Should have allocated more time !!

 

What a wonderful place.

 

We drove up from San Francisco in the rental car – that’s another “booking” story – yes I know we are becoming well known for booking “stuff-ups” !!

 

Anyway it’s all Linda’s fault this time – she registered as an Avis “preferred” customer so that we would avoid queuing and could just drive away.  I made the booking for a pick-up at 9am. I got up early and headed off at 8.30 — walked the 20 minutes from the hotel to the Avis depot to find no queue – but also a smiling face telling me that only Linda could do the pick-up because I wasn’t the “preferred” customer! – aarrgghh!

I then walked (the 20 minutes) back to the hotel – couldn’t get to the room because I left the only key with Linda  – and you need it to operate the lift (arrrgghh) – I find the front desk helper to get me to the room – explain the problem to Linda and then we walk (the 20 minutes) back to Avis.

By this time there is a queue but because there is only one person attending to customers we have to stand in line. By 10.30 we are on our way. Not feeling particularly “preferred”.!!??

 

Four hours later we reach Yosemite – entering the park in the south at the grove of Sequoia pines. Impossible to describe the feeling of being amongst these 2000 year old giants. Let the pictures speak.

 

Then on into the park and arrive just at sunset to the best viewing spot for the Yosemite valley.

 

Following day we did as much walking as our legs would allow – heading for waterfalls, lakes, etc. Again – let the photos speak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put this place on your bucket list!

Now for something completely different – LAS VEGAS!

Would you believe it – we are disappointed.

Maybe we have travelled too much and we are hard to impress?

Better stay home for a while!

Anyway here we are at the Bridge.

and at the Haight Street Market – right in the middle of the Hippie movement  – nearest thing to Brunswick Street we have seen so far.

Love the new hat!

The City is a mix of “the ordinary” (strip clubs, bars and diners and the usual retail offerings in downtown – cheap shoes are good here),

 

“old icons” (the trolley cars, the waterfront (Pier 39) and the Golden Gate bridge)

 

 

 

Carousel at Pier 39

 

 

Sea Lions at the waterfront – taken from the ride we took — in the big yellow boat below – $10 for 30 minutes.

The “great” American economic system seems to have left a very large number of it’s own people behind here – or maybe there are more of them that have come here in hope and have given up. Whatever the reason, the presence of hundreds of homeless men and women of all races on the streets surrounding the downtown area is very confronting. We haven’t seen it in New York or Chicago – maybe because of the location of our apartments. If this is the free market at work (without a sensible safety net) we don’t like what we see — note for Tony and Joe!

A significant piece of contemporary art in the Museum of Modern Art captured our feelings pretty well.

Two young girls living in a cardboard box – surrounded by tear drops. (We needed the guide at the museum to explain it to us!)

Another piece below needs no explanation !!?? Actually let us know if you have any idea what the artist was smoking at the time!

We have explored the place thoroughly and walked our socks off – although the buses and trams are a bargain – flat fare of 75c (for seniors) – the trolly cars are for tourists and at $6 for a one way ride it is a “must do” activity (but be prepared for a 30-60 minute wait to get on.

One night we ate at “Johns Grill” scene of the filming of “The Maltese Falcon” – Humphrey Bogart starring. Here’s Linda with the Falcon.

On our last day we ended up at the Maritime Museum building on the Waterfront – The building belongs to the San Francisco Yacht club and is their viewing point for the Americas Cup Races. Here is Linda in the crowd at the Museum viewing the display  of photos of recent races – not sure what is going on here. Anyway it is a lovely Art Deco building with a super view!.

 

Alcatraz  was the one major “attraction” we didn’t visit.

Well thats it for now – on our way to Yosemite National Park.

 

All done in Chicago – and its off to San Francisco tonight.
Not before a recap of our adventures here. Weather is low to mid 20’s – just right for walking and eating out. Or running under the sprinkler in the city park!!

First stop was the Red bus tour to buy a three day ticket – and we used it every day. We have been regular “commuters” on the Red Bus (circle route) – rather than using taxis or regular buses. Each time we board we get a different guide and a different story – nice! The guides are paid so little here they rely on tips so they work hard at being entertaining. Yesterday we had ‘Eddie Murphy’ at his craziest but our favourite so far has been ‘Jason the Movie Guy’ Did you know that almost every street in Chicago has been in a movie and he could tell you all about it.

First afternoon we just did the complete circle to get our bearings.

First night was to “Andy’s Jazz Club” where Denis had been twice during business trips. It didn’t disappoint. Here we are with the headline act – Guy King and the Little Big Band. $15 cover charge for fantastic local jazz and good food too. Only about 100 people in the club – nice.

Day 2
Back on the Bus and down to the Institute of Art – the (Museum of art). Great Impressionist collection (for example – a room of Renoir’s!) and US exhibitions (we made a point of getting to know some US artists – Hopper, O’Keefe and Dove are favourites and of course Andy Warhol features here – if they have wall space big enough! – see chairman Mao below – which is around 5m x 6m) and much more.

At the Art Institute building on Michigan Ave – even the “Silver Man” has to have a lunch break!

The Chagall windows exhibit

A room of Miro’s work

Andy Warhol

Picasso (in his blue period)

Edward Hopper – “Nighthawks”

We were also lucky enough to be here for the 34th Blues Festival the Taste of Randolph Festival – all free performances in Millennium Park day and night.

Here’s Denis in front of the main venue in Grant Park.

On day 3 we took the river cruise focussed on the City Archeticture – fascinating to see everything from the great 1930’s buildings through to the 2000’s. Here are some examples

Guess who owns this building – the only building in Chicago with a visible name.

The City has discovered it’s river in much the same way as Melbourne and there is a huge development of apartments around the river going on. for your trivial pursuit night — did you know that the River was “turned around” to flow from the Lake back into the hinterland around 1900 to stop the industrial pollution getting into Lake Michigan and polluting the drinking water – stopping the pollution might have been easier!! But now it still flows from the lake back into the Mississippi River – without the pollution.

On our last day we visited the observation deck on the 100th floor of the Hancock tower – we did not experience “the Tilt” which allows you to be suspended over the edge of the building. Even though it survived the earlier occupants!!!

 

 

Also caught up with the demonstration in support of cyclists rights ‘Less Gas More Ass’. Well maybe not so lucky – Nudes on Bikes is definitely not a theme for a porno movie!! — but it was fun to see – I have edited out the photos of the really bad bodies on bikes!!.

 

Cheer for now – see you in San Francisco.

 

Our New York adventure is over now and we are on the train to Chicago.
Overnight on an AMTRAK train is something you must do once – that will be enough! Here we are boarding the train in Albany NY

The sleeper carriages are mis-named – very little sleeping takes place in them because the condition of the track is so bad that “one” is continually shaken into a semi waking state. And there is definitely no cat swinging in the “roomettes” – here is Linda in her luxury bottom bunk. (toilet conveniently located on her right – with drop down basin over – maybe useful if one of us were to step out into the corridor!!)

The weather has turned rainy and looks like more to come in Chicago. However our last few days in New York have been wonderful.

Our cruise around Manhattan was shrouded in fog but it provided another perspective on the skyline and the Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Us and the lady

Brant Park – on 42nd Streetat around 10pm – Empire State Building behind

42nd Street at 10pm looking down to the Crysler Building

We caught the Metro down to Lower Manhattan to see the 9/11 memorial park – this is one of two “waterfalls” created on the footprints of the twin towers – names of all those killed are on the surrounds.
Beautifully done.

Then we wandered through Battery Park and the waterfront area on the lower east side until sore feet stopped us – then it was back on the Metro to get ready for the night cruise around Manhattan

Denis on Wall Street encouraging the Bull — we need him to keep up the value of our super fund!

Tuesday we caught the train to Albany for 2 lovely days with favourite cousin Di – in Saratoga Springs.
We caught up on a decade of life’s stories – and some older ones – great to just stop and share time together. Thanks Di. See you in September.

Sunday 8th June and we are camped in the Radio City Apartments on West 49th St. It is an apartment all snugly fitted into a 3m by 3m room – still it works for us.

The luxury of our hotel in New Jersey is a distant memory – see below.

The short report on the golf tournament. I came in third this year after starting the last round in 3rd place. Not a bad result – but that 4th round in 4 days was the killer – nothing left in the tank to mount a challenge and the overnight leader played brilliantly to win by 10 strokes. The handicap committee will have work to do next year!! The courses were great and we had great fun with the usual group – plus a couple of newbies this year.

Today we are up early to take in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) and then do a Broadway matinee this afternoon (Bullets over Broadway – directed by Woody Allen). We caught the train from New Jersey to New York yesterday and we were in our hotel by midday. Train travel is so much less stressful than flying. We spent the afternoon at the MoMA (museum of Modern Art) – where we found that Picasso had captured the recent events in Australian politics

Tony working on the Budget

Joe Hockey trying to explain the budget

The budget itself

The collection at the MoMA is fantastic and only $18 to enter (for seniors!).

Weather is brilliant here – sunny and 30ish.

Images of our day out on Day 2 follow – the Blog software is doing strange things so I won’t spend much time describing our day – I have already done that once and it disappeared. Spent most of the day at the Metroplitan Museum of Art – skipped the theatre plan – then walked home through Central Park – brilliant!

Atrium at the Met

Goya’s ballerinas – in bronze in the foreground and in Oils in the background

Times Square last night

We are now deep in the heartland – about 20km from Atlantic City and maybe 20 years back in time. Egg Harbour City is the exact location for our golfing resort – it is really quite OK once you get to know the rules of the hotel. Bar closes around 7.30pm, breakfast voucher is good for only one item (and definitely no free juice) — Hmmmm!

We spent Monday getting here from DC by train. AMTRAK to Philadelphia then onto the local NewJersey Transit line to Egg Harbour station – which is right in the middle of — a car park – nothing much else – certainly no taxis to take us to the golf resort. So we dragged our bags and the golf clubs to the nearest main street (500m away) and found the local Diner where we had lunch and the owners called us a cab.

It was such a great find that we came back for dinner last night with 20 of our golf friends. (a true American icon – now owned by a Greek family who bought it from “Joe” the original owner – the Greeks have cousins in Australia!! – of course!)

Today was Round 1 of golf – Denis finished in 2nd place (4 shots back) with a respectable 34 points — which will surely attract a handicap adjustment overnight!

Linda spent a harrowing day by the pool.

Well we made it safely – if a little exhausted – having to sit in economy from LA to DC – life’s a bugger!

Beautiful location we chose (by accident) for our “digs” – in Foggy Bottom – just next to Georgetown.

Spent yesterday doing the Red Bus tour of the memorials (and aint there a lot) then walked the Mall to visit the Smithsonian attractions, the Freer Gallery, the botanical gardens, the Capitol building etc, etc.

Finished off with Dinner on the Waterfront (of the Potomac River) – at Nick’s Grill (note to self – one American main course is quite enough – for two people).

Today we walk to Georgetown for more fun.

You can call us on Denis’s mobile or on Linda’s cheap sim (+37259362482)

Check your local guides to be sure we will not be asleep