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[Riebi]

Hi!

Just wanna let you know that I´m back from my California/Grand Canyon/Las Vegas vacantion. Had a great time and I try to write a trip report over the next weeks with some pics from the days in the sun.

First step is a overview by dates:

• 03.10 The Beginning: Frankfurt --> San Francisco (with an "unscheduled" emergency stop at Iceland for 3 hours)
• 04.10 San Francisco with Sea Lions, bridges and very cold spots under the golden gate bridge
• 05.10 San Francisco with wonderful views from little towers, cable cars and alcatraz
• 06.10 along the sea down the "one" over Santa Cruz some sea elephants to San Simeon
• 07.10 Visit of Mr. Hearst weekend house "hearst castle" near San Simeon and then down the road to Santa Barbara, Burbank, Glendale and finally Anaheim with Gardenwalk and Downtown Disney
• 08.10 Some spaces without visitors at the Universal Studios Hollywood and my first wonderful piece of Cheesecake from the best cakemakers on earth: The Cheesecake Factory
• 09.10 Hello Disneyland, the original
• 10.10 Disney´s California Adventure and more Disneyland
• 11.10 Again a wonderful day at the Disneyland Resort - the wheelchaired place on earth -
• 12.10 Downtown LA, Hollywood with a BIG sundae at Disney Soda Store then on and on an on to San Diego
• 13.10 San Diego Zoo, Old Town San Diego and Horton Plaza and Gaslamp Quarter
• 14.10 A wet experience at Sea World, cocktails at old town, Fishermen´s village and again the gaslamp quarter
• 15.10 San Diego Coronado with another "Disneyland Hotel", a wonderful beach and a move on toward palm springs
• 16.10 Driving Day from Palm Springs to Williams
• 17.10 Grand Canyon National Park
• 18.10 From William to Hoooover Dam, from Hoooover Dam to Las Vegas and the experience of flat screens in bathrooms in combination with Jacuzzis
• 19.10 Las Vegas Show day with "Le Rêve" at the Wynn
• 20.10 Las Vegas Fun Day
• 21.10 Bridgeday at Bakersfield meeting a meal at the elephant bar
• 22.10 Sacramento and meeting arnold schwarzeneggers assistant in front o arnold schwarzeneggers office
• 23.10 Fairfield Jelly Belly Factory and back to San Francisco
• 24.10 ONE DAY SALE AT MACYS!!!! and a nice meal at San Francisco´s FW
• 25.10 San Francisco Airport tooo-----> Frankfurt (26.10)

So that´s what we did so far, now I only have to fill this trip reports with pics and storys. Hard life.  :mrgreen:

[Epcot_Boy]

I look forward to it :wink:

[davewasbaloo]

Can't wait to read your thoughts of my birthplace and childhood home!

[never2old]

Whoa, that sounds like an amazing trip!!

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

[RnRCj]

Sounds like an amazing trip! I am eagerly awaiting your opinions and photos. :wink:

[bensmum]

wow can't wait to hear all about it. I am planning something similar next year so any hints and tips will be gratefully received especially about drive down H1

[Riebi]

Thank you all for your comments!
 
I try to give much tips as possible bensmum.

Now Let´s start with day ONE

03.10 The Beginning: Frankfurt --> San Francisco

How nice a vacation can start. We start at Frankfurt Airport which is one of my favorit airports. After a cup of coffee and some snacks we get a very friendly check in at the United Desk. United has some special seat modification and cause the woman at the desk was thinking that me an my friend looks soooo nice and cute we get a little upgrade from economy to economy plus. The plus means 12 cm more space for your legs. That said I was very happy with this 12 cm cause my legs are a bit longer...
We were one of the first passengers that checked-in and so we were the first at the security control and the first at the passport control and the first that used the restrooms at the boarding waiting area. That was the best thing you could have. I went back to the restrooms later just to wash my hands and it looked terrible. But ok.
Let´s enter the plane.

Nice seating at the windows. We booked the flight in april and could choose which seats we want to have. That´s a good thing. Cause the seatsrows in the middle aren´t really comfortable. 5 seats in a row aren´t something to start your funtime, esp. if you´re seated in the middle. So the window places are something you all should reserve before you enter the airport.

I had a nice diner with some chicken, carrots and other things all togehter on my little desk. I had a nice movie in my television in the seat in front of me and then, just starting my second movie, I had a not so nice announcement by the captain himself.

Cause of a medical emergency we had to make a forced landing at Iceland.

I was never before in Iceland and that´s what I said to my friend. Another white spot we could handle on our journey. We saw some geysers and a lot of dark stones, then just the airport of iceland. This all was very interesting for the first 30 minutes. But after the first hour it was a bit boring. I don´t know if you knew it but you are not able to leave the plane while such emergency landings. Cause you are in the international nothing of nothing or so. So all I could see after this first hour were the butts of people standing in the walkway. Dark pictures.

After the first hour the captain told us that now they have to do some technical checks and some paperworks. unfortunately the iceland technic guy wasn´t trained in that big planes. So the captain had to help him and after the 2. hour of waiting all the captain and the stewardesses could say was "Paperworks! Just Paperworks!".

After the third hour [strike:2a9ta8ka]of Christmas[/strike:2a9ta8ka] of waiting in middle of butts we were ready to start again.

Okidoki. Back over the sea I start my avocation programm to forget all the butts while eating some snacks (MINI PRETZELS...a stewardess gave me MINI PRETZELS cause I looked so scared) and watching all the other movies. After 11 hours in a plane you are bored, tired and mad. After 11 hours + 3 waiting hours at Iceland in a plane you are BORED, TIRED AND MAD!!!!

blessedly the San Francisco Bay area was now in sight and I could look for all the little lights down there in the deep night. It was now around 11:00 PM and the night seems to be calm.

San Francisco welcomed us with a starry night and a joking passport inspector. The US needs our fingerprints (of all fingers) and our iris print for some kind of terror combat. So we gave them both which was a bit disgusting cause this fingerprint thing was very very very very very very very used...which means it was very very very very very clammy...not so nice if the next thing after the inspection is a big screen telling the danger of the swine flu.

 I was a lucky guy finding a restroom next to the baggage claim. We reached the rental car station around 12:00 PM (We booked the rental car from germany cause that was cheaper) and choose no GPS. Why? The want to have 150 Dollar for it and you can buy one for just 100 at every electronic store in US.

So me, my friend and the map enter our car. I was the GPS he told me. I´m a good GPS normaly but SF was a bit big and my map a bit small so we made a short round through the streets till we found our hotel.

We stayed at the Galleria Park Hotel  :arrow: //http://www.jdvhotels.com/galleria_park/?cid=gl_gph  :!: at the finance district of San Francisco. That was a really good choice. It´s a nice little boutique hotel in downtown San francisco. And that mean that you can walk to a starbucks, to the ferry building, to macys, to westfields, to market street with this trolley cars, to union square, to the next cable car stop, to pier 39 (a bit away but also in a walking distance, if you don´t want to walk you can take the historic Trolley line F from Market Street (2 Dollars)), to china town.....and it was really comfortable. We had a kettle, tea, a mini bar, bath implements, a hairdryer, flat iron etc.etc. and all in a really nice looking room which was clean (important for germans) and big enough for our 4 suitcases. I really can recommend this little hotel in the heart of San Francisco´s Downtown. It was one of the best hotels of our journey.

After seeing our kettle, tea, a mini bar, bath implements, a hairdryer, flat iron etc.etc. we found our bed and were both really happy about it. In the first night we could´nt sleep very well. Jetlag. But some hours befor our day number 2 started.

[davewasbaloo]

Indeed it is a great location to stay in my birth city. Cannot wait to read more.

[Riebi]

You should be a lucky guy to have this city as your birth city! Great one!  :mrgreen:  Mine is just saarbrücken...that´s not very impressive...

[davewasbaloo]

Saarland ist toll!

[dagobert]

Looks like you had an amazing trip. I'm really looking forward to the parts with Burbank, Disneyland Resort, Hollywood and Las Vegas. So keep posting.

I loved Las Vegas. On our next trip to the US we plan also to visit California. If everything goes well it should be in 2011.

[Anthony]

This is my dream trip. I'll do it someday. Can't wait to read more!

[MagicStar]

Wow -- can´t wait to read more  /
What a great trip-route! Must have been fantastic!

[Riebi]

Saarland ist toll!

 :lol:  :lol:  Yes for a vacantion! But not if you saw california and had three warm weeks. Now just grey skies here....

This is my dream trip. I'll do it someday. Can't wait to read more!

Wow -- can´t wait to read more /
What a great trip-route! Must have been fantastic!

Yes that´s a great route and I´m soooo sad to be back again    The route planning wasn´t my idea, it was my friend who made this and he made it right!  =D>

now day 2

04.10 San Francisco with Sea Lions, bridges and very cold spots under the golden gate bridge

First let me say: San Francisco isn´t that warm as you may imagine it. It has cold winds and fresh breezes from the sea. To in the morning and in the afternoon and evening you should have some clothes for this weather with you. That important if you are a person like me that is chilled through quiet easily.

Cause my friend was once before our trip at San Francisco I was very happy about this advice. We saw many one day tourists shivering in their summer dresses, shirts and shorts.  I was happy with my pullover in the morning, during 11:00 AM and 16:00 AM was a warmer stage and so I was proud to pull my pullover away like a squirell in the morning.

We started our day around 09:00 AM a bit tired but intersted in this beautiful city. We strolled around the financial district toward Embarcadero Centre (Big shopping and office skyscraper). Opposite the center you will find the ferry building, where the port authority of San Francisco seems to have one of the oldest and nicest buildings of san francisco.

I was really impressed by the wonderfull old town skyscrapers at the financial district. There are so much beautiful Art Nouveau buildings in downtown and you could just think "There work and live people??? Really?? In this wonderful buildings?". So happy by the streetscenes we made our way to the Ferry Building and then on to the Embarcadero (the street). We walked along this great avenue the sea and the piers of the one site and the skyline of San Francisco on the other all the way down till Pier 39 and Fisherman´s Wharf.

There we bought a "protein breakfast" at starbucks (Bagel, Peanutbutter, fruits, egg...) and made our way to the benches at the wharf. You have a nice view here Alcatraz at the distance, ships, gulls and a point to you sit and have a look at the people around the bay.

After our breakfast we made our round at fisherman´s wharf and pier 39. Pier 39 is a nice restaurant and small shopping pier with a lot of fun. The best: A lot of friends of mine life there. I hearded them at the entrance and in the middle of the pier. Then I smelled them. Last step: I saw hunderts of Sea Lions scratching, howling, cuddling and living here at pier 39. Fun to se(a)e.

At the entrance of the pier we bought some tickets for a sight-seeing tour. They took a tour with a motorized cable car for the afternoon (2 PM). We had to take more clothes with us cause my friend said that this tours are a very very very cold thing. To come back to our hotel we choose the trolley car line. They have historic trolley cars at San Francisco and that´s a wonderful thing to come fast and with a bit of historical expirience from pier 39 to ferry building or market street.

We took our clothes and then we made another walk through the city. This time we choose a way from sutter street (were our hotel was) over Montgomery and California street to China Town. China Town is also something you have to see at San Francisco. I like this mix of diffrent styles and little details. They have own lamppost and such things there.

We found our way through this busy district down and up the hills, passing the peter and pauls church (Washington Square??) back to the seaside. Ready for our tour.

Our driver was Jim. And it was the last tour of the day. And that is the tour you should take toooooo (TIPPP!!!), cause Jim gives you then a bit of extra tour and he won´t take the time limit that earnest. Which means that you get the better, longer and more fun tour! Yippie!

At the tour you will get a short overview about everything you must see at San Francisco. (BUT TAKE WARM CLOTHES WITH YOU!!!!! ITS A OPEN CAR) Starting at Pier 39 we found our way on every hill of SF, we saw the nice homes and houses at noble hill, the big cathedral and churches (even the church where Sister Act took place) and the house of Mrs. doubtfire. The first bigger stop was at the palace of Fine Arts. What a nice ensemble. It´s a bit like paris in SF. They built it once for the Panama Pacific Exhibition (1915).

After this stop we made some others on our way toward golden gate bridge. Then we arrived the bridge. But not at the top, we were first under the bridge. Theres a little fort and on its roof you can find the coldest spot of San Francisco. And I must say our driver was right. It was the coldest spot of San Francisco and I was freezing like a squirell at Antarctica. After this we visit the bridge, made a walk to the middle and back and all this tourist things you do around the bridge. We drove back passing the Presidio, victorian houses, China Town and Downtown were we reached 3 hours after our start the pier again.

It was quiet a nice tour and we had a lot of fun with Jim and the others! We took a evening walk around fisherman´s wharf and had then a Tomato Soup in a bread at Boudins Bakery (seems to be a San Francisco monument, I never heard before but the soup was great)

Then we took the next Trolley back to our hotel cause we were really tired with just some hours of sleep.

[Riebi]

The Pics of Day 2:

The Morning

-Me in the morning, Alcatraz in the background at Fisherman´s Wharf


-Pier 39


-Our Trolley Back to the Hotel


-Skyscraper


-Our Street named "Sutter"


-Our room


Peter and Pauls Church


The Palace of Fine Arts Area: Look all that details!











The rest of the Tour


-City view


-me and the golden gate bridge


the golden gate bridge without me :lol:


The coldest spot!


- on the bridge


-the fort from the bridge