3 weeks into the North American stint of the trip and only just about getting used to putting toilet paper down the toilet, and not in the rubbish bin (oh, I’m sorry, ‘the garbage’). It’s amazing how quickly you pick up the lingo (“I filled up the gas today, walked along the sidewalk to find the the atm etc”) whereas the old habits of chucking the loo role in a different location seem to die hard….strange that!
Today, Ash and I had our first ‘Oh, I love your accent’, which we loved..obviously! My theory is the further you get away from California the more special you are and the more attention is lavished upon you…certainly sounds good to me. In actual fact, having attention lavished seems to be a running theme here in North America, whether it be for our English-ness of otherwise. The States, as it turns out, is a damn friendly place to be, especially here in Texas where we’re currently staying. On our journey so far, the level of customer service found in bars, restaurants, shops etc, as well as the friendliness and eagerness to assist by the locals, has really taken me aback. The cynics among us may wager that the former instance serves purely as a necessarily by-product of the tipping culture over here, but I think that this view may be just that…cynical. Even in clothes shops, for instance, where tips are (I assume) not on the cards, the assistants go out their way to deliver a service that leaves you walking out the doors feeling just that bit better than when you stepped in. Once again, the cynics among us may say this feeling of betterment is due to the new pair of shoes or dress that managed to find itself into your wardrobe, rather than any lasting effects from the service provided, but I would perhaps beg to differ. We’ve also been offered lifts by locals and were helped out of a ditch that I stupidly drove into on the first day of our car rental….oopps! We’ve had coffee shop worked print maps out for us, hotel assistants upgrading us to palatial suites in Vegas and passers-by asking us if we need any help. A girl on our flight even took the time to write us a ‘What’s Hot and What’s Not’ list of things to do in Austin after hearing our British accents. All in all, it’s not been going so badly for us.
San Francisco
As mentioned in a previous post, we began the States in San Francisco, the city that everyone had gone out of the way to tell me how much I’d love. And love it I did…as most people who visit seem to. Ash and I rented a gorgeous apartment in the Nob Hill area, which had every amenity we could have wished for. Having come from 4 months hostelling in South America, finding a blender in the kitchen and a fridge stocked with Hersey’s chocolate and organic walnut and cranberry bread was nothing short of amazing and we got stuck in to ‘playing house’ for the next 6 days.
Playing host to the 'rents at the apartment:
We spent a lot of time in San Francisco walking, getting used to the area and visiting all the different districts. I think, for me, getting to know the distinct areas of the city was a real highlight. A few notable areas we visited were the Italian area of North Beach, the overtly Chinese China town, where you could walk for block upon block without seeing another white face, the old hippy district of Haight Ashbury, with so many excitingly weird and wonderful shops and bars, and the gay capital of The Castro, where my Mum particularly enjoyed and where Ash seemed to get a bit too much attention… We also dined in the Mexican Mission District, cycled over the Golden Bridge, schmoozed around Salsalito and did the really interesting tour of Alcatraz. It was Ash’s bday whie we were away and we celebrated by visiting the Exploratorium, checking out the Palace of Fine Arts in its beautiful lake-side setting and going for a great Japanese meal at a sushi restaurant in The Marina. We also had the chance to entertain in our lovely Nob Hill abode, as it was San Francisco where we met up with my Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law. It was really nice to see them all after so many months and we made up for lost time whilst chatting away over glasses of wine in our sunny living room. Now that we were with some proper adults, we were able to rent a car, meaning that we could begin the American Road Trip in earnest and head down south along the Atlantic coast, first stopping at the seaside town of Santa Cruz.
Playing host to the 'rents at the apartment:
We spent a lot of time in San Francisco walking, getting used to the area and visiting all the different districts. I think, for me, getting to know the distinct areas of the city was a real highlight. A few notable areas we visited were the Italian area of North Beach, the overtly Chinese China town, where you could walk for block upon block without seeing another white face, the old hippy district of Haight Ashbury, with so many excitingly weird and wonderful shops and bars, and the gay capital of The Castro, where my Mum particularly enjoyed and where Ash seemed to get a bit too much attention… We also dined in the Mexican Mission District, cycled over the Golden Bridge, schmoozed around Salsalito and did the really interesting tour of Alcatraz. It was Ash’s bday whie we were away and we celebrated by visiting the Exploratorium, checking out the Palace of Fine Arts in its beautiful lake-side setting and going for a great Japanese meal at a sushi restaurant in The Marina. We also had the chance to entertain in our lovely Nob Hill abode, as it was San Francisco where we met up with my Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law. It was really nice to see them all after so many months and we made up for lost time whilst chatting away over glasses of wine in our sunny living room. Now that we were with some proper adults, we were able to rent a car, meaning that we could begin the American Road Trip in earnest and head down south along the Atlantic coast, first stopping at the seaside town of Santa Cruz.
The trip down the coast
Now equipped with our 6 seated people carrier, we set off on our trip down south towards Santa Cruz. While in San Francisco we had spent some time researching holiday rentals and somehow managed to bargain with the owners of a grand golf ‘french’ villa just a short drive from downtown. The villa was only costing us 35 pounds a night or so each a night ... something we couldn’t believe when we set our eyes on the property. Each couple had our own beautifully decorated double en-suite and the living areas were huge and very grand, including several patio areas with outdoor heaters and speakers and humungous barbecues waiting for us. I knew they did things bigger this side of the pond, but we really did seem to land on our feet with this property. Wine seemed to be the theme of our time in California, and the patio areas in the villa were the perfect arena for a spot of al fresco drinking and dining.
Although we found it hard to drag ourselves away from our beautiful abode, we did manage to spend time visiting the downtown area (going shopping for clothes!) and boardwalk of Santa Cruz. We also spent a day in Monterey visiting the spectacular aquarium as well the overly touristy drag of Cannery Row (from John Steinbeck’s book of the same name). It was interesting to learn about the fishing industry in the area that enjoyed such a boom in the first half of the 20th century but later crashed as a result of such high levels of over-fishing. The aquarium, in particularly, did a good job at providing information on this history and there was a whole area dedicated to warning us of the perils of such abuse. On the way back from Monterey, we visited the upmarket town of Carmel and drove through Pebble Beach golf course and surrounding areas (where I reckon lots of rich Californias must live – we even had to pay to drive through). The golf course also features on the Tiger Wood’s Pro-golf game, something that Ash was particularly excited about!
The next destination was Morro Bay, mainly planned as a stop-off point between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara. Here we stayed in a nice hotel that had free cheese and wine in the evening and Ash and I enjoyed the added benefit of having a Jacuzzi in our room (a gift from the parents for our birthdays). The next day (my Bday!) we visited the amazing Hearst’s Castle, a huge estate build by a very rich Californian who was in the newspaper business (apparently the guy that Citizen Kane was based on). Hearst was so interested in art and architecture, that he systemically filled his house (more like a castle) with pieces from all over the world. His outdoor swimming pool, for instance, featured real Roman columns and tapestries once belonging to Louis XIV hung of the walls of the reception rooms. Back in his day, Heart also had a plethora of wild animals roaming the grounds, including polar bears, lions and zebras. The whole estate was really impressive and it was nice to see how an art lover, who had the money to indulge his passions, had incorporated some many interesting and beautiful pieces into his home.
After leaving Hearst’s castle, we set off again to Santa Barbara to another great rental property. Although not as grand as the Santa Cruz place, this house felt like a Californian home should with 180 degree views of the coast (the best view being from our en-suite toilet!). There were comfy sofas to lounge around on, a separate ‘den’ and balcony areas surrounding the property. Once again, it was starting to look like the Americans really did know how to live. The owner was really lovely too and provided us with up-to-date magazines and newspapers, wine, crisps and a range of lovely toiletries to use (the kind of things you get excited about after backpacking!). As it as my birthday, I was treated to massages from my mum and sister and sipped champagne before going for a really nice meal at a place called the Fishhouse just opposite the beach. My food was really good and I even tried an oyster, something that I was very proud of!
We had planned to do Karaoke after the meal but we were all too full and tired and so retired back to the pad to watch a spot of ‘The Sound of Music’ (another first for me).
Santa Barbara turned out to be a really lovely place and the spent time perusing the shops and bars downtown. We also visited a great vineyard in the area for wine tasting and picnicked lakeside in gorgeous green settings. As with Santa Cruz, we felt sad to leave our new home, but by this time we had all begun to get excited about Vegas, where we would be staying for the next 3 nights.
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