Christmas shopping in New York

Hello everybody!

This is time for Christmas shopping... But for that, Miami is not the best place. Of course there are a lot of malls, stores...this is the USA! But there is not really a "Christmas atmosphere" in here when it's 30°C outside... and palm trees don't really look like Christmas trees...

That's why I decided to spend the weekend of December 10th in a cold and "Christmas looking" city: New York City!!!

I had already spent 3 weeks in this amazing city in 2009, but I really wanted to visit it just before Christmas to enjoy the decoration... And I haven't been disappointed!

A 3-hour flight took me there. And when I was waiting for a taxi I could feel the difference of about 35°! Even if the snow was missing...

I arrived at my hostel at 11:00 pm and I meet one of my friend from Toulouse (now studying in Syracuse, New York State, and thinking it's a good idea to join me in NYC) there. We dropped our bags there and went to the subway. The hostel we stayed at is located near the famous Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. 20 minutes after we left our room, we were in Time Square, the temple of shopping and advertising.

We went in an Irish pub to speak around a couple of beers...

There were not q lot of people in the streets for a Friday night... May be everybody was resting before a long Saturday of Christmas shopping! So we went back to sleep.

On Saturday morning, a short walk across the Upper West side...

...and we arrived in Central Park.

We wend down the park, heading toward the 5th Avenue. Meanwhile, we spent 2 hours walking in Central Park... Pictures show better how big and surprising it is... this forest, these lakes and pounds surrounded by skyscrapers.

Then we stayed a long time on the 5th Avenue, entering some stores to buy our Christmas presents, and trying to go through the overcrowded sidewalk! I had actually never seen so many people in a street...that was insane!

After a 2-hour struggle we arrived where we wanted to go: the Rockefeller Center. This is one of the highest building of Manhattan, home of TV channels such as NBC, and it is famous for the Chritmas tree down there. As you can see, it is also a crowded place!

We went to the observation deck on the top of the Rockefeller. The view is amazing there, and we waited till the sunset to see an even more spectacular view of Manhattan.

Manhattan Downtown: Financil district in the background and the Empire State Building in front

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Central Park and the Upper Manhattan.

Then we went down to the Christmas tree and some other Christmas features like that musical light show on a wall... Magic!

We walked down the 5th Avenue to the 42nd Street...

...and had a dinner in a huge BBQ restaurant. I guess the cold made us hungry because after that we had an ice cream... We even met Santa!!!

It was time to go out with some people of the hostel: we couldn't refuse the free clubbing they offered... A friend of mine (from Grenoble and Toulouse, working for Air France in Manhattan) joined us in West Village. The club was a bit empty and he wanted to make us discover some micro breweries... thus we drank a couple of (good!) beers in places you can not find if you don't live in NYC!

We went back to the hostel at about 4:30 am... that's why we didn't wake up so early the next morning! Never mind, it was raining...

We had a short walk in Central Park and then were stuck by the rain in the Apple Store. we reached a restaurant that I already knew... We ate amazing Buffalo Wings and barbecued meat. I know, we didn't eat a lot of veggies (fries???), but that's America right?

After the lunch, we went all the way from Time Square to Columbus Circle along the Broadway...

And it was already time for me to go to the airport in New Jersey. I didn't know the flight would be delayed for more than one hour...

Anyway, we had a short but wonderful weekend in NYC, and I had what I wanted: the "Christmas feeling" that I can't find in Miami...

This is obviously the last message I write in 2010 so...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

San Francisco - Days 3 & 4

This is the following of our Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco. I promise, no more bridge this time...

The sangrias of the previous night somehow helped us to sleep till late the next morning... Anyway, it had obviously been raining all the morning.

After a quick lunch we took a bus to Alamo Square where the most famous typical houses of SF are. The view of the financial district in the background adds to the contrast between very traditional houses (victorian style) and high and modern skyscrapers.

Another bus took us to the entrance of Golden Gate Park. This very large park is actually far from the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the park we saw some interesting buildings:

Conservatory of Flowers (still celebrating the victory of the San Francisco Giants at the World Series of baseball)

Califormia Academy of Science

De Young Museum

We also visited the Japanese Tea Garden, a really nice and peaceful place:

Then we took another bus to Ocean Beach, on the Pacific side, at the end of the park. We walked for more than an hour on the beach, feeling the wind and the cold (5 degres Celsuis), watching some surfers and kitesurfers going into the freezing water, enjoying the sunset...

We spent the evening in Haight Ashbury, the supposedly former Hippie neighborhood which still has its 60's atmosphere. I don't have pictures as I left my camero in the hostel, but it is a really colorful nieghborhood with strange but great stores (we entered a huge pipe store and obviously the pipes were not used to smoke just tobacco) and good restaurants and club. After a dinner made of excellent tapas and sangria (in a restaurant called Cha Cha Cha near the entrance of the Golden Gate Park) we drank an outstanding mojito in a club where a jazz band was playing. Just awesome.

We went to sleep not too late because we had a busy Sunday...

We woke up early in order to pack our bags and have a breakfast before we leave the hostel. We had to be on Pier 33 near Fisherman's Wharf before 11:00 am.

There, a boat took us to...Alcatraz!

This legendary federal prison held some well-known prisoners such as George "Machine Gun" Kelly, the Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud, Mickey Cohen or Al Capone... Before it became a prison it was a fort and military base, then a military prison.

As you probably know, nobody escaped from Alcatraz... Actually, three prisoners managed to leave the prison but, as they had not been found, they were considered as dead and not as escaped. This is the story of a very good movie (among others about Alcatraz) called "Escape from Alcatraz" starring young Clint Eastwood.

The federal prison eventually closed 1963.

In 1969, the island had been occupied for 19 months by native americans opposed to the government policy concerning Indians...

Alcatraz is now a famous landmark and gained the status of National Historic Landmark.

Ok, I stop speaking and I show you some pictures...

The docks:

Climbing the hill:

Sight of San Francisco skyline:

Some cells:

Regular cell

D-Block cell: to calm down some prisoners if needed... 15 days in that cell without any light. May be it calmed down some prisoners, but for sure it made some become crazy!

The canteen (the best among the federal prison):

The courtyard:

The Golden Gate Bridge (again!!):

We went back to Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch on Pier 39, with a great view on the marina.

We spent the afternoon in cable cars, went up on Hyde Street with a last view on Alcataz, crossed the financial district and went to the Embarcadero where Market Street ends on the bay.

We walked a little bit, watched people ice-skating, took a look at Bay Bridge and took a cable car for the ast time to Union Square...

It was time to go to the airport.

After this amazing weekend it is hard to find the words to describe this indescribable city. This is so special, so unique and incredibly beautiful and peaceful... If you have the chance to travel to the USA, San Francisco is definitely one of the two cities (with New York City) you have to see... And I hope after reading this message you want to go there...