I'm back!

[offense74]

I'm been back from the US for a few days and been working on my jet lag. I had a great time and (almost) everybody was nice to me. Here's a short description of the trip place by place:

 

Newark Airport:

I still had my visa from when I was in Iran 2001 in my passport. Getting through customs was a pain in the ...

 

New York (Madison avenue, 45th street)

It seems like all Europeans like New York but not alot of Americans do. Since I'm a European I agree with my fellow EU:ans, I loved New York .

Eating was not a problem here, there were delis everywhere and alot of them even had tofu stuff and silk chocolate soymilk (yummie) and all of them have fresh fruit and stuff.

Transportation was no problem at all walking and taking the metro was really easy. As a tourist town it simply rocks.

We were here 3 days and I basically walked for 10 hours each day and I couldn't get enough. The weather was nice (a little rain on one day).

I also had the priviledge to meet the stereotypical (to most europeans anyway) american at a pub the firs day. He was quite drunk and told me that "Everybody wants to live in America" and then he progressed to talk about bombs. It was fun .

 

Philadelphia

We made a quick stop to eat and to look at some kind of clock that appearantly was of big importance.

 

Washington DC (I and 14th street)

After walking for 3 days straight my feet were killing me, but that wasn't going to stop me. Washington is soooo beatiful. Trees, parks and monuments everywhere. I had to see all the monuments and only had about 1,5 day so I had to start working. White house, the big fallos symbol (I think it's the Washington dude), Lincoln, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Capitol hill, air and space museum, museum of natural history,... I think I got most of them and I also got to see Arlington road, Watergate and Kennedy cultural centre on the city trip. My feet were killing me. Food sucked (we were there sun-mon). Om sunday night the only thing I could find was McDonalds so I had a burger without meat and an apple pie. It was nasty.

Weather was nice and hot aside from a few showers on mon morning.

 

New Orleans (1 mins of entoxicated walking from Burbon St)

So f**n hot and humid. Sweating like a pig for two days...

French quarters is beautiful but quite small and not that lively as of yet (thanks to Katrina) but I got myself a few beers and some good jazz music. The second day there were also a smallish parade with clowns, music and nekkid chicks throwing plastic marbles at the audince. Good times. I also took a trip on a swamp boat to see a little nature and some alligators.

 

Tucson (on a resort right outside of town)

I counted to about a total of 5 redicoulusly small clouds in the next 5 days or so. It was HOT!

On the first day we went to the desert museum and looked at cactuses and stuff. They also had birds in cages wich made me a little sad, but I understand they do alot of good too for the animals in the area arond there so I didn't know what to think really.

We were supposed to take it easy the second day but me and a few others wanted to go to the airport graveyard.

To get there we needed to take a cab to the AVIS office, rent a car, drive it for 30 mins, drive back and then get a cab back to the hotel.

Here I understood the problem with America and cars. The goal of a person is apparently to own a house. This makes the cities grow bigger in all directions and it kills the inner cities. To get anywhere it takes forever. Tuscon is as big as Gothenburg (where I live) and here I don't need a car to get around, I use a bike. It wouldn't be possible in Tucson.

Anyway, the graveyard was a nice experience. We had a guided tour inside there and the tour guide was a retired pilot so he told us all about the different kinds of planes. More than anything else it made me realise how much america spends on military equipment .

Here they had Tex-Mex food so I got myself a few burritos with beans.

 

Tucson - Grand Canyon - Kanab

WOW! I flew over Grand Canyon. I think it changed me a little bit. It's sooo beautiful. The whole desert, Grand Canyon and Utah is absolutely breathtaking. I love deserts! Just sitting down and looking into a desert makes my mind blank and I feel at home.

 

Las Vegas (Luxor hotel, the pyramid)

Well I was no longer in Grand Canyon, that's for sure!

First thing I asked myself when I saw the building was "why?", then I though of the riddle:

"Why do the dog lick his nuts?"

"Because he can!"

Puzzle solved!

I went ahead and won about 750 dollars the first day so I could gamble away all I wanted the next day without feeling guilty.

I did a little drinking in the heat the first night and also went to a show. After the show I went out to get some more to drink, eat and to get some pictures. I got beer, pictures and a subway sandwich. Got home at about 2.30 am.

Being a little dizzy after the beers I started walking in the heat from Luxor (at one end of the strip) to the older parts of Vegas blvrd (the other end) and back checking out every hotel on the way and gambling some took me about 10 hrs. Itried to fill up with water but it was too hot and I ended up a little dehydrated and very happy. I couldn't stop smiling about the redicouluseness of the buildings and had to remind myself over and over again on the dog and his nuts.

 

San Diego (Missionary Beach)

Nice and cool! I always though about California as a hot place but it was, ...well..., just nice .

Did alittle swimming in the pacific (now I've swimmed on both sides of it, Japan and the US ). The second day I took a bus to old town and took a city tour there. San Diego seems to have a small town feeling about it even though it's quite big. People were friendly and laid back. Seems to be a little calmer than some other cities. Had a burrito in old town and found a guy that sold tickets to Sea world for 15 bucks (tey cost 59 otherwise) and took the bus there. I didn't watch any of the shows because I find it somewhat creepy to watch animals do tricks, but I went to the aquariums and walked around for a few hours.

 

Los Angeles (Santa Monica)

As all people I know that has been there I didn't quite get what the fuss was all about. I think the problem is the same as in Tucson. It's huge in all directions with everybody having their own little house.

Anyhoot, I got to see Beverly Hills, Rodeo drive, Sunset blvd, Hollywood, etc. Then we went to Universal to spend alot of the riminder of the day. I also rented a bike to get to Venice beach from Santa Monica and did some walking, eating and shopping in Santa Monica.

Me and another guy wanted to go to Sunset in the evening but we were told that it would take like 2 hrs with public transportation and probably be quite expensive with a cab. Lesson of the day, bring your car. This makes me wonder, since you can't get anywhere without a car, do people drink and drive alot? Is that legal?

I also read on Wikipedia that they actually have a large metro system with buses, trains and even a subway but it takes forever anyway since there are so much traffic and the city is huge. Is that true?

L.A. is the most tourist unfriendly town I've ever been to. I told a guy that it was much easier to get around as a tourist in Tehran than L.A.

Well, anyway, I got the t-shirt.

 

San Francisco (Fishermans warf)

This town is really easy to be in as a tourist. Communications work flawlessly and yo can walk through the whole city (with some help from the buses and trams) in a day or so.

San Francisco is sooo charming even though it's crowded with tourists and beggars (I spended alot of money on beggars in California).

Robert, if you want to get some new members for the forum you should defenately check out the Castro district. Alot of muscle, gyms and tofu everywhere .

I did ALOT of walking here (about 10 hrs the secon day and maybe 5 the first) and my feet were severly beaten when I got back on the plane to Sweden the next day.

 

 

Here's how food works in the US:

Take something (usually meat), dip it in sugar and flour, deepfry it, put meat sauce on it, grease it down with cheese (really it's cheese on everything, you get funny looks when you say you want it without cheese) and serve it with some other thing following the above reciepe. If you're at a fancy restaurant you get veggies to it as decoration.

I got away with just eating some cheese and eggs and it was nice to get home and get it out of my system again. US gets C- for the food.

I'm sure it's better if you have more time though but I didn't want to spend my entire vacation looking for food.

 

An other strange thing:

At delis you pay at the counter. At non-fancy restaurants you pay a dude or dudette sitting at a counter somewhere by the exit. If it's a fancy place you pay the waiter. HOW DO I KNOW IF IT'S A FANCY PLACE OR NOT?? HUH??

Thing is they always have a counter at the exit/entrance because even if I'm the only customer someone apparently HAVE to walk me to a table like I'm some kind of idiot. It's very confusing. I had to ask everywhere how it worked: "Do I put the tip on the table?", "Do I pay you or the table-walking lady?"

And also because of the tipping system the waitors get annoying and comes around asking every 3 mins if I'm allright. I'M NOT A BABY!!

 

I'll post some pictures later.