Rose-Line Werner

Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to this amazing and multicultural city San Francisco. My journey has reached its end. The security checks at the San Francisco and Amsterdam airport were quickly done and the flight was more comfortable than the flight to America because I got much more water. But this time, I had no movies “on demand”

During my 28-day journey, I met interesting people and saw fantastic sceneries. I recommend everyone to go to western USA and to visit San Francisco and the national parks

Trip on Map

Sunday (2nd Columbus Day) was Alcatraz-Day. With the help of an audio guide, we could listen to many stories about the jail-time of Alcatraz. From Alcatraz, we had a great view to the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the second part of the air show (Blue Angels, again).

After Alcatraz, F. had to go home to work, therefore I explored San Francisco by my own. I took a ride with the famous cable car (1h standing in queue for that!) and went to Fisherman’s Whraft where I saw many seals and a show for Lefties (left-handed people).

Furthermore, I visited Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral and was at the Union Square. In the Evening, I went back to Oakland and together with F., we went to a special Pizzeria to eat real Chicago Pizza, which was delicious but I would rather say that it looked like a tart than a pizza

Today (1st Columbus Day), F. showed me a lot! We first went to the University of Berkeley. She showed me her office and we printed out the tickets for Alcatraz (for Sunday). Being hungry, we ate delicious pancakes in the French restaurant “La Note”. We were now ready for going to San Francisco, Civic Center. From there, we visited Japan Town, which I liked it very much and to the Lafayette Park. From there, we could see the air show of the Blue Angels (like Patrouille Suisse) and saw the Alcatraz island and the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we walked down to the beach and from there to Chinatown. There, we ate a lot of Dim Sums. During a beautiful sunset, we went back to Oakland and I bought there some Chai tea (which F. recommended me).

Trip on map

Waked up at 5.30am, I drove early in the direction of San Francisco. Without problems, I found the address in Oakland of my friend F. Together with her, I went to San Francisco and have driven on the legendary Lombard Street which is very curvy and goes up and down (you need a strong engine and good brakes). After that, I had to return the rental car and we explored the city by walking. We walked through the artists and the gay quarters and had really good Indian food. Because it was getting dark, and San Francisco isn’t a save place anymore (the bad economic situation!) we went back to Oakland by taking the BART subway. Finishing the evening by eating a “Pink Peppercorn” ice cream, I enjoyed the first day in San Francisco and Oakland.

Trip on map

In the morning, I hiked in the Jedediah Smith State Park. The forest had a different character than the one in the Redwood National Park. It was greener and more mystic. In particular, for quite a long time, it was absolutely calm, no wind, no birds, just nothing. Later, I met a mountain biker and surprisingly, I met this guy again in the afternoon, when I was at Safeway, a general store in Crescent City. He works there. In the afternoon, I visited the Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City and tasted “Corn Dog”, a Hot Dog sausage surrounded by some kind of dough and fried.

After that, I went back to the hostel in Redwood where I was already two days before and could listen to a former Hells Angels member telling stories about his life.

Trip on map
I did today a small hike to the Fern Canyon and the beach and afterwards a longer hike through the big Redwood trees. I felt really small next to these huge trees which are over 100 meters tall. Furthermore, I saw some prisoners in orange overalls doing street work. Like in the movies, but without chains

In the evening, I went to Taco Bell in Crescent City to pick up some food. Surprisingly, this kind of Mexican fast food was quite good. Because I don’t like Cola, I always drank water, but some days ago, I found an alternative: Lemonade! I’m drinking it whenever possible – I’m already a “Lemonade-Junky”

Trip on map

Today, I drove from Fort Bragg zu the Hostel located in the Redwood National Park. I’ve chosen the route “Avenue of the Giants”, where you cannot only see tall Redwoods (over 100m) but also drive through some for some dollars. Here at the coast, the people must be more concerned about the nature because I see much more small cars than before. I even saw some Mini Coopers, old and new VW Beatles. Shortly before sunset, I went to a coastal view point and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Trip on map

Today, I went tot he pacific coast and drove north to Fort Bragg. Because there was fog all day long, I couldn’t really see the nature. But at noon, there was a short sunny time and I saw the pacific in its blue color. The rest of the day, I spend with cloth washing, blog writing and cleaning up the car. Apropos car: Finally, two pictures of the first and the actual renting car.

Trip of 4th October on map

Trip of 5th October on map

On Saturday, I spend some minutes at the lake Tahoe, but the weather was still gray, so I went already in the morning to Sacramento. The hostel, where I will sleep, is a beautiful old building – I like it. I walked through Old Sacramento, where the buildings are from the gold rush time and found there a funny shop for Halloween costumes. After that, I took a guided tour through the Capitol building (Sacramento is the capital city of California) and saw the office of Arnold Schwarzenegger, well, I saw the door of the office

I the evening, I went outside of the town to a shop for oversize apparels and found pajama trousers in 6X! For dinner, I tried Panda Express – like McDonald, but Chinese food – and took Orange Chicken. It was not bad. Because it was still too early for going to bed, I watched a movie in a cinema in downtown.

Sunday was a sunny and warm day. I first was in Sutter’s Fort, where I did a guided audio tour. After that, I visited the small Indian museum right behind the Fort. At noon, I went to the Sacramento zoo, but it was very disappointing. Not only the zoo was very small, but the animal’s terrains weren’t beautiful and many of them were way too small. All the birds expect of the water birds have no possibility to fly and I saw how they did drill training with the snow leopard!

During the trip through the city, I noticed many people sleeping on the ground in the public parks. They are probably homeless, but didn’t look that shabby.

In the afternoon, I walked to the Crocker Art Museum and could see the chicken soup by Andy Warhol. The museum was the first institution offering student discount. I mean, you can get almost everywhere senior discount but not student discount – it seems that here, there are not really student friendly

Trip on map

Today, I drove to South Lake Tahoe. On the way, I made a stop in the ghost town Bodie. The houses are/where simple wooden houses although there can be several meters of snow in the winter. The people must have had quite cold.

Arrived in South Lake Tahoe, the weather was cold (ca 12°C) and rainy. Quite a shock after the hot desert weather. So, I put on my warm pullover and explored the city, which is a famous plays for skiing. I bought a caramelized apple (which you can buy everywhere in the USA) and also bought some American candies. But I do not really like there taste, perhaps because I’m not used to it since childhood. Well, there is an exception: the Butterfinger bars I really like, its chocolate with peanut butter.