We departed in Vegas at midnight to fly to Fort Lauderdale. We arrived at 7am local time and met Freddy at the baggage claim. After taking a cab to our motel we had a nice bagel breakfast and decided to go to Miami Beach for the day and just take it easy. Since the water was way too cold for us (except for Freddy) we just lay on the beach a bit and walked down the promenade. The next day we planned to go to little Havanna and see more of the city, which is not too nice though. We had a great lunch in a restaurant where no one could speak english. Thankfully, Freddy was our spanish translator and ordered us something nice. After that we went into a few cuban cigar shops where a nice woman told us a lot about the production of the cigars, conflicts with Cuba, and.. basically her whole life story. She was really nice and it was interesting to listen to her. The next day we planned a tour to the everglades and have a aligator tour. We took the bus outside of Miami on a extremely warm day and made some incredible pictures. The time in Miami went by fast. The four days were the last ones in America for Ferdi. Freddy was planning to tour a bit more throught the south states, Jamaica, and Cuba before returning back to Europe.
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After almost three months we came together again to commemorate our roadtrip. I took an airplane to Vancouver and from there the ferry to Victoria. Vancouver proved to be something different than I expected. It was rainy! Rainy, rainy, rainy! 200 days of the year it rains! Why do some institutions celebrate it as the number 1 city to live in? I do not understand. At least it doesn´t snow given the proximity of the ocean, but if you wish to do winter sports you will find them here. Remembering the winter Olympics of 2010, Vancouver offers great natural adventures. Once again Canada is majestic! Ferdi and I had 3 days to remember our Grand Tour. In retrospect we remembered all the little details that made this trip so awesome. It´s not the sight of Mount Rushmore, but things like eating Beef Jerky or listening to a song over and over again. There are just so many details that prohibit me from going into detail right now. Every destination had its own flavor, incredibly nice people who showed us America (=USA). America is not one united America, but many. There are thousand different Americas. Extremely different landscapes and mentalities, different industries and ways of life. There is no need for a US citizen to travel abroad, yet to fully comprehend America it would take a lifetime. Ferdi and I had a great time enjoying Victoria, the city which calls itself capital of British Columbia, a city of merely 120.000 inhabitants, located on an island in the Pacific. It takes about 4 hours to travel from Vancouver downtown to Victoria, but it’s a worthwile trip. In fact I´m using my time on the ferry to put my feet up, relax and write this blog entry. Here is what we did in Victoria: Visit Canoe Brewery, ate amazingly good Burgers and Ceasar Salad, visited the Thrift Store, partied and met many people. We played Mario Kart (I lost) cooked Spaghetti, Potatoes and Steak (not all at the same time). My job, of course, was to slice the onions, tomatoes and peppers. Ferdi did the main cooking. In general it was coooold in Victoria. Really cold and wet. Often rainy, but sometimes not. Comparing to San Diego´s recently 27 Celsius this was a nightmare. Luckily I brought both of the two only sweaters I possess. Together they form a great shield against the cold, but still no protection from the rain. Two pairs of socks and a light summer scarf were also helpful. I cannot wait to go back to the warm regions of SoCal. Mount Douglas - The Hill of CedarsNamed after a governor, by definition it should be a hill, because it´s below 1000 feet, but a governor deserves a mountain not a hill. Therefore it´s called mountain. On a rainy Sunday afternoon Ferdi and I hiked up the mountain and enjoyed the view. Afterwards we enjoyed Gerolsteiner! After Raphael left we still had a few days left in San Francisco where we wanted to see a little bit more of the city, go shopping, play some more golf and just relax before going seperate ways. At one of those days we decided to go to north on Route 1 to Point Reyes with Alex and one of his friends, Jaron. We hijked for a few kilometers and decided on the way back to make a stop and jump in to the lake. There were several lakes in the area but we decided to go to the biggest lake which had an enormous rope hanging from a tree just at the water's edge. Some of us jumped in and the other ones took amazing pictures and videos... On the way back to the city we also got some great pics from the Golden Gate Bridge. Before you watch the video let us explain that nothing happened to Jaron. He even jumped into the water afterwards and came out with not one scratch! Very lucky. When we watched the video later again we all laughed and thought about sending it to America's most funnies home videos... On the next day we split up for the day and did some things on our own. We mostly relaxed and Natalie went shopping. In the afternoon we picked up Patrick and decided to go to a baseball game at the AT&T park. The Giants were playing against the Pittsburgh Pirates that night. Unfortunately they lost but we still had our fun. Afterwars we went for a beer in a pub around the corner with Alex and his father who were also at the baseball game. Before the weekend and one of Natalies last days, we decided to go downtown again and see a few more things that we hadn't seen yet. We vistied Ghirardelli, a chocolate factory where we got free candy at every entrance. Afterwarss we went down to fisherman's wharf and bought some sunglasses. Equipped with these awesome Ray-Ban sunglasses we went to pick up Patrick from work and Patrick who studies with us in Maastricht and is doing an exchange semester in Berkely until December. Armed with golf clubs and beer we drove to the golf course in the Golden Gate Park. In America everyone plays golf but almost noone is actually good at it. Excatly our level. When we tried to keep score we had to rename our two Patricks into Patrick (Freddy's cousin) and Patrick 2. As it turned out P2 was quite a cool nickname in the end. After the match we went to an Ethiopian restaurants which was really delicious! On Saturday Patrick, Natalie and us decided to go to Russian River. Our plan was to taste some wine, camp in the wilderness and go kayaking the day after. We arrived quite late so we only got to go to 2 wineries. We bought a bottle at the second one though in order to be prepared for whatever might come. We bought some food and drinks at the local supermarket and set up our tent at our campsite. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the kayak-tour. We didn't want to risk anything because we were all crazy about throwing the others of the kayak and into the river. After 4 hourse we were exhausted and wet enough to get on the road again and back to San Francsico. This weekend was also Natalie's last few days in America. We brought her to the airport the next day and send her back to Germany. It was so much fun having her with us and we really enjoyed the time! Thanks for coming over and doing so much crazy stuff with us! I hope you had as much fun as we did :) After Natalie left Ferdi only had 2 days left in San Francisco. We decided to go to Google, play some Golf, try Windsurfing and eat some more of those amazin Creamcheese bagels. Google was quite fun but we didn't stay there for too long. We were exhausted of our awesome golfplay at the bay. We bet 1 Dollar for every hole and if there would be a tie the dollar would go into the pot for the next hole. Freddy won one dollar in the end. The score was 5-4. Although Freddy just won 2 holes and Ferdi won 3. Unfortunately it was too windy wor windsurfing(?) so we went back to Athena's place and watched some Breaking Bad epsisodes and chilled with the cat! And then... it arrived. The last full day we would spend together on our roadtrip. We met up with one of Freddys friend, Melanie, who he met in Valencia during a language course. We ate some mexican food, drove to different parks and relaxed the whole day. At our last day we went with Athena to the best Sushi place in town. I have never had better Sushi and probably never will have. Every single dish was amazing. Thank you Athena for taking us there and making it the perfect end of our roadtrip! Thank you so much for letting us stay with you Athena! We had so much fun and wish you all the best. Any time you come to Europe just give us a call! :) Final Words
With these final words we would like to thank everyone we met on this roadtrip again for showing us around and offering us a place to stay. We felt like home and we really appreciate that! I hope we weren't too much trouble for you! ;)
We would always be glad to host you too in case you come to Germany or the Netherlands. We wish we will see all of you again sometime! !!Thank you!! your friends, Fredi and Ferdi On our second and my last day in San Francisco we wanted to see as much as we could in the least amount of time. Therefore, we parked our car downtown and then rented some bikes. Freddy had to use his negotiation skills again to get a nice deal. The first offer we got was $45 dollars per bike and we ended up paying $20! Good job Freddy! Our first stop was the palace of fine arts, which had been built for the world expo in 1915. It is a magnificent old construct that looks like a greek palace. We then went on to the Golden Gate Bridge, which was luckily not completely covered in fog. There, we got off our bikes and had a short break - also to take some photos, and since we were there as tourists we took some touristy pictures. I hadn't expected it to be so windy but apparently in San Francisco Bay it is windy all year. After a last steep hill we were finally there: The Golden Gate Bridge. Although biking over it was nothing spectacular, the view we had from there was great! We biked all the way to Sausalito, which is a small town on the other side of San Francisco Bay and home to many artists. From Sausalito we then took a ferry back to San Francisco. Next to taking some photos we also enjoyed an ice cold beer in the morning sun. Of course, we all got hungry now as it was already past noon. Thus, we picked up the Silver Surfer and looked for a restaurant. In the pizza place, where we had lunch I had the biggest pizza that I've ever had in my life! At the restaurant we also met Freddy's friend Alex, who would show us the rest of the city in the afternoon. Our first stop was the Twin Peaks, the highest hills in San Francsisco from where one can see the entire city. Thank you Alex for showing us around! After almost being blown away on the Twin Peaks, we went downtown again. After seeing some other nice spots, we went to meet Patrick again. We got to know San Francisco nightlife pretty well on that evening - what an awesome night! The only sad thing was, that this would be the last night in San Francisco, and also the last night with Freddy, Ferdi, and Natalie. At this point I would like to thank you guys so much for the awesome time and the amazing experience we had! You guys are great and I would do a roadtrip with you again anytime!
We were excited when we entered the probably most beautiful city of the United States via Highway 101. Before us was San Francisco Bay and the magnificent city that's built on it. As Freddy had already been to San Francisco a couple of years ago and stayed there for quite some time, he knew where to lead us. He showed all the major parts of the city, while Ferdi was doing a great job driving up and down the extremely steep streets of the city that had been built on 43 hills. After we had seen the major parts of the city, we went downtown, where we should meet Freddy's cousin Patrick, who is working for a law firm there. We had to apply our best negotiation skills in order not to get ripped of at the parking lot. On our way to the office building we met the guy, who made our day. He asked us: "What's the best nation?" - Of course, we all answered: "America!" - His reply: "No man, DOnation". In retrospect we should have given him a DOnation just for bringing a smile to our faces. The employees at Patrick's law firm were welcoming us warmly - especially Freddy, who had done an internship there before. Together with Patrick we then went for to a bar close by to grab some beers. Time flew, and soon we get hungry - time for a Burger! We said goodbye to Patrick and went to the shopping street of San Francisco. It felt so weird to be walking through this part of the city, where you could only see well-dressed people with shopping bags and business people, while one block away one should be careful whom to look in the eye - a city of contrasts. Again, we could enjoy some really nice burgers. As you can see, it is one of my habits to take pictures of food. This is, because a picture comes closest to actually eating it ;-) It was an intense day, so we were all happy when we were finally on our way to Athena's place, where we would stay for the next two nights. Athena is a friend of Freddy and works in San Francisco as an accountant. We immediately felt at home when she was welcoming us - thank you Athena for letting us into civilization again after three days of camping! You were a great host!
We ended our evening with watching a movie and chilling on the couch - what an awesome day! When we got up at 7 in the morning in Big Sur, we did not know that this would be the probably most intense day we've had so far on our roadtrip through California. We packed our tent and all the other things, had some cereals for breakfast and packed everything in the Silver Surfer, who at this point just had completed his first 100,000 miles! Happy Birthday! Our first destination was Pebble Beach in Carmel, the town with probably the highest amount of millionaires living in one place. It was insane! We had to pay 10$ to enter the so called "17 miles drive" which was a narrow street that led us through the millionaire/billionaire village of Carmel. One huge house next to another - you have to have seen this! After that it was time for our second breakfast. We celebrated our comeback to civilization after three days with some hotdogs from 7-eleven at 10am. The best - and actually first - real hotdog that I've ever had. We were then heading for Santa Cruz, a small coast town that actually looks quite Spanish. Like some other Cities on the Californian Coast it has a pier and a funpark next to it. We were not staying there for long because we wanted to arrive in San Francisco at five. Ferdi, our driver on this day, had to concentrate on the street for the next hour, while we could enjoy seeing the redwood forest on our way to Stanford - thanks for that Ferdi! Soon after, we arrived at Stanford University - a must-see according to Freddy. And he was right! The campus of Stanford is great. Everything is built with sand stone of the same colour, there are flowers and trees (and Mexicans watering them) everywhere. First thing we did: More fastfood at Subway! Then we walked round campus to see where Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page had studied. I can recommend everyone to go there. After we could not stand the heat anymore, we decided to continue our trip and go to San Francisco accompanied by our California Soundtrack (Californication, San Francisco, California Dreaming, etc.). We got up really early on Sunday. Not only, because we were freezing in our tent, but also because we wanted to arrive at our next destination as early as possible. This destination was Molera Campground in Big Sur. This campground is pure nature. Situated next to a river that enters the sea right next to it, the camp ground was an experience for me, that I haven't had so far. After setting up our tent and having breakfast, we needed to go for some groceries. We went to a mini-market nearby. What we didn't know until we got there: every Sunday they have a BBQ for motel guests and anyone else who wants to have some grilled burgers under the trees next to the beautiful river. And the burgers were great! Angus beef burgers - finally something good to eat again. Since Freddy was basically pushing us back to the beach, we could do nothing but go there, and it was worth the hurry. On our way from the campground to the beach, we walked along the small river until we found a place to jump in, at least Freddy and Ferdi did so (see pictures). The next morning we wanted to get up early - in the end we got up at 10 and were on the road at about 12. Our next destination should be Santa Barbara. Although we first had planned to spend the night in or close to Santa Barbara, we changed our schedule again. We just stopped in SB for a tank of gas and some incredibly delicious Mexican food (see pictures). After that, we were heading towards Big Sur, without really knowing, where to stay for the night and what and where to eat. Therefore, we just drove on and on until we came to a beach that fulfilled our requirements for building another sand castle on it. So we built another big sand castle on the beach, the name of which we don't know - the only thing we know is, that the sand there is awesome! "Weird Germans", they must have thought when they saw four twenty-two year olds building a sand castle. When we felt that it was time to look for a place to sleep, we made some more 50 miles on the bendy roads of California - the mountains to the right and the sea to the left. For people who have never been to Big Sur, it is hard to imagine that next to big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego there are hundreds of miles of coast with no civilization at all. Everything is almost like it had been when the first settlers arrived - except for the famous Highway 1. Since it was Friday evening it was quite hard to find a campground that still had open spots. We came to one that was in the woods close to the coast and had no facilities but some porta potties. As our only alternative was to do wild camping, we happily accepted the offer to put up our tent on one of the last spots. Without anything but some cereals to eat we made us feel at home by putting up our tent and having some smalltalk with our neighbors, who invited us for a round of cornhole (if you don't know it, look it up - it's heeps of fun!). For California, this night was really cold. Too cold for Natalie, who didn't really sleep that much. The three of us guys had already internalized the natural schedule of going to bed when it gets dark and getting up with the first sunlight, which, by the way, is great! You feel so much better than with the "artificial" rhythm we have due to coffee and lightbulbs. Although we had been warned, that we might meet some mountain lions, rattle snakes or bobcats out there, unfortunately we didn't see any.
The next day, we had some breakfast and then got ready to get on the road. The first day of roadtrippin' for me! Only by playing Tetris for half an hour, we were able to fit all our suitcases and bags in the small Honda Civic sedan. Freddy and Ferdi gave this car its own name: The Silver Surfer. We soon gave up the original plan to drive to Santa Barbara within this day and just drove to Malibu, which took us about one and a half hours. Malibu was much too beautiful to just leave behind and go on to Santa Barbara. We found a nice camp ground outside Malibu, which was on a hill facing the sea. After having checked in, we started the day off with some Burritos from Chipotle - the first Burritos I have ever eaten and the best so far. The next thing to do was, of course, going to the famous beach of Malibu. Since we were not only there for having fun but also to do some actual work, we built a huge sand castle with a dungeon so deep, that the lifeguard had to tell us to fill it again once we're done because a child might drown in it. Everyone on the beach was amazed by our German engineering that could withstand even the strongest waves In the evening, Ferdi made some of his famous Heartattack Burgers (see picture) - delicious. As noone of us was tired yet, we walked around the camp ground in order to see whether there was still something going on. That was when we met two guys who we had drinks with until more and more people joined. In the end our party of about 20 people was interrupted by the campground owner, who sent us all away and to bed. With the only noise being the waves on the ocean everyone fell asleep quite quickly - except for Freddy, who was on patrol for another two hours.
Okay okay, now I know. Jon Cryer. To me the guy was only known as Allan, the annoying appendix of Charlie Sheen. He should be called Alan Cryer in Tow and a half Men, because he is complaining all the time. Well, now he is our neighbour. At least for a few days. Judd, our host, has never seen him, but his parents have. They say he is a really nice guy, just how you would imagine a regular neigbour. As soon as Ferdi heard that Alan lives next door, he went crazy like a little school girl and wanted to meet him. We almost had to put him on a leash, because he was continuously inventing new ways to get in contact with Allan. His favorite is the version where he pops up at his door and says in the weirdest german accent: "Hälllooo, Aim fromm Shermäny, Wii want tou pläy Flunkyball wiss you!" Today is the second full day in L.A. last night Ferdi, Megan (Judd´s cousin) and I chilled at the pool and had a couple of beers, while Natalie went to bed. The first day was just too hard for her. She doesn´t know "work hard, play hard" yet. If the first day was exhausting, the second day was even more. Weather is nice, but we didn´t sleep much, but still we had to check out all spots of L.A. of which still a few were missing. The first stop we made was at a little breakfast place. Very relaxing, good food and assumed to be a good celebrity check-out spot. Judd kept telling us about whom he or his dad had met in L.A. like Eddie Van Halen. Especially in Studio City, Hollywood and Laurel Canyon. Laurel Canyon is the drive that connects Hollywood with Studio City´s Ventura Boulevard. Laurel Canyon is such a windy road. A few famous people live there. Most of all there is the mansion. Not the mansion, but "Theee Mansion" It´s a 10-bedroom house, owned by producer Rick Rubin. Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Stones went in and out. Part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers´ success is Rick Rubins work as their producer. Way back in 91, the year I´m born, the RHCP and Rick Rubin produced the album Blood Sugar Sex Magic featuring the utmost famous and my favorite song: Under the Bridge. There are many bridges in L.A! The traffic is horrible. It´s the Paris of USA, but only worse. It always took us so long to get somewhere. After breakfast at the place where you can sometimes see famous people, we went to NoHo - North Hollywood: It accommodates an art school, many young people are there gentrification is taking place. We went to an amaaaazing Thai restaurant, it was just sooo good! Food in America is a blast, depending on where you go. California is number one for its variety and quality of different foods from all over the world and the best thing is, that it is affordable. From NoHo we drove south, probably through Laurel Canyon our favorite road. We stopped in Hollywood, actually on the strip to go shopping for CD´s. Amoeba is the place to go. It´s huge and offers a great assortment of CD´s, DVD´s used ones, new ones. Every week they also play a concert there. In September there is going to be the German Herbert Grönemeyer for 40 bucks - for those who want to listen to a man who sounds like he gets kicked in his nutsack all the time. But the CD store is great. Judd bought some CDs as he is very much into music. I bought Lenny Kravitz - the CD I have been looking for all last years since Jakob and I did our first roadtrip to Switzerland. On the road you have to carry JImmy, Lenny and Bobby around.[Who are those guys?....] So far we listened a lot to Jimmy and Bobby on the road. First, Ferdi wasn´t liking Bobby at all, "too mellow" he said, but after listening to Soul Shakedown Party at Yellowstone, he is almost addicted to it. He wouldn´t leave me without burning my CD first to have it in Victoria. So I am very thankful to have Judd show us Amoeba and to reunite the three musicians J, L and B! If you want to know about music, you have to talk to Judd, he is so into it. Keeps buying new CDs and plays really cool stuff in the car like Greyboy, DJ Shadow and Mr. Scruff. Judd loves going to concerts and festivals like the Oppikoppi in South Africa where his family is from. (http://www.oppikoppi.co.za/). After Amoeba we checked out Melrose Avenue. It´s a cool place to go shopping for articles you won´t find anywhere else: Custom Skateshops, a hat shops with Panama Hats for over $100 and a store with vintage T-shirts, pretty cool stuff, but it is all pricy. It´s very much something like a Hippster scene. L.A. is great for shopping, but you need the money. We were surprised that Natalie could hold herself back and saved her money. This day we had seen a lot and been in traffic a lot. We were happy to return to Judds house to get ready for the night! We didn´t see Megan for the whole day as she chilled ad Judds place, but she joined us for the evening which was a lot of fun. Especially at the Irish bar she surprised us with her fun-ability. We were also excited to get to Long Beach, because we would meet Raphael there, who then joined us for a good week on our roadtrip through California. We drove to Long Beach L.A. to meet Elliot, a friend of Judd from UC Riverside. He is working for an insurance company while living on his sail boat over the summer. Pretty cool boat and lifestyle. Elliot was sooooo much fun. He didn´t only show us his boat, but also the marina, and the bars at the haven. I don´t know whom to blame, but somehow he lost against Ferdi in drinking games. Sorry to tell you Elliot, but I saw Ferdi cheating once. I know, it´s incredible and mind blowing what he did. Hold on! While you were drinking, he poured a third of his beer into Raphael´s glas. So Ferdi didn´t drink the same amount. It´s mean of Ferdi to claim Germans know how to drink, when in fact he cheated on you. Sorry Ferdi, but I had to bolster Elliot, because he was so kind to us. By outplaying Elliot I could at least see the boat again and descend to the cabin. L.A. was fantastic and I can´t wait to be back again soon and meet more people and see new places (if there are any we haven´t seen yet). Thanks a lot Judd for showing us around and also for your and your family´s hospitality. Raphael also wrote a small part about joining us! Of course we don't wanna hold back on that!
I was meeting Freddy and Ferdi, two friends who I study together with in Maastricht. The two of them had been on a road trip trough the United States for almost five weeks already. After Oliver had brought me to Long Beach, which is part of Los Angeles, I met there with Ferdi who took me to the bar, where all the others were. The others were Freddy, Ferdi's sister, Natalie, Judd at whose place all of us would spend the night, and some of their friends. I had never seen a bar like this before. There were two piano players on the stage facing each other and playing songs that the audience asked for. It was great! After we had moved on to an Irish Pub and enjoyed some Guinness, Judd took us home in his car - all the way to Hollywood. Only then I realized how incredibly huge Los Angeles is, since it took us about one and a half hours to get to his place. Once we arrived there, everyone just wanted to go to bed - but only after we would try out the Jacuzzi in Judd's backyard. Freddy, Ferdi, Natalie, and me had our own place to sleep in - the poolhouse (How nice is that??). The most intriguing fact about Judd's house was, though, that it is next to Jon Cryer's house, the actor of "Alan" in Two and a Half Men - living next door to Alan (our theme song for the next day)! |