Arrival at UMASS!!!!!

Despite what everyone scared me into believing about Greyhound, I survived my bus trip to Amherst! To be fair, it was a Peter Pan bus- which is run by Greyhound, but it’s meant to be the best Greyhound bus you can get.

We arrived at UMass around 3:30pm and spent the first hour and a half getting ourselves sorted. Firstly we had to get a “UCard” which is like a student card, but can be used for so many things. There are buses around the uni, around Amherst, and out to surrounding towns, which is free with our UCard! It also lets us into the residence halls, and works as a library card. You can put money on it to use at shops, or to do laundry (rather than having a bunch of quarters!) Seems like a very good system!

McNamara Hall



Then they drove us to our halls. My dorm is called McNamara, and it is in the Sylvan area. Since arriving, all I have heard about the Sylvan area is bad stuff! Nothing good, yet. But I am yet to make my own judgement. Sylvan is the furthest North-East point of the campus, so it’s quite far from everything. It takes us about 20 minutes to walk to the centre of the campus (where you can get buses into town), but there’s a food hall close by, which is nice! And walking isn’t so bad. It’s a pretty campus!

My room (before unpacking)
Beds are strangely high??
Hopefully adjustable!

So my room is a double room (meant for two) but I am the only one in it! So that’s pretty awesome. More room for me. The room is in a suite, with 5 rooms (6 people)- though no one else is here yet. Internationals, freshmen, marching band people & sports people are the first to arrive, everyone else will get here on Sunday. So for now, I have heaps of room to myself...and after 3 weeks of rather crowded accommodations I am LOVING it. In the suite there is a bathroom and a little “common area” which has some couches and a table/chairs etc. It’s all quite small but given that I have a double room to myself I think I got a good deal!

After dumping my things, I hopped on a bus to town with a few people (mainly from the UK, one from Germany, one from Japan) to buy bedding and other necessary supplies. I bought a very cheap sheet set (after a lot of uncertainty about bed sizes, and what exactly a “sham” and a “comforter” were). My sheets are bright pink striped, and make me feel like a 4 year old, but it was cheap. And pretty much everyone got the same, so now we’re all matching!



I have friends! Stefan and Karsten,
both from Germany

Today, my second day here, we had to sit through a lot of boring info sessions, which I won’t bore you with. We then checked out a food hall. I had a rather crap something (I don’t even know what it was) but then found the salad bar- which has everything you could possibly want to put in a salad, so I got some good healthy food! Then after finishing, we discovered the stir fry & pasta sections, which looked SO much nicer; that’s what I’m getting tomorrow!



The marching band!
And the nice pond area
(library in the backround)

Then, with a few girls I’d met yesterday, we wondered around the campus. We found the library- tallest one in America apparently! 26 floors! We looked around the gym- it’s actually MASSIVE. Like massive massive massive! There’s a whole floor of cardio machines, a bunch of basketball courts, a swimming pool, a running track, a floor for weights. They also do tons of group fitness classes, including pilates, zumba, spin, self defence, and other slightly more strange ones like “box ballet” (mixture of boxing and ballet). I am going to aim to try every single class this semester! Can’t wait. We also saw the marching band rehearsing all over the place, playing Hairspray music, which made me a wee bit excited!

And now I am unpacking everything in my room, before I go to a free BBQ tonight!

I’m loving it so far. I’ve met so many really nice people, and it’s cool to meet people from all over the world- apparently the Internationals that have arrived in the last day or so represent 47 different countries!

PS: I have now (almost) finished unpacking. Here's "my side" of the room, with my lovely new sheets etc. Cosy?

New York: Post-Hurricane!

We were fortunate enough to spend two full days on our bums in our dirty dirty apartment whilst the “hurricane” (otherwise known as a petty storm) passed through. It was not nearly as bad as they had led us to believe it would be! I think there were a few fallen trees, and some flooding near the coast/river areas, but when we walked around after it had passed, all we could see were leaves and small branches on the ground. Definitely not worth cancelling Broadway shows for! Oh well.

We roamed around Harlem (the area we are staying in) on Sunday afternoon, when we were finally given the all-clear to leave the building, to find that there were cop cars passing about every 3 seconds. We weren’t sure if this was because of post-hurricane things, or just because we’re in a super dodgy area. My money is on the latter! However, Fiona only lasted about 5 mins outdoors, before a small breeze convinced her that the hurricane could infact still be going.... Mmm...

The World Trade Centre site

Monday morning the subway was finally back up and running, meaning that we could go out and DO STUFF! Woo! Matt decided to go for a run and then explore Greenwich Village while Fiona and I went further South. We went to what was the site for the World Trade Centre, which is now looking like a massive building site. We then began our long shopping trip inside an amazing store called Century 21. It is like a massive all-discounted department store. So imagine you’re looking for a pair of shoes, usually $100 in Aus.. Will be $50 in US.. Will be $25 in Century 21. AMAZING. I bought pair of Tommy Hilfiger sneakers, which I thought were a very good bargain! Sadly, Century 21 is only in NY! Yet another reason to come back.

9/11 memorial

After our shopping we went to the 9/11 memorial centre. Here we read about the events of September 11 2011, from the moment the first plane hit at 8:54am, to the moment the last survivor was pulled out at 12:30pm the next day. They also showed us what the memorial site will look like when it opens in just a few weeks- on the 10 year anniversary. It was extremely depressing, but worth a look (also, its free!)

Then, thanks to advice from my lovely friend Kat, we took a (FREE) ferry to Staten Island and back, which goes right by the Statue of Liberty. While we couldn’t get up close & personal, or actually climb it, we got a pretty good view. And it was quite relaxing.

Cocktails at Peep!

Later on we met up with Matt in SoHo- the “trendy” fashion district of New York! We looked in Banana Republic (too expensive), H&M (got a nice black dress), Old Navy (don’t bother), and Zara (always awesome). We had the most amazing dinner at a Thai restaurant called “Peep”, where I had an delicious Pad Thai! Yum yum yum yum yum. Best meal I’ve had all trip! The meal was also accompanied by delicious cocktails. Perfect. However, the most interesting part about this place was the restrooms.... The one restroom was behind a mirror wall, which, it turns out, from inside the bathroom...You can see out to the restaurant. So it looks like all the people eating their dinner are looking at you on the toilet! WEIRD!??!

This morning I am leaving New York, and heading for UMASS!!! I’m quite excited to be getting out of our scummy apartment. However I do wish I had more time in NY, to see more incredible Broadway shows. I’d also like to explore more of the different areas in New York, like Brooklyn, and the Upper East Side, Queens etc. Plenty to do on one of the many occasions on which I will return!

New York: Pre-Hurricane!

We are in New York City, stuck indoors all weekend because of the lovely Hurricane heading our way. Isn’t that exciting? We should be fine, we’ve stocked up on food & drink, and we’re not in risk of needing to evacuate.

We arrived in NY on Wed arvo, and made our way towards Harlem. The apartment we are staying in is small but enough. However, the bathroom is shared with the other apartment on the floor and they keep locking us out of the bathroom (accidentally, we assume). However I also walked in on one of them fully naked. So I guess we’re even? The area feels a little unsafe at night, but there’s always safety in numbers!

We met up with Claire, a friend of Fiona’s, who was very helpful in navigating the subway for us! For our first night in NY we went down to Times Square, which is awesome! It’s so crazy busy all the time. There are some very over-priced shops and restaurants at Times Square. eg.. Toys R Us, which has a ferris wheel in the middle- because why wouldn’t it?! There’s also clothes stores, and places to buy broadway tickets etc. We also wondered around Bryant Park, and saw the Empire State Building (but didn’t go up! Hoping to go up Rockerfeller, because I’ve heard its cheaper and better)

The following day we wanted to go to Central Park, but it poured down with rain. So the only logical thing to do? SHOP, of course! I was very controlled and did not buy anything, however I did paint my nails each a different colour in Sephora! Fun! That night we saw “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” which was so so so AMAZING. I loved it!! Daniel Radcliffe was the lead, and he was surprisingly good! He can actually sing, and he can really dance! He’s so little, he was by far the smallest in the cast. John Larroquette was also in it, and he was brilliant! I didn’t know very much about the show, but essentially the title explains the storyline. It was really funny, and the songs are awesome. I highly recommend.

Yesterday (Friday), our second day in NY, the skies cleared and we were able to visit Central Park! It’s pretty stunning. Also, it’s so cool being in the middle of a massive crowded city and being able to go inside a nice quiet park. I say quiet, but there are quite a few street performers, who can be quite entertaining! The whole thing is relaxing and stunning.. Except it was crazy humid, so we were seating like pigs. Pretty attractive.

Last night Matt and I saw “Hair”, which was quite different to how I expected it to be. I knew some of the music, and had seen the movie- but the movie is very different. I found that the songs were fun, the staging was really good, the voices were incredible, but I just don’t think there’s actually a whole lot of storyline. But that said, “Cats” is one of my favourite shows, and that has even less storyline. It was really fun though, they’re constantly dancing up the aisles (even on the mezzanine level) and you can go dance with them on stage at the end- which sadly we didn’t because we were in an awkward spot to get there.

Then that brings me to today...caught in a hurricane! Well, the hurricane hasn’t actually started. We’ve been told not to leave the apartment between 9pm tonight and 9am tomorrow, but it could be much later. Regardless, its pouring with rain, so I’d say we’re probably spending the next two days indoors. Not the best way to see New York! But I guess I will just have to come back!

Philadelphia

We had just over a day in Philadelphia, where the weather was absolutely perfect. 27 degrees, and not at all humid! Lovely!

We were advised by the staff at the hostel that we “must” try a Philly CheeseSteak. I was not tempted. However Matt & Fiona were keen.. So we went down to South St (think Smith St/Brunswick St in Melbourne- only everything is so cheap!) to try a CheeseSteak. I had one without cheese..It was not great. But hey, we tried it!

Enjoying our strawberries
from the market!

Whilst me and Fiona browsed the shops, Matt went ahead to the Magic Garden (a mosaic-type art gallery), where we planned to meet him later. However..... There was an earthquake! Fiona and I were too involved in our shopping to even notice (seriously!) but Matt said it felt similar to the ones we had at home a few years ago. Apparently the epicentre was in Virginia. They evacuated most buildings, fearing that there may be aftershocks. This meant we couldn’t see the mosaic place, we couldn’t go into the City Hall, and the streets were packed full of people who’d been evacuated from buildings. We saw the Love Park, which is quite pretty. We also saw Benjamin Franklin’s grave, and had a look at the Independence Hall. One very cool place we went to was Reading Farmers Market. It was similar to Vic Market but, again, much cheaper! There were huge pizza slices for 75c, massive cookies for $1, all sorts of fruit and veges, meals from all over the world. We bought as much as we could carry. Yummy yummy cheap strawberries!

Citizens Park

We also went to a baseball game! Philadelphia Phillies VS New York Mets. It was so much fun! Everyone was so into it- jumping up and down for the home runs, and if the ball went into the crowd, they all went nuts. I think I even vaguely understand the game now too. And it’s true what they say. The Mets really do suck. Phillies won!

We ended up having a little time before our train out this, so we managed to visit the Magic Garden. I loved it. Mosaic is awesome.

Washington, DC

Why hello, Mr Obama

Our two short days in Washington have probably been the most jam-packed and exhausting days yet. But so very worth it. Upon arriving (in the early hours of the morning) we met two nice guys at the hostel, one from Germany & one from Singapore. They came along with us to the Mall (main downtown area)- where we got our first look at the White House. We wandered around, trying to get a bearing for where everything was, and getting a bit of a taste of the city.

Vietnam memorial
point out towards
Washington monument

One of our new hostel friends informed us of a FREE walking tour. And we’ll take almost anything that’s free! It’s basically a retired teacher (history teacher, I presume) who takes you to all the major monuments & memorials, and tells you absolutely everything you could ever wish to have known. He was incredible.

Two major highlights for me were:

--The Vietnam War memorial- mainly because of the thought that had been put into the design. It’s angled the way it is so that each end points to a significant monument. The name of every person lost in Vietnam war is on it, in order of when they were taken. It’s incredible.

Lincoln Memorial

--The Lincoln memorial- because it’s so famous, it’s just awesome to see! Also, outside of it you can see right where Martin Luther King stood for his “I have a dream” speech, and where Forrest Gump was in the reflecting pool (which is currently just mud!)

On the tour he also told us about the Martin Luther King memorial that will be officially opening with a special service this Sunday. It is designed around his “I have a dream” speech. It’s meant to be a rock that has split in two with the gap symbolising hope for a way through. We saw it from a distance, but obviously we couldn’t go in.

After this tour, we spent most of our remaining day and a half in the museums- the Smithsonian is a bunch of museums..which are all FREE! We went to three of them: American History, Natural History & Air and Space. Natural History was by far the best (if you’ve seen the Night at the Museum movies, apparently one is set there). It is huge, you could spend hours upon hours there. We saw dinosaur skeletons, and animals from all over the world and all periods of time. We also spent a lot of time in the “Race” section; which looks in detail at how race and racism has affected America. It was a lot of individual stories, really really interesting.

We also we to Arlington (which is across the river in a whole different state!) The Arlington Cemetery is administered by the Army, and is where the Kennedy’s are buried. It also has the Tomb of the Unknowns. It’s got stunning views over the city as well.

JFK's gave, Etenal Flame,
and the Arlington House 

Luckily the weather has also been much kinder! Though its still about 30 degrees most days, there’s not as much humidity. Loving it.

Philadelphia tomorrow, then NEW YORK the next day!!!!

Wilmington, NC

We got a train from Savannah to Fayetteville, NC, where we hired a car to drive over to Wilmington. Wilmington is the home of both One Tree Hill & Dawsons Creek... But before I get into that, let me tell you about driving on the wrong side of the road!

Eeeek!

For some unknown reason it was decided that I should be the driver of our newly hired car. The car was a nice little Kia Rio (actually not a bad car to drive) however, not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, but I was sitting on the wrong side of the car. This means that I was constantly trying to change gears with the wrong hand, and trying to look into mirrors where there were no mirrors. I also had to remind myself at every single turn that I would need to stay on the RIGHT. It’s like learning to drive all over again! (and to top it off it was pouring with rain on the way home- very isolated showers..we could tell when we were about to drive into it and then you can see the dry road ahead indicating that we would be out of the rain soon. We just don’t get rain like that in Melbourne!)

However, somehow, we managed to finally make it to Wilmington before dark. We went out for a lovely Mexican dinner and stocked up on fruit at the supermarket. We then decided to go for a stroll, at which point our feet were attacked by tiny little insects. It was painful. So we ran back to the car, and spent the rest of the night chilling out, playing card games.

The river court!!!!!

Today we saw the sights made famous on One Tree Hill (turns out most of the famous parts from Dawsons Creek- eg the creek, are filmed elsewhere). We walked down to the main area of Wilmington, which is along the river. This was the setting for many OTH events, such as Nathan & Haley’s first date, and the boat-burning thing. We then found out there was a little ferry that takes you to the other side of the river, where we found the river court!!! We had fun sitting in the bleachers (where Mouth & Jimmy used to commentate the games) and pretending to play b’ball on the court. All over the court there are messages from people who love OTH, and lots of quotes from OTH.

Then, after lunch, our first stop was the shop used as the CD Alley. It’s actually a joke shop. There was (what we thought was a) wax figure outside the door. I thought he looked creepily-real, and those things always creep me out.. And then right as we went up to the door he moved and said “I’ll get that for you!” and opened the door. Fiona screamed. I jumped a good foot into the air. Scary! We then saw where Karen’s Cafe was shot, and the bridge that Lucas walks along in the credits. It’s all within walking distance which is nice! Wilmington is actually a really nice town, even without the OTH stuff. Everyone’s still got the awesome Southern accents, and they’re all so friendly.

To avoid driving back in the dark, we came back to Fayetteville in the afternoon. However, there isn’t much to do in Fayetteville! It’s pretty..but there’s not much to do. So we had an early dinner and saw a movie- “Crazy, Stupid, Love”. It’s really really good- go see it! It’s still very hot. We’re praying for some breeze in Washington – after our 7-hour overnight train. Eeek.

Savannah

The diner!

We’re in the South, y’all!

In Savannah everyone is friendly. They like to say y’all. The houses are pretty. The food is strange. I love it.

We arrived last night and (after very almost losing Fiona’s suitcase!) we were greeted by the most entertaining cab driver I’ve ever met. She informed us that we would probably die from overheating. She also informed us of all the best places to get waffles, and other fatty foods. And she was very enthusiastic about it all! We ended up going to the nearby diner for dinner. It took us a long time to interpret the menu, with items such as “grits”, which we’d never heard of. We asked the waitress, as well as the people sitting next to us, and no one seemed to know what was actually in it! Fiona ordered it, and it pretty much turned out to be tasteless white stuff. But the diner experience was fun!  

Today we went downtown on the bus. On the way there we discovered that Savannah is full of stunning houses, and many many historical sites. We did a tour around the town, and learnt a bit about the history of Savannah. We walked along the river, which is quite pretty.

One very cool place we went to was a sweet shop. They had some crazy candies- the highlights being the crickets, and the ridiculous amount of toffee-apple type things. Except they’re not just covered in toffee- some have chocolate, some have nuts...pretty much anything you can imagine.

A variety of toffee-apples

Mmmm.. Tasty....

We wanted to do a tour of the first African American Church of the USA..but we were told the wrong time, and got there an hour late! Big bummer.


A very patriotic house



....So we went shopping! While Matt met up with a friend, Fiona and I explored the mall, and eventually ended up back at the hotel. The hotel (again) is very good value for money! My favourite part is the extensive breakfast- including waffles, eggs, sausages, fruit, toast, cereal.. It goes on and on!

Overall, Savannah is fun! Everyone’s friendly, and the whole place is pretty stunning.





Orlando: Harry Potter World!

Relaxing by the pool

Matt and I arrived very early Monday morning into Orlando after spending the night on a plane. Thanks to a lengthy delay we arrived at just about the same time as Fiona!

We found our way to the “hostel”- which turned out to be more like a hotel/motel! Very incredibly good value for money. It’s about $13 per night, we get heaps of breakfast, a room to ourselves, a pool, and its walking distance from a bunch of the theme parks. That first we spent mainly relaxing. Matt napped while Fiona and I wondered around the area, and then we all went out and chilled by the pool.  It’s really really hot in Orlando! It was 35 degrees, and humid.

HOGWARTS!!

The next morning we went to HARRY POTTER WORLD! (Otherwise known as Universal Studio’s “Islands of Adventure”) The Harry Potter part is only one small park of a massive theme park; the other areas included Jurrasic Park, Seuss, Superheros.. We went immediately to the Harry Potter area as we’d been told the castle ride would get crazy busy.

Cheers to butterbeer

We jumped in the line for a 120  minute wait! (When we returned later in the day it was much less busy: don’t go in the morning!) The wait was madness in the heat! But once you get inside- after about an hour and a half- it’s awesome! You walk through “hallways” with moving portraits!! And they actually look like paintings, not screens. So well done. Then..finally..we got to the ride! The ride is AMAZING. It’s mainly a simulator, but you are moving the whole time (being “levitated”!). Some bits are in rooms with giant spiders, dementors, the whomping willow, the dead basilisk. The idea is that you are following Harry (on his broomstick) though a tour of Hogwarts. It’s so so so much fun (we may have gone on it 4 times...)

Fiona testing out the
Elder wand!

We discovered a nifty way to cut the huge lines- don’t bother buying the expensive express pass..just go in the single riders line! You’re allowed to all go in together so long as you are happy to go onto the ride separately (filling the gaps, essentially). It cuts a two-hour queue down to 20 mins! We managed to get on one ride in less than 5 mins.

Super fun log ride

So anyway we spent a lot of time in Harry Potter world; tasting butter beer (kind of made me feel sick..) looking around Hodsmeade- Honeydukes, Zonko’s, Hog’s Head Bar, Three Broomsticks, Deverish & Banges.. But we also explored the other areas. First was Seuss- very child-like rides, but I liked the Cat in the Hat one. Being such a hot day we headed for water-rides.. We got completely drenched on Pop-eye’s cruise. (better than being drenched in sweat! Ha) Matt and Fiona are too wimp for the rollercoasters, so I had to do them on my own! The first one I went on was a Hulk themed one, which spent an awful lot of time upside down. It was fun. Then I also went on a log-boat ride..where I got completely drenched again! But also very fun. Then it started to rain.. A lot... It essentially turned it to a bit of a storm (saw on the news that the lightning caused hospitalisation for 4 people at a different theme park!), so heaps of the rides closed. However, the castle ride (being indoors) was still open!!!! Hurruh! We also waited to go into Olivanders for a good half hour in the rain. And it was pretty lame. It’s not a shop, its more like a little show. Olivander picks a kid to test some wands. He asks them to do a spell and the first two don’t work, and when handed the third there was very cheesy lighting and wind (much like in the first movie)

I thought the whole day was fun, despite the crazy weather! I highly recommend Harry Potter World to anyone who is a Harry fan!

Las Vegas & Grand Canyon



Excalibur Hotel & Casino



Late on Friday night we arrived in Vegas! As soon as the flight landed and the air hostess welcomed us to Las Vegas, everyone was cheering and clapping. Pretty clear that everyone had come for a fun weekend! Our hotel, Excalibur, was massive! It was not only a hotel, but a casino. Facilities included pool, spa, gym, wedding chapel, food court, tourist shops, a few shows, and even a room with about 20 screens and big comfy chairs to watch sports. The entire place was castle-themed. Kinda tacky, but it was well worth the money! All the hotels/casinos seem to be themed; we were between a New York one, and an Egyptian one!



My $1 gamble!!



On Friday night we went down to the casino, and explored all of the various bars, and casinos. I gambled $1! And lost!



The strip



The following day we had an incredible sleep in (each in our own massive bed- with no strangers in the room, sooo good compared to the hostels!) and then I went for a stroll along the strip. During the day it’s full of people promoting cheap show tickets, people dressed up as Elvis/MJ/various cartoon characters. It’s incredibly hot, too. About 40 degrees. I found heaven: M&M world! It’s incredible! They have every kind of m&m you could possibly imagine (I bought some coconut ones, peanut butter ones, almond ones, and lots of purple ones!!!). They also have heaps of merchandise.

Welcome to Las Vegas

Later in the afternoon we went to the gym (exercising off all the huge meals) and chilled out by the pool. In the evening we went down to the strip- which is quite different at night! Everything is lit up, and there’s a lot less show advertising, more “naughty” type promotions! We saw the Bellagio fountain show, which was cool.. But the one in Dubai is better :) We then walked down to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign- which is not only a long walk, but really hard to photograph well at night! Anyway we had an early night because....



Hoover Dam



We got up stupidly early this morning for our Grand Canyon Tour! First stop was Hoover Dam, the largest man made reservoir in the world. Pretty cool.

Then off to the West rim of the Grand Canyon. The West rim is the closest one to Vegas, therefore you can spend a bit longer there. There was 3 different areas; two viewpoints, and one very touristy “Western” area. The viewpoints are incredible, you see completely different views from each place you stand. At the first viewpoint, there was lots of information about the tribe who own the land, and how they used to live. At the second viewpoint we climbed a hill (in crazy heat!) to find 360 degree views. AMAZING. 

First viewpoint



Second viewpoint



San Francisco

Union Squre

Mexican!

We arrived at our hostel (Globetrotters) in San Fran around midday on Tuesday, to find the hallway walls covered in helpful information- lots of maps, pictures of good tourist spots- with written descriptions underneath (including how to get there), lists of close laundromats, restaurants, bars, and anything else you could possibly think of.. However, it is a very quiet hostel- for the first few nights we had some strange roommates who pretty much ignored us! Even at breakfasts everyone was pretty much silent.. Also, San Fran is COLD. 15-17 degrees, but soooo freezingly windy that ou forget to put sunscreen on and end up getting really burnt. Oops. Anyway, on our first day we decided to just spend the afternoon roaming, seeing what was close by. We went to Union Square, China Town, and all the surrounding areas. They have a Westfield Shopping Centre, which is pretty fancy. We walked around SOMA (South of Market Area) which has some cool streets, but a lot of them just smelled like weed, and had an awful lot of dodgy looking people! Matt tried out “the best pizza in America” at Escape from New York Pizza.. and I had some really nice Vietnamese for dinner.

Painted Sisters at Alamo Square

On our second day in San Fran we mainly spent our time at the Golden Gate Park. On our way there we stopped at Alamo Square, which is a nice little park. All the houses in that area are INCREDIBLE. Right opposite Alamo Square there are the Painted Sisters, which are really well-kept Victorian houses. They also feature in Full House!! But all of the houses around there are so clean and colourful, they look amazing. The whole city is pretty stunning, in fact.

One of the many cool flowers
at the Conservatory

Then we went to Golden Gate Park, which is absolutely huge. We started roaming around pretty aimlessly, admiring the wide array of plants; everything from cactus to gum trees! Apparently one of the plants are native, the whole park used to just be sand dunes! We eventually stumbled upon the Conservatory of Flowers. It’s basically like a greenhouse, with different rooms for different types of flowers. It was really cool, reading about where they all come from, how they grow etc. There were some of the strangest plants I’ve ever seen! Very worth the $5! Then, after getting lost many times, we found the Japanese Tea Garden, which was also pretty awesome. Everything inside the Japanese Tea Garden was so immaculately neat and organised. It was gorgeous.

Golden Gate Bridge

After getting lost a few more times, we found the bus to take us up to the Golden Gate Bridge (the gate and the bridge are ridiculously far apart..go figure!) When we got to the Golden Gate Bridge we discovered that it was very foggy! Apparently this is pretty standard. But you can see from the pictures that half of it is not even visible! Bit of a shame (we went past it the next day and there was even more fog!)

Foley's Irish Pub
 (note: Mona Lisa drinking Guiness!)

That evening we went to a really cool (but slightly expensive) Irish Pub which was decked out with paintings of significant Irish people eg Bono. There was even a picture of Mona Lisa drinking a Guiness!

Musee Mechanique



Lombard St



Day #3 in San Fran was spent mostly up at Fishermen’s wharf & all the surrounding piers. It’s even colder and windier there than in the rest of the city! We would’ve liked to have gone to Alcatraz, but it turns out you have to book about a month in advance! Big bummer. But as we got into Fisherman’s Wharf we discovered a little place called Musee Mechanique and, being that it was free, we went in.  It was like a massive warehouse that had been turned into an old-school arcade. There was all sorts of history about “fun” things, like roller coasters and beaches. It was also packed with pinball machines, fortune-telling machines, photo booths, many other games, and some “naughty” machines for men! It was really really interesting! Then we wondered out and had a look at some of the huge ships that we used in the war. On the wharf you also get a nice view of Alcatraz. While Matt had a look inside a submarine, I wandered down to Lombard St, the crookedest street in the world! Not only is it super duper bendy but it’s also really pretty- amazing views, nice houses, heaps of flowers.

Snow White Academy Award

After a quick lunch (courtesy of the hostel breakfast!) we went along to the Walt Disney Family Museum. When you walk in you can see a bunch of Walt Disney’s awards- some 200+! I particularly liked the Academy Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Museum is massive- we had to rush through the last part to make sure we got back on the final bus. It takes you right from Walt’s grandparents/parents upbringings, to the day he died. It’s pretty cool seeing the original drawings of Mickey, and some of the really old clips.

That evening we went to an improvised comedy show (because, well, why not?!). It was called Act One, Scene Two—a playwrite gives the cast the first scene from a script, and they improvise the rest. It was quite funny, and for a very reasonable price they also gave out free popcorn and charged $1 for freshly baked cookies. Mmmm.

Standard shop in Haight

On our last day in San Fran we went to a Cartoon Museum we had passed earlier in the week. It was kind of interesting, but definitely not great. It was more just a collection of Comic Strips- whereas I was expecting more history about cartoons, or maybe something about the process of putting it together.

Cool house in Haight

After that we went down to the Haight area. This area is known as the hippie area! Common stores there included smoke stores, very colourful clothes stores, crazy accessories, tattoo & piercing parlours, and vegan/vegetarian cafes. It was a really interesting place, very colourful! I wish we could’ve spent more time there, but we had to get back in time for our flight to LAS VEGAS!