Last Wednesday we hit the BFI Imax to take part in the BFI film quiz for the first time. Our team ‘Four girls and a guy’ made out of Robert, me, Zoe, Gretchen and Selina made it in the Top 5 with 50,5 Points. Disappointingly, we left without a price but a boost in confidence to get a better place next time.

The questions were quite varied, from Video quiz to miscellaneous, guessing film posters and war film actors, from Terry Gilliam to Tommy Trinder, guess the soundtrack and film posters.

Think you can do better? Guess your film knowledge here.

Diese Video fand ich vor kurzem auf www.kleinezeitung.at, eine Umfrage zum Thema ‘Ausbau der S36′ durch Scheifling durchgefuehrt. Nein, ich kenn eigentlich keinem im Video. Wie man sieht ein heikles Thema… ehrlich gesagt, ich kann mir auch nicht vorstellen, eine grosse, graue Autobahn in meinem Garten zu haben, hoffentlich wirds zumindest ein Tunnel.

Link zum Video

It has been nearly two and a half months now since we came back from our US trip and much has changed since then. For one I have started a new job as ‘Platform Supervisor’ for Germany and Austria for a UK based company called OnDemand. As the name already gives it away, OnDemand deals with on-demand broadcasting like Virgin, aonTV, Kabel Deutschland and Unity. I have received proper training before I took over the job from Glen.

I do like my new job - it is very busy and complicated to an extend and I get to talk German (and Austrian…haha) again. In my first week on my own I made about 15hrs of overtime, which is….hmmm… exhausting just thinking of it. My colleague Ewa and I are getting into it slowly and have learned by many mistakes. I am still doing some freelance web jobs as it is good to keep practising this craft.

This weekend though I am gonna go on my first holiday since I started the job: We are going to Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts! I can’t wait I have to tell ya! Pictures and maybe even videos coming soon. Hopefully the weather stays nice.

Check back soon…

We leave Hollywood, Los Angeles and go north on Highway 101, passing Santa Maria and Santa Barbara following the pacific coast all the way to San Luis Obispo. After crazy Hollywood we found a place where we could just walk around, relax, shop for a bit and regain some energy for the last obstacles ahead – San Luis Obispo is just the right place for that.

Mission of San Luis Obispo

As a sleepy college town it has many typical American restaurants and bars and is just a drive away from the beach. It is famous for its Mission San Luis Obispo De Toloso and Madonna Inn, a hotel with themed rooms and interior.
As always, the journey is the adventure and we meet another English fellow who has been travelling around South America since October 08. He was also on his final trip up to Seattle and looked tired. I thought it was quite funny that he missed out on all the news since October last year, he didn’t even know that Madonna was divorced.
We spend a lovely two nights there and enjoyed the sunshine before we went on our last and final Greyhound trip to San Francisco.

Downtown San Francisco

We come into San Francisco peninsula crossing the Bay Bridge coming east from Oakland. Already from far away we can see the shape of the Golden Gate Bridge and the island of Alcatraz.
We stayed in a HI Hostel in Downtown San Francisco and shared the room with a German and a Swiss guy – both very nice and amazed when we tell them from our journey so far. To start our San Francisco experience we have dinner in a typical 50’s restaurant. The burger was okay but I wasn’t very happy with my fish & chips – therefore we didn’t bother giving the waiter much tip (which you know has to be done in America, usually about 15 %), very much for the anger of our waiter who seemed a bit peeved when we left.
We had a walk around town and got to Union Square (edged by many high-profile shops), then Chinatown where I enjoyed a coconut snow (coconut smoothie) and down to the port of San Francisco where we take some pictures of the amazing skyline of Bay Bridge.

Bay Bridge at night

The next morning we pack our bags and decide to see Alcatraz. We took one of the famous Cable Cars up and down the hills – passing Lombard and the ‘crookedest’ street - to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Cable Cars are turned around manually

Doris enjoys rides on the Cable Cars

Unfortunately we had to change our plans as we only managed to get tickets for the next day and decided to rent out a tandem bicycle and cycle from Pier 33 along Fishermans’ Wharf up to Fort Mason where we get on the Golden Gate Bridge and cycle all across to Sausalito and back.

Robert and Doris on their cycle tour over the Golden Gate Bridge

Amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge

It was just amazing and the view even more so!
Being quite drained already, we walk up the ‘crookedest’ street that was quite busy with tourists sitting in cars going down.

We decided to save our feeds and take the bus to the Golden Gate Park. I really wanted to see the famous Japanese tea garden, but only managed to get a glimpse from it outside as it was already closed. Even today they serve tea in the traditional Japanese manner.

Famous landmark in the Castro District

For the evening, we choose to have dinner at the ‘Castro’ district. If you have seen ‘Milk’ in the cinema or if you are a bit familiar with Fricso’s history, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California and launched his movement from his office in the Castro district, a formerly very Catholic neighbourhood. Nowadays, Castro is famous for its rainbow flags and gay community and its close by Hippie and free love history in Haight-Ashbury. Milk’s former office is still there, highlighted by a sketch showing Milk in his glory days.
We go into a gay bookstore and get into a conversation with a nice gay local – he tells us about the area and it’s losing character as houses become unaffordable and its changing into rich neighbourhood. Sad somehow :/

The following day, Tuesday according to my calendar, we finally get to see Alcatraz. Jinxed as it is, the weather had changed and it was rainy. Our boat was scheduled for 1pm so decided to have a steep hike up the Telegraph Hill to the Coit Tower beforehand, where we have an amazing view of downtown San Francisco and the pier.

Cruise to Alcatraz Island

We get to the pier on time for the boat and cruise to the island of Alcatraz. Alcatraz was one of the most secure prisons in the country and Al Capone’s home. It was supposed to be inescapable but three men managed to escape. It was closed in 1963, but took over from 1969 - 1971 by Native Americans occupying it as their land.

We get back to the mainland about 4pm and catch the Cable Car back to Powell station, where we take the BART train to Hayward to meet our friends from New York. Al and Jo have invited us to stay with them for a couple of days, which we gladly accept. Al and Jo are both retired and have a nice and comfortable house sharing it with two cats in Hayward on the East Bay. They invite us to have a trip around the east bay for the next day.

We get up late the next day and drive up to Oakland, where we have lunch with a friend of theirs called Rod. After that, Jo drives us to Berkeley, one of the top ten universities in the country. We have a walk around the campus and I buy myself a Berkeley top.
We take the scenic route to Grizzly peak back and have a final shopping stroll at Castro Valley before we get back home for dinner.

The next day was our last and final day in California and the US of A ☹ As Jo had a doctor’s appointment in downtown San Francisco, Al offers us a car tour around Lincoln and Golden Gate Park. We pack our backpacks for the very last time, say goodbye to the two lovely cats and take a nice picture before we leave their home.

Our friends Al and Jo

About 4pm Al drops us off at the San Francisco International airport - it is weird, but not any moment before that I have thought of going home. It made me sad and I really didn’t feel ready to leave yet. I hadn’t had enough yet, there was still so much to do and see!

Anyway, we didn’t have any other option but to check our bags in and get ready to board the plane back home. Jo even packed us lunch for the long flight – that was so nice of her and I’d like to say thank you so much again if she ever reads this.

We have a non-stop 12 hours flight into London Heathrow Airport. We were scheduled to get there about noon (GMT). We had an overnight flight but didn’t manage to get any sleep at all; instead I watched Bolt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Rachel getting married.
We arrived in London on a bank holiday Friday – which makes getting home even worse! Many train lines were out of service and they had replacement busses running and so it took us about 4hrs to get back to Southend (instead of the usual 2, considering it’s West London)
But it doesn’t end here – once walked into the doors of our lovely small flat, a foully smell nearly knocks us down – the electric ran out while we were gone and the (sparely) left food in fridge and freezer went off. Oh well, oh well – home sweet home, baby!

We thought as we managed to stay up for more than 24hrs we would be able to fight the jet lag, but it wasn’t so. It took us a while to get used to the time zone again and had some trouble going to sleep before 4am or getting up before 1pm.

Now, we are back for 11 days and I am still catching up with my blog and what has happened. UK and work has us back and many, many wonderful memories are left from our trip across the USA. Finally, we did it and fulfilled ourselves a small dream: we crossed the American continent ☺

… or was everything made out of plastic really? It was strange going to LA. You hear so much about it and you have that image in your head that you see on TV all the time. When I got there, I was very much reminded of Californication and expected Hank Moody just to be around the corner.

We stayed in a USAHostel, just off the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. The first time we walked along the Walk of Fame you just can’t stop starring on the floor - those stars are just too fascinating and you wait for a name of someone you really like. We even got lost on our way to the hostel, it was just 10mins walking distance!

After dropping off our bags, we went sight-seeing: we walked further along the Hollywood Boulevard on the Walk of Fame and reached the famous Kodak Theater. When we got there the first time, we were just standing there in awe of the theater, not believing that it is here, on a busy street like this, where many actors, actresses, directors, editors and many more were ‘crowned’ to be the best amongst them. When you walk inside though, it shows a slightly disappointing world: There is a big shopping centre with a nice view up the hills to the Hollywood sign. A bit further on is the Chinese Mann Theatre with all famous imprints in front of it. Of course I find my favourite one and ask Robert to take a picture.

All those famous spots made us hungry and we went into the next random (and cheap) burger shop and find one of the locations used in ‘Million Dollar Baby’. Strange.

Walking over to the Sunset Boulevard we find a huge Music Store - looks like the one used in Californication. Hmmm…. And of course, again we found famous imprints of famous musicians in front of it, e.g. Queen but without Freddy Mercury obviously. It must have been hours till we got to the famous West Sunset Boulevard where we found the famous Chateau Marmot, where John Belushi committed suicide on the 5th March 1982 in Bungalow #3. Also we found the club ‘Viper Room’ where River Phoenix collapsed outside on a drug overdose on 31st October 1993. See the pattern here?
Then also we found the ‘Whiskey-a-Gogo’, the famous nightclub where many musicians got on stage and performed. Last but not least we passed the ‘Comedy Club’, where Andy Kaufmann once performed in.

The next day was an very exciting day: we go to the UNIVERSAL STUDIOS! First, we have a roundtrip through the soundstages and sets which have been used for Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Desperate Housewives, Psycho, The Fast and the Furious, Jaws and many more. Exciting!!

As you may know, Universal Studios has many (roller coaster) rides so we went on The Simpsons (new), Shrek in 4D, The Mummy, Jurassic Park, Terminator2 in 3D (it was very good, thank you Spooky for your recommendation), a Special Effects show, Backdraft and many more. We managed to do all the rides in a day, it was just awesome! When we got back to the hostel we joined the hosted All-you-can-eat BBQ and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

On Thursday then, we went celebrity-hunting… No, not really But we went the Wilshire Boulevard to see the famous Rodeo Drive and all slightly expensive shops there e.g. Tiffany’s, Cartier, Fendi and who know what. Just a bit off Wilshire Boulevard you get to Beverly Hills, an area where ‘recession’ is a foreign word. To get back to earth we went on to Santa Monica and walked along the beach and the amusement pier.

The next morning we went hiking in the Hollywood hills to get a closer look of the Hollywood sign. Even from close up, it still looks like a picture…

Hollywood was nice - I didn’t really get a look behind the red curtain or see any VIP’s, I can’t shake of the feeling though that it’s very fake.

Next stop, San Luis Obispo….

We woke up at 6:54am. We had just about an hour to get to the bus station, check our baggage in and catch the bus to San Diego. We were keen on catching this bus as it would bring us quicker to San Diego, California.

In about 6 minutes, we got up, dressed and ready to check out. While our roommate was in the shower we were basically gone! We got to the station about 7:24am, just in time to jump the queue and get on the bus. Phewww… just!

The bus goes along the I-15, passing the Mojave Desert, San Bernadino (where we had lunch at Popeye’s for the first time) and Riverside. After a nice, scenic route we get to San Diego. San Diego seemed to be very clean and a nice place to live, we were staying at the Gaslamp Quarter in a HI Hostel (with free pancake breakfast). The Gaslamp Quarter inhabits many nice restaurants, bars and clubs, galleries and a few expensive shops. Unfortunately, also this time I had to leave my bikini in my bag as it was too chilly to go swimming After dinner at a cheap pizzeria just across the road, we walked around Downtown and to the Embarcadero waterfront and Marina Park.

The next day we got up early and headed for the famous San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park. Entry fee is about $ 35, expensive but for every animal-lover definitely worth it! We saw flamingos, elephants, lions, leoparts, many different extinct birds, giraffes, snakes and spiders, gorillas, monkeys, hippos, panda bears and koala bears, ice bears …. - it’s just huge! According to the guide, they habit 3000-plus animals and about 800 species. As the area is so huge and we did get lost a couple of times, they also provide a lift (called Skyfari) from one end to the other (Robert was a bit worried about the height but the view is just awesome!). The gorillazs where funny to watch as they were very lively and played around. It goes without saying that we spend the whole day there.

After a nice Indian dinner we went for the famous beaches around San Diego, it was our first time to see the Pacific ocean. We took the bus up to Mission Beach, passing Old Town and Ocean Beach Park (here you can go to SeaWorld).

All in all, San Diego was very nice and definitely worth spending a week or more - some hostels do offer a free bed for work. Might be worth thinking about that if you want to go abroad for a while and stay somewhere cheaply.

After a relaxing two days in San Diego, we moved on upwards the coast to Los Angeles…

On Friday, 27th March, we leave Flagstaff - and get off the Route 66 - to get to Las Vegas, Nevada. Again, we pack our bags and catch the Greyhound bus. After another (too) long bus ride passing the Black Mountains, we can already see the bright lights surrounding the desert from far away and reached the city about 9pm. We were staying in the Sin City Hostel, close to ‘the strip’, where we were nicely welcomed by an Australian gay ‘Russel Brand’ We shared our room with two (I suppose American) guys, who were out most of the time anyway.
After a short break, we hit the Strip for a ’short’ look-around - we returned about 4am in the morning.
On our way we passed many wedding chapels, amongst them the famous Drive-In chapel where Britney Spears got married (her marriage lasted about 48hrs). On our way down the Strip we walked through all the major casinos e.g. Circus Circus, Caesars Palace, The Bellagio, The Venetian, Paris, MGM Grand, Luxor and many more.

The Venetian

Paris casino

The next morning we got up, had a quick breakfast and went out to see the city in bright day light - and we were lucky as it was quite hot (so shorts and sandals for me, wohooo!!) First, we went to the ‘old’ Las Vegas at Fremont. Fremont (Downtown) has not really any big name casinos but is famous for its shops and music stages. Also, here you can find the big illuminated advertising with the guy on the horse.

The Bellagio Casino

After a short walk, we caught ‘The Deuce’ bus to The Bellagio and watched the famous fountain show. We walked inside The Caesars Palace and had a look around the pool where the rich & beautiful sun bathed. From there, we walked South to The Luxor (I had to see it as Spooky stayed there before). The Luxor hotel - some might not know - is shaped in form of a pyramid, the hotel rooms are aligned to look through the glass facade. Inside, it is basically hollow and you can’t get up further than to the 5th floor unless you are a guest and have a room key.
We tried to get up further, but no luck.

New York, New York

As we walked back up again, we went into the ‘New York, New York’ Casino and had a ride on their roller coaster - I was scared to death!!! Yes, I admit I did enjoy it and you had a great view when you were up above - but I literally screamed my heart out!
I had to calm myself down with an expensive Paris ’strawberry daiquiri’ cocktail, where I could keep the nicely balloon-shaped glass.
After sunset we joined the crazy nightlife and went on gambling - first, we hit The Bellagio and went on to the slot machines. We won about 3 dollars (hehe) and then risked everything and went on the the Roulette tables - and we won about $30!! We were so happy with our mingy winnings (which basically covered our expenses in Vegas) that we stopped and went for drinks.
We got back to the hostel about 1am and packed our stuff again, as we had to catch the early morning bus to San Diego, California. We had to get up about 6am, but then had problems with our alarm which didn’t go off…
If we managed to get the bus and more about our trip to San Diego, you will see next time…

Grand Canyon National Park

So then, we finally have visited the Grand Canyon National Park. It’s hard to describe, it is something you must see for yourself. First of all, it is huge and you can’t manage to see everything in a day. It looks beautiful and completely different to what you expect, it has all earth-colour ranges and it is a 20 miles wide crater, so you actually hike down the hill and not up.

For the day of our trip the weather forecast expected heavy snow and rain. In the end it was only some hellstones and rain, but very windy. We hiked down the Bright Angel Trail for 3 miles and then back up again. Exhausting! Then we strolled along the 8 miles Panorama View along the South Rim, but our feet were too tired and we took the shuttle to some of the observation points.  (On this point I’ll create a mental note to put in some pictures)

The only thing that seemed to bother me was the altitude sickness, I felt a bit feverish and tired and sick to some point. I am fine now so must have been that.

Me and Robert really enjoyed going to Arizona and we are thinking of going there again at some point for a proper hiking trip or rafting trip. Want to coma along?

Next stop was Las Vegas, more from it next time…

We are in Flagstaff, Arizona (7000 ft sea level) at the moment and I just have realized that I have missed out about 1500 miles on my blog! So there you go…

Nashville

Many people have tried their luck in Nashville...

We had a pretty good time in Nashville, especially because of the nice weather On Wednesday however, we moved on to the South-West of Tennessee to Memphis, where we stayed at the Music City Hostel, a good cab drive out of town. Anyone who goes to Memphis, is there for only one reason: He loves Rock’n’ Roll and Elvis

Elvis Presley's Mansion

(For more interior shots, please have a look at the photo gallery)

Robert & Doris in Graceland

So on Thursday, we spend a whole day in Graceland, Elvis Presley’s house that he bought when he was 22 years old for only 100.000 dollars. As hard core Rock’n'Roll fans, we bought the Platinum ticket and enjoyed an extended tour through his premises, saw his car collection, his two air planes, Elives in the Army and in his movies. It was great and I recommend it highly to anyone passing by in Memphis! In the evening we also had a tour through Sam Philip’s old recording service, the SUN studios - the birthplace of Rock’n'Roll, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and many others have their roots.

We try our luck at the Sun Studios...

After only two days, we moved on towards Arkansas, Little Rock - which was I have to say a bit disappointing. Literally, there was nothing there. The only good thing was the motel we stayed in, it had an indoor pool So we were quite happy to get out of there, even though it was another long bus ride on to Oklahoma City.

The capital of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, is known for the bombings that happened on April 19, 1995 where 168 people were killed. We went to the sight and still, after so many years, you can see remains of the building and feel the sadness around it. Also, in the middle of the monument is the so-called ‘Survivor-Tree’, which was the only tree to survive the bombings.
With our journey from Oklahoma towards the West into Texas and New Mexico the surroundings changed completely, from green fields into rocks and red desert. We were coming closer to the Rocky Mountains
Arriving in Texas, we stayed in a nice Motel in Amarillo. Obviously, we had to get a taste of that typical Tex-Mex food: it was sooooo hot, it nearly burned my tongue!! But very nice

Yesterday, we have been to Albuquerque, New Mexico and now we’re in Flagstaff, Arizona and will go and see the Grand Canyon tomorrow.

As time is running out for me now, I promise to extend my entry on Albuquerque next time and will include a long report from Grand Canyon.

So keep checking back soon

…to all of you!

Having a %!*&$^@ great time!!!

We are in hot Nashville, Tennessee at the moment and are experiencing how the Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Much more exciting than in Europe I must say! Everyone is dressed up and in a good mood.

Anyway, I’ll go out, have some green colored beer or cider and dance to Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley.  So enjoy, lads!