Monday, September 22, 2008

Beautiful San Francisco!

San Francisco - I guess the prettiest big city in California (go there!). The whole bay area has actually a lot of charming things to offer. Honking while driving over the Golden Gate Bridge or the Bay Bridge is a fantastical experience! It definitely feels like being in a movie. San Francisco has other characteristics that make the place really special: It is hilly, it has cable cars, it is multicultural, you will find a beautiful Chinatown and many things more.

In San Francisco I met four Swiss girls that flew with me from Zurich to New York in the very beginning of my road trip. They seemed to be okay so we decided to see each other in S.F. - actually we already had a really fun time in the airplane. First of all because they were planning out their entire trip whereas I didn't have a plan at all: The first time I read my lonlyplanet traveller guides was on the airplane. They already knew at which hotel they will spend each and every night... So I contrasted the girls pretty well.
In San Francisco we then met on Union Square and that's where the whole story started off. We went shopping together, we rented bikes together and went out together. It was an awesome time!

Have a look at the pictures! 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sick of stones, rocks and trees

It was in Moab (Utah) where I had a sudden change of heart: I am sick of all the stones, rocks and trees: Back to civilisation! I mean I have really seen every shape of a stone by now, it is about time to see human beings again. I am sick of little boys showing me their hats with pins from all the national park they have been to :) It's high time to head to San Francisco and meet Fabienne, Laurence, Adrienne and Nadja that I met on the airplane to New York. We decided to meet in San Francisco. But now let me tell you some stories that happened on the way to S.F.

Riverrafting  on the Colorado
In Moab I went riverrafting with the Germans I met in Grand Canyon. I didn't raft in a red river before - the water was all red from the stones and the sand! We expected a really dangerous time on the river but oh my god the river was not even moving. The most dramatic thing was that we got blocked by a stone because the water was so low :) 10 minutes of pure panic and drama!

I almost froze to death aka. 33° F in Yosemite National Park
Arriving at Yosemite National Park I was stunned by its beauty: So I decided to spend a night there in my car. That was a really spontaneous action. I had no clue how cold it would get, I didn't even have a blanket, sleeping bag or any equipment that was needed. At sunset I hiked up to Elizabeth Lake to lie in the sun and that's where I met a family from the Bay Area. We got into a conversation and I told them about my adeventurous plan to spend the night in the car - I was still laughing when I told them the story - well... they were not! They invited me for dinner on their campground. I enjoyed a really nice evening at their fireplace and, hey, thank you for saving my life! They gave me a blanket and even with that I almost froze to death. It was so freaking cold - Zero degrees Celsius. At 4 o'clock in the morning I felt so cold that I simply started the car and moved on to warmer places :)

Click here to see the pictures!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Wild Wild West

There is much more in Arizona than the Grand Canyon: Let me share all the other nice places with you. There are actually not too many of them! And you don't go to Arizona for experiences with human beings, you come here for the nature. If you go to Arizona you will find a lot of really small places: Population 100, Population 3000, maybe... well Phoenix is big but it is by far the ugliest thing I have ever seen so far (It even outperformed Calgary in ugliness). The funniest thing on the way to Phoenix was a girl in a car flirting with a train driver: They were honking at each other for the longest time; the train driver had this ear smashing huge horn!

The city I liked the most in Arizona was Flagstaff. I only spent one night there and arrived late but this place was crowded; people just came back to school at Northern Arizona University. So I kept asking people about a concert that will be in town but none of them could really help me because they have just arrived like me. It was very easy to get together with other people (..."I am a cute guy, looking for cute company"...). They had awesome bars there and breweries with fine food! Unfortunately a lot of those students there can't even get into the bars: "We are not legal yet"!

Another funny thing happened in Sedona. My friend Arno knows a hair-dresser there that I should go and visit. Her name was Marji and she was just doing Nita's hair when I arrived. She is actually a Russian woman but changed her last name so peole would actually be able to pronounce it correctly. That was a really fun conversation I had there: really friendly people.

Later I headed to Page which was my basis to discover Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon and the Horseshoe Bend. Check out the pictures to see how amazing those things look like!

Here you can look at the pictures

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

How the Grand Canyon looks at the very bottom...

I was really looking forward to see the Grand Canyon - it is about a four hour drive from Las Vegas - so quite a long time until you get to see the spectacle. Fortunately the landscape changes drastically when you drive to Grand Canyon from the South, so it isn't boring at all. In Vegas you are in the middle of the desert but the whole environment will get green once you approach Grand Canyon. The green of the north-western part of Arizona contrasts perfectly with the blue sky, the black road with the yellow stripes on it and some yellow plants.

The mean thing about Grand Canyon is that you don't get the smallest glimpse of its beauty until you are at the rim. The Grand Canyon ist the mother of all canyons, it is massive! It is so huge that you can't grasp it at first and it feels like you are looking at a picture hanging in front of you. The colors are simply amazing and they change over time as the sun is moving! I arrived at sunset and got to see the canyon in a very special light. In order to grasp the size of the canyon I decided to hike down to the bottom the next day.

At 4:30 am it was time to get up and get ready for the hiking day; I wanted to be there at sunrise. At the shuttle bus stop there were a handful of other people - but it seemed not that many of the visitors get to see the bottom of the canyon. I met three German guys at the bus stop that had the same intentions as I had. Taking South Kaibab Trail down in the morning and going up again on Bright Angel Trail. That's a total of almost 30 kilometers and a difference in altiutude of 1'500 meters one way! And then there is the sun it get's 40+° Celsius on the trail. So everything was set for a challenging hike! It was a lot of fun to hike with the Germans, actually it would have been quite crazy to hike all the trail alone so I am really happy I ran into them.

Have a look at the Grand Canyon pictures.

The way I travel
I want to say a few words about the way I travel; I have a car, I have music, I have lonely planet guides and I do NOT have a schedule of my trip. Most of the time I know where I will spend the next two nights but not much more; the activities throughout the day are always really spontaneous and flexible. If I want to sleep in, I will sleep in. If I meet people, I simply hang out with them. If I want to have a fantastic dinner, I simply get it... It's quite amazing what you get to experience if you do not depend on anything. Trust me, I am loving it!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

My first hat

I already wrote in my last post about Santa Barbara, well I stayed there for a little longer with my friend Arno who does an internship at Eiffel Software in Goleta (just next to Santa Barbara). So please check out the new pictures in the Santa Barbara album.

Shopping: Downtown Santa Barbara is awesome for shopping! The great thing is that they don't have a big mall there - it is more the European style of shopping where you have little boutiques on a street. I have found a store I adore: The Urban Outfitters. Check them out if you are in the US. So I got myself a hat here (You'll see it on the pictures); the first hat I have ever possessed :-D My mum will be so proud of me - I was never wearing hats or caps before but sometimes you simply fall in love! There is actually a t-shirt that I bought along with it: it has Tony the Tiger from the Kellog's Frosties on it. The color of the shirt is of course blue ;)

Surfing: Unfortunately there are no pictures that would proof my surfing experience! My secretary was out of office ;) ... so how is surfing if you are an amateur, meaning you never ever surfed before! Well you should probably go to a surfing course with a good teacher... I tried it the hard way and just got a surf board to try it out myself. Well Arno and Paul were along and they were of course already pro's at it: wait in the water orthogonal to the wave - paddle - paddle - paddle - PADDLE... and stand up! That's the way it works, and yes it worked several times!
So for the guys among you who know how to surf: I got this soft surf board without wetsuit! If you surf half a day with a soft board you will rub it all the time against your tummy, chest and breast - it hurts like hell - you look like a lobster and you really don't want anybody to touch your nipples (Insider: and especially not Svendsen!). But all in all it was so worth it; it is incredible when you feel that you ride the wave, the speed and the force of the water! Try it out by yourself even if it is only for a few hours. It is absolutely the greatest way to experience the force of the sea.

Sunset: That was one beautiful sunset there - don't want to say much about it, have a look at the pictures! There is just one problem with the sunset in Santa Barbara: the sun goes down behind the mountains so if you are lying at the beach you will miss the sun very early!

Dancing: Going out was a lot of fun in hip Santa Barbara, first of all it is important that there are a lot of young people (major source is the University of California there, girls are back in town!).  Secondly it is important to go to the right place: We went to the Wildcat! A great place to dance and meet people - they even have an outdoor patio and kick ass music. Oh, I forgot to mention the juicy dancers in the fishnet stockings. Incredibly great atmosphere there! I can't really remember but we got ourselves a stretch limo taxi to get home! That was awesom too (thanks Arno, ha ha): First time for me!

a thing you should know about the leftmost lane on freeways! On big freeways like the one I described in my last post you will find a car pool lane. Check out the video on youtube! You are only allowed to use this lane when there are at least two persons in your car. It's the first time you realize that there is almost nobody sharing his car! Everybody sits in his own car!

Las Vegas
Strange city in the middle of nowhere: A lot of entertainment, money, freaks and whores! The thing that was best in Las Vegas: Cirque du Soleil. I watched the Mystere show! It was absolutely AMAZING!! If you are in Vegas - watch one of those shows! Find the pictures of Las Vegas here!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Erste Eindrücke: Über filmreife Szenen…

Jawohl, die USA ist eine Aneinanderreihung von Filmszenen, man hat so einiges schon in einem Film gesehen - in der Realität jedoch meist noch eindrucksvoller. Aber jetzt zurück zum Film: Alles, was einem nicht gefällt kann man hier einfach ausblenden! Ich möchte euch darum hier ein paar kurze Szenen beschreiben. Die Fotos sollt Ihr natürlich auch anschauen, die sind nämlich immer mit Kommentaren versehen, damit man meine Reise mitverfolgen kann!

Szene1: Freeway
Den Mazda M3 mit Her(t)z gefasst und den Zielort im GPS eingegeben fahre ich ahnungslos los: Das ist doch mal ein guter Start! Es ist schon dunkel draussen und ich bin nun schon 16 Stunden „wach“ (ZRH-JFK-LAX); also beste Voraussetzungen um ein bisschen Free- und Highway zu fahren. Glücklicherweise lotst mich das GPS auch auf einen solchen und das war dann auch die erste überwältigende Szene: Da rast man von einer Rampe auf den Freeway nieder: Links von der Mittelmauer sieben Spuren weisse Lichter, rechts davon sieben Spuren rote Lichter. Unumgänglich musste ich überwältigendes „Woooow“ von mir geben.

Szene2: Verfolgungsjagd
Langsam hatte ich genug von der Küste und dem Strand bei Santa Monica – darum bin ich auf dem Interstate 5 durch das Innere von diesem Riesenkalifornien gefahren! Ebenfalls überwältigend: Weitläufige Hügelzüge mit gelben Gräsern überzogen geben den Eindruck von goldigem Samt; unglaublich schön, gross und überdimensioniert. Plötzlich geht’s dann wieder runter und vor sich sieht man einfach in eine unendliche flache Ebene; dort wird Landwirtschaft für die Masse betrieben und mit Tiefenpumpen („pumpjacks“) Gas gefördert. Diese Weitläufigkeit drückt unumgänglich auf das Gaspedal; Bei einer Kreuzung hatte ich dann auch endgültig genug von der lahmen Ente vor mir und überhole Sie direkt nach dem Stopp mit einem Garacho! Da schiesst ein laurender Stereotyp-Polizist mit seinem Standardwagen wie eine Rakete aus dem Gebüsch! Staub, Dreck und Kies in der Luft und rot-blaue Lichter im Rückspiegel. Ui, Verfolgungsjagd :-D … ich hab dann aber aufgegeben und rechts angehalten; Ich hab ihm meinen schwedischen Führerschein übergeben… „you drive way too fast and way too dangerous!“ … „You got to drive wayyyy slower… or do you want me to make you walk??“ … okay, ich habe die doppelgestreifte Mittellinie beim Überholen überfahren! Das Ganze war dann aber im Nachhinein wirklich sehr amüsant.

Szene3: Be happy & funny all the time
Ich habe bis jetzt keine unglücklich wirkenden Amerikaner getroffen (ah, doch, aber nur in Las Vegas!). Um weiter mit der amerikanischen Kultur auf Tuchfühlung zu gehen schaltet man auch mal das Radio ein! Da gibt’s dann immer so Gewinnspiele, wo man und frau anrufen können um Gallonen für Ihre Trucks zu gewinnen. Das wichtigste am Ganzen ist, dass die Amerikaner nur happy people hören wollen; darum lacht der Moderator mit etwa zehn bulligen Männern im Hintergrund nach jedem Satz, den der Teilnehmer sagt. Hier wird per Knopfdruck gelacht und automatisch ist jeder Mensch glücklich & lustig hier ;-D

Vorurteile
Man sagt ja immer die Leute sind dick hier und fahren riesige Autos? Stimmt gar nicht - an der Californian Coast ist man sportlich, man surft (habe ich natürlich auch probiert - macht sehr viel Spass!), man ist sexy und man besitzt Kompaktwagen oder sogar Hybridfahrzeuge. Mr. Schwarzenegger ist ja hier der Boss - das will einem irgendwie nicht in den Kopf reingehen, wenn man durch Kalifornien fährt... der hat in seinen Filmen ja nicht einmal einen vernünftigen Dialog auswendig gelernt.

Allgemeine Situation
Es geht mir sehr gut hier in den USA, darum bin ich auch noch nicht gross zum bloggen gekommen: jetzt geht's aber los und ich versuch auch noch ein weiteres Mal von mir hören zu lassen. Vermisse nämlich die eine und den anderen unter euch schon bisschen! Momentan habe ich mich entschieden in Deutsch zu schreiben, aber das könnte jeden Moment ändern. Ich freu mich auf jede Antwort von euch! Jetzt gönnt euch aber die Photos!

Photos
Los Angeles Area
Ich habe in Santa Monica gewohnt und das übliche Touristenprogramm gemacht.

Interstate 5
Von L.A. nahm ich den I-5 um schlussendlich mit einem Umweg nach Santa Barbara zu kommen

Santa Barbara Area
Ich war bei Arno auf Besuch, Fotos nicht komplet. Vielen Dank nochmals für die Gastfreundschaft

Momentan sitz ich gerade im Grand Canyon fest... wirklich atemberaubend.