4th time lucky

From the lack of updates it would seem i haven't attempted to update in a while although i actually keep running out of time so end up just saving them as drafts... If i remember correctly last time i got round to updating i was in Toronto which seems like a year ago as so much has happened since. Therefore i apologise if this entry becomes an essay - you have been warned!!

After leaving Toronto we flew to LA where we spent two nights. We took the bus to Venice beach which was nice and spent a while walking along the front and wandering in to all the different shops along the way. We then got the bus further along to Santa Monica which was so much nicer it was like we were in a different place all together (which i guess we were...) We walked around the pier which has a mini amusement park and rides on it. Meg thrashed me at a game of air hockey before we went and sat on the beach and watched the sun setting. The bus journey back to the hostel took ages (as it did on the way there) as the transport system in LA is pretty pants. The following day we did an LA city tour through our hostel which was an experience. We went up as close as we could to the Hollywood sign and managed to get some cool pictures before going back down into Hollywood (past Paris Hilton's old house which looked like a normal house to me but excited a lot of other people on the tour) and down to the walk of fame and the Kodak Theatre where we took all the usual tourist photos before getting back onto the minibus and driving around Beverly Hills where many famous houses (well gates, hedges and drive ways) were pointed out to us. The highlight had to be seeing the house in which the Fresh Prince of Bel Air was filmed in =D We then went to Venice beach again and onto Sunset Strip where numerous famous night clubs and hotels where pointed out where singers and actors had died of various drug overdoses... We then got to walk down Rodeo Drive which was full of stupidly rich people who thought they ruled the world . By the time we got back to our hostel and onto the Internet to attempt to update my blog i was in rather a bad mood. Not that LA isn't a good place to visit, it's just not somewhere i would like to go again. The tour was an insight into the outrageously lavish ways people can live and by the end of the two days i pretty much ready to leave the fake pretentious city behind me for good. However our late night trip to Hollywood was a different experience all together. We had to get our overnight Greyhound bus to San Francisco at 10pm and the streets had turned and where full of drug dealers, prostitutes and drunk homeless people. Lets just say i was rather pleased when our coach pulled up.

The journey to San Francisco was about as pleasant as LA as i ended up sitting next to a lady who spent the entire night speaking to people who weren't actually there. At first i thought she was speaking into a hands free but when it carried on for three hours and her arms got moving and she began crying, laughing and swearing in turn i decided i should probably not fall asleep... we arrived in San Francisco at 5.30am and managed to stay in the bus station until 6.30 when we went to find our hostel. Just being in a different city seemed to lift my mood and even though we had had no sleep we spent an awesome day wondering around, walking around on Pier 39 and along the coast before heading to a lovely little diner for dinner which was next to our hostel meaning as soon as we were stuffed full of food we could literally roll into room and into bed. the following day we decided to get the train/tram thing to Golden Gate Park, the weather in the morning was sunny although by the time we arrived the sky had turned black and our coats were conveniently back at the hostel... we ventured on in the rain and spent a large portion of the morning walking around before attempting to find the stop so we could go to the Golden Gate Bridge. Soaked through we found stop and managed to walk across the bridge and followed by a much needed coffee in the cafe! We decide to get the cable car back up the hill to our hostel as we were in San Francisco after all. The queue took about an hour but it was worth it as it was so much easier than waling up and down all the hills! We went and changed our damp clothes before heading back out again to get dinner. As they didn't have any dorm rooms left for our second night we ended up in a private room which was so exciting as the previous night had been interspersed with snores from french lady in our room. The prospect of a good night sleep soon disappeared though as we spent the majority of the night putting the world to right and only going to sleep at 3am... We awoke at 6.30am to shower, grab breakfast and shove all our stuff back into our bags before checking out and running to the hostel on Ellis street (a couple of blocks away) where our tour was picking up. We arrived on the dot of 8 a rather more sweaty and red version of our former clean selves and collasped on a sofa in the reception until the tour leader arrived.

We put our bags into the trailer and clambered into the mini bus with the rest of our group (there were 12 of us in total). We went to the city hall and Aldo gardens which we hadn't made it to ourselves as well as union square and the golden gate bridge which we had already seen. As it was sunny we still took another load of photos of the bridge as the day before it had been surrounded by cloud. We then went to pier 39 for luch and to safeway to buy food for the week. By around 2pm we set to Sacremento (the captial of California) as where we were suppoed to be camping was due to have heavy snow fall over night... we arrived at the campsite by 5 and set up our tents before heading into Sacremento itself for a nose around at the place. By the time we returned it was getting dark so we ate and clambered into our tents for bed. Not sure how much i actually slept as it was freeeeeeeeezing. By the morning i couldn't feel many of exterior limbs - probably due to my sleeping which only goes down to +8 0c... We were packed up and ready to head off to Yosemite National Park by 7.30am and the warmth of the minibus was heavenly in comparsion to the night before.

Man internet is about to run out so i will continue next time i get to a computer which will probably be in Haiwii as we fly out in 3.5 hours.... can't wait to leave LA again (where we are at the mo) and say goodbye to the fake captial of the world.... adios mes amigos!!