?) didn't show up. So we waited in the nowhere until we got a new driver (after around 2 and a half hours) ... yet I had a previewed break in Denver of 7 hours and thus it didn't bother me. The same night I had the opportunity to visit Denver for a couple of hours (nice downtown area!) before I finally had to take the last bus that drove me overnight to Salt Lake City.

More stories about Salt Lake City on my next post ... feel free to write any comments ... so far you can feel proud if you read this huge post ... and it would make me feel better in order I knew that someone studied my blog :)

Hello from Salt Lake City ...

Ready for another trip?

In a few hours will start my second trip ... kind of amazing ... the last two weeks went over so fast. And I even didn't update my blog ... tztztz!!!

However, I will try to keep you updated during my upcoming trip.
My schedule looks as follows:

Monday	June 19, 2006	Winnipeg	Travel
Tuesday	June 20, 2006	Travel	Travel
Wednesday	June 21, 2006	Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City
Thursday	June 22, 2006	Salt Lake City	Travel
Friday	June 23, 2006	Reno	Reno
Saturday	June 24, 2006	Reno	Reno
Sunday	June 25, 2006	Reno	San Francisco
Monday	June 26, 2006	San Francisco	San Francisco
Tuesday	June 27, 2006	San Francisco	San Francisco
Wednesday	June 28, 2006	San Francisco	San Francisco
Thursday	June 29, 2006	San Francisco	San Francisco
Friday	June 30, 2006	San Francisco	San Francisco
Saturday	July 01, 2006	Portland	Portland
Sunday	July 02, 2006	Portland	Seattle
Monday	July 03, 2006	Seattle	Seattle
Tuesday	July 04, 2006	Seattle	Seattle
Wednesday	July 05, 2006	Seattle	Vancouver
Thursday	July 06, 2006	Vancouver	Vancouver
Friday	July 07, 2006	Vancouver	Vancouver
Saturday	July 08, 2006	Vancouver	Vancouver
Sunday	July 09, 2006	Vancouver	Vancouver
Monday	July 10, 2006	Vancouver	Vancouver
Tuesday	July 11, 2006	Travel	Travel
Wednesday	July 12, 2006	Winnipeg

Enjoy your time ... talk to you soon!!!

10,600 km of roads ... and finally back in Winnipeg

I'm finally back in Winnipeg ... my blog wasn't updated for a long time, thus I think I have now some work to do ... :)

Let's continue where the last post ended ...

We visited Quebec City, a pretty impressive city with lots of old buildings. Many Canadians told me that it is one of their preferred cities. However, I prefer more modern cities like Toronto, New York or Montreal. A reason might probably be that I got used to see this kind of cities, cities with beautiful old houses as we have many in Switzerland, France or in general in Europe.





The next day we continued our way to the seven falls (les sept chutes); according to Lonely Planet the falls should be more impressive then the falls of Morency. Arrived in the park we were almost the only visitors, the park had just opened a couple of days before.

The park is pretty beautiful, the park consists of seven falls (as the name says) from the top to the bottom and the water falls are also used to generate electricity.




After leaving the falls we planned heading towards Montreal. Yet, first we were looking to visit the cathedral of Sainte Anne. The cathedral is pretty impressive and is build on two floors; something I've never seen before.





Finally after a break at Tim Horton's ... my mother was already addicted in the meanwhile ... we headed towards Montréal. On the way we did a stop at Walmart where I could backup my pictures and later on we got some delicious Chinese food at a local restaurant. We finally got to Montreal before midnight and were lucky to find a motel within a short time.

The next day we took the car to the next shopping mall (free parking!) and from there we could take the subway towards downtown. I got pretty impressed by the clean and modern subway of Montreal ... there was a big difference to the subway of New York which is pretty old and dirty.

In the old part of Montréal we visited the cathedral and we went down to the pier where is also located a nice small park with a good view on the borders of the river.



Later on that day we visited the newer part of Montréal ... modern architecture, impressive skycrapers and lots of shops.




Finally we climbed on Mont Royal to get an exciting view of the city at sunset.


Jardin botanique (public garden) and Olympic village - that was the plans of our next day. We spent almost all day in this wonderful park ... let the pictures talk for themselves ... and for everybody who likes taking pictures it's one of the best opportunities to do this.






As the park closed we had a short look a the olympic center. The building is pretty impressive; however, I don't like this architecture because of the excessive use of concrete.


Ottawa was our next destination; it is a pretty small city compared to other cities we already had visited before. First we visited the National Art Gallery; yet, it is not as good as the Art Galleries of Chicago or Washington. We also visited the local market where you could buy plenty of fruit and vegetable.




As we arrived at the parliament we first visited the parliament hill. Later on we walked besides the main entrance and by chance we were able to get a free tour inside the parliament within 10 minutes. Many students work as tourist guides at the Canadian parliament ... for sure a fun job if you're a Canadian student looking for a summer job!!! I got pretty impressed as one of the guides spoke fluently German ... probably the first person I met in Canada that spoke German and didn't have German roots.



At the end of the interesting presentation (we visited the senate and the house of commons chamber) ... we were just 5 persons in our group and had our own guide ... we had the great opportunity to enjoy the view over the city out of the peace tower.


After this amazing day we already headed towards Toronto; yet it was already too late to reach Toronto and thus we stopped in Kingston and found a convenient motel there.

... to be continued ...

Road Trip Pictures ONLINE!

Enjoy plenty of new pictures in the photo gallery!