Day 15 of Trip to Land of Free July 23, 2010
Day 15 was our last day in the US. We had to wake up early to get our flight back from SFO to Chicago. Of course it was still foggy in SF. I remarked to Helen that I would be very grumpy if I lived in a place where it was cold during the middle of summer. Even England isn’t like that. We had to leave for the airport at 7:00am. I hadn’t told the kids...
Continue Reading
Day 14 of Trip to Land of Free & Wealthy with Lots of Choice July 9, 2010
We were up early today (7:30am) as we had to catch a specific boat to Alcatraz Island. We walked down to Pier 33 which was about a 20 minute walk and picked up our tickets. We had about 40 minutes to spare so we grabbed some pastries and juice for breakfast and then got ourselves into line. Americans take every opportunity to make money off of you and so at every tourist attraction they take your...
Continue Reading
Day 13 of Trip to Land of Choice July 7, 2010
We have settled it now – it is fog and not cloud. The tour guide today said you only get it in the summer months and it never rains. The weather was exactly the same today as yesterday – about as cold but maybe slightly less windy. The sun tried to peak out a few times but never really came through with any force. We had another late start today. I eventually got tired of being...
Continue Reading
Day 12 of Trip to Land of Free July 6, 2010
For those of you back in Cape Town envying us because we are enjoying summer when you are enjoying winter – don’t. It was like a winter’s day in Cape Town in San Francisco today and this is mid-summer for them! Helen remarked yesterday already that there are a lot of people in SF wearing SF branded merchandise. I speculated that it was because people came here expecting warm weather and they ended up having to...
Continue Reading
Day 11 of Trip to Land of Free July 6, 2010
I had to put the ‘Land of the Free’ in the header today because it is July 4. There is a lot less patriotism on the West Coast than the East Coast (or at least in Helen and my view). I suspect that it might have something to do with the demographics of the population in California. We decided to leave the hotel slightly earlier than necessary and rather have breakfast at the airport. The taxi...
Continue Reading
Day 10 of Trip to Land of Make Believe July 5, 2010
Today we took it relatively easy in that we first watch Germany thump Argentina before going out to have breakfast. This was good news for Stephen and I as we both support Germany. We then ambled down Santa Monica Blv to find a place for breakfast. The waitress was wearing a German flag in her hair and so we knew where her allegiance lay. In LA I don’t think we have yet been served by anyone...
Continue Reading
Day 9 of Trip to Movie World July 3, 2010
In case you are wondering what happened to Day 8, it was actually yesterday despite my blog heading saying Day 7. I managed to repeat Day 7 twice and we never even crossed the date line! Today we decided to go to Universal Studios the home of movie making. Even though we are staying in Beverly Hills which is right next to Hollywood, it still took us 35 minutes in a cab to get to Universal...
Continue Reading
Day 8 of Trip to Land of Coca Cola July 3, 2010
One of the CBD staff gave me the idea to change the heading today and signed of their email comments to me with ‘From the Land of the Vuvuzelas’. I think yesterday’s blog solicited the most return comments so far on the trip – not sure why – maybe the frozen custard was what did it. We all managed a good night’s sleep and seem to have adjusted quickly to the 2 hour time change. It...
Continue Reading
Day 7 of the Trip to Land of Free & Friendly July 2, 2010
Helen told me to change the title as we got onto the plane to fly to LA today. The reason is that people are really friendly here – at least on the surface. The gate lady was incredibly friendly to us as we boarded the plane which prompted Helen to make the remark. Though it hasn’t been a once-off thing for us. Almost every day that Janet and I have walked to or from the exhibition...
Continue Reading
Day 6 of Trip to Land of Free & Big June 30, 2010
The first hurricane of the 2010 season is about to hit the US. I know this (of course) because the Weather Channel is on. Unfortunately this isn’t good news for Janet and family as Janet is heading to Cancun with her family on Friday. Hopefully it will be past by that stage as they are predicting that it will hit land by tomorrow pm. We are, on the other hand, heading West to LA where the...
Continue Reading