Sunday, March 25, 2007
USA 2007: San Diego and Los Angeles
Wednesday in San Diego was sunny. Went to Pacific and Ocean Beach for breakfast and checked out the scene. Nice surfshops there. On the way back to downtown we drove to point Alamo. Wednesday night nothing to crazy, just a bite to eat and chilling near the gaslamp quarter.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
USA 2007: Las Vegas - then San Diego...
March 18th - March 21st 2007
arrived in las vegas at 0:00 monday morning and checked in to the palace station casino hotel off the strip. uncle j got us very good price for the doubleroom. then took the car downtown and parked it in the flamingo. wandering the vegas strip, finding some really nasty food at denny's for dinner/breakfast at about 2:30. being quite tired after the roadtrip and saturday's night out we headed back to the hotel aroun 3:03 ;)
the next day was shopping day (more or less between 1-6pm) at the las vegas premium outlets with about 120 stores. back to the hotel to get ready for the night: dinner at planet hollywood in the cesar's palace and then a short walk to the mirage where we checked out the beatles themed revolution lounge and club jet after. pretty long line to get in, but not a surprise as it was the club's 1st anniversary party.
tuesday afternoon around 3pm we checked out and hit the road with san diego as our destination. got here last night at 9pm, checked in to the holiday inn express on 7th ave (booked via hotwire and the same place we stayed exactly 5 years ago), walked down to the gaslamp quarter for a late mexican dinner. it was relatively lively for a tuesday and that's why we thought checking out the onyx/thin lounge with live jazz would be fun. and it was. very nice bar this place...
now i assume it is wednesday already and i wonder what this day will bring ;-)
arrived in las vegas at 0:00 monday morning and checked in to the palace station casino hotel off the strip. uncle j got us very good price for the doubleroom. then took the car downtown and parked it in the flamingo. wandering the vegas strip, finding some really nasty food at denny's for dinner/breakfast at about 2:30. being quite tired after the roadtrip and saturday's night out we headed back to the hotel aroun 3:03 ;)
the next day was shopping day (more or less between 1-6pm) at the las vegas premium outlets with about 120 stores. back to the hotel to get ready for the night: dinner at planet hollywood in the cesar's palace and then a short walk to the mirage where we checked out the beatles themed revolution lounge and club jet after. pretty long line to get in, but not a surprise as it was the club's 1st anniversary party.
tuesday afternoon around 3pm we checked out and hit the road with san diego as our destination. got here last night at 9pm, checked in to the holiday inn express on 7th ave (booked via hotwire and the same place we stayed exactly 5 years ago), walked down to the gaslamp quarter for a late mexican dinner. it was relatively lively for a tuesday and that's why we thought checking out the onyx/thin lounge with live jazz would be fun. and it was. very nice bar this place...
now i assume it is wednesday already and i wonder what this day will bring ;-)
Monday, March 19, 2007
USA 2007: My Chemical Romance, SF, St. Patrick's Day, Audion (live), Roadtrip begins...
Since T. from S. arrived there hasn't been a lot of time for posting. Here's the quick summary:
T. arrived at SFO - March 15th
Picked up the trailblazer car rental
Drove to Buena Vista Cafe for an Irish Coffee
Went to My Chemical Romance concert in Oracle Arena
Beck's at 2am club
March 16th
Best Buy / Starbucks
Afternoon: Family excursion to Haight Ashbury
Lunch at beergarden: Golden Gate Park
Walk on the SF city beach
Chicken BBQ at Mill Valley House
Preparing Roadtrip at Café, Mill Valley Downtown
March 17th
Drive to SF
St. Patrick's Day Parade on Market Street
Back to Haight Ashbury for more shopping :)
Lower Haight Arts Quarter, Upper Playground Store
Meet TB and his wife
Went for Sushi with everybody on Church St. (1st Sushi ever for T.)
Back to uncle J's house gettin ready for Audion
Audion live act at Mezzaninesf.com
March 18th
Pancakes for breakfast (another premiere for T.)
Leaving SF at 3:03pm
Driving 580, I-5, 99, 58, I-15 to Vegas
Hotel Palace Station (very nice)
L8r :-)
T. arrived at SFO - March 15th
Picked up the trailblazer car rental
Drove to Buena Vista Cafe for an Irish Coffee
Went to My Chemical Romance concert in Oracle Arena
Beck's at 2am club
March 16th
Best Buy / Starbucks
Afternoon: Family excursion to Haight Ashbury
Lunch at beergarden: Golden Gate Park
Walk on the SF city beach
Chicken BBQ at Mill Valley House
Preparing Roadtrip at Café, Mill Valley Downtown
March 17th
Drive to SF
St. Patrick's Day Parade on Market Street
Back to Haight Ashbury for more shopping :)
Lower Haight Arts Quarter, Upper Playground Store
Meet TB and his wife
Went for Sushi with everybody on Church St. (1st Sushi ever for T.)
Back to uncle J's house gettin ready for Audion
Audion live act at Mezzaninesf.com
March 18th
Pancakes for breakfast (another premiere for T.)
Leaving SF at 3:03pm
Driving 580, I-5, 99, 58, I-15 to Vegas
Hotel Palace Station (very nice)
L8r :-)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Happy St. Patrick's Day !
Sorry for not posting a lot here recently. Sometimes less is more:
155th Annual
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Start: 11:30am
(2nd and Market to Civic Center Plaza)
155th Annual
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Start: 11:30am
(2nd and Market to Civic Center Plaza)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
2 interesting links on Google Earth
Some cool things I came across surfing the net this morning:
- SpaceNavigator Device for Google Earth
- Berlin City Buildings in 3D for Google Earth
- SpaceNavigator Device for Google Earth
- Berlin City Buildings in 3D for Google Earth
USA 2007: Sunday and Monday in California
Sunday, March 11th
On this beautiful sunny sunday morning (this day put "sun" in sunday :-) M, J and me packed what was left from saturday's bbq, put some water in the tanks of the hi-tech backpacks and drove all the way over the hills past stinson beach to go for an afternoon of hiking. Our destination were the Alamere Falls close to Point Reyes. All the details of the route we took can be found here: http://www.waterfallswest.com/ca_alamere.html
The hike takes you right along the coast and cliffs. Then back into little canyons with cooled down forest and nice lakes with froggie action. The final part before getting to the waterfalls that go off the cliff and onto the beach is a bit steep and loose rocks make it fun to climb down, but: it is soooo worth it. check the pictures of the site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/303/sets/72157594583502479/ Picknicking at this beach is one of the 1000 things you have to do before you die. Overall it took us about 4-5 hours and with the water tanks in the backpacks not even this sunny day was able to dehydrate us. On our way back to Mill Valley we stopped in Bolinas a beach town from paradise. At home M made one of the spiciest mexican food I have ever tasted.
Monday, March 12th
There seems to be no end in sight regarding adventures in the bay area. After getting up around 9am, checking mails and uploading pictues as usual, J drove me down to Sausalito port to catch the ferry to San Francisco City. It's only a 30 minute journey and you get beautiful sights of the city in the morning dust. Got into the port about 20 minutes to 12 and met up with T, my buddy from hdm, for lunch in the sun. around 1pm i jsut started walking up Market, Union Square. Meeting uncle McNugget there and then walkin thru Chinatown to North Beach where we hit O'Reilly's Irish Pub for a pint in the sun. Seems like there might be some fun St. Patrick's day parties next Saturday... On my way back to the ferry I stopped in the apple store to check out some bags for my little mac, but they're either ugly or too expensive. I'm sure I'll find one in the next 15 days. Left with the 6:45pm ferry to Sausalito, J and his old buddy A picked me up with an oldschool Wrangler Jeep and we met cousin M and her friends at a seafood restaurant called Bait & Tackle in Sausalito port (right next to where the sail boat sits and waits for its next adventure...).
Saturday, March 10, 2007
USA 2007: Planning the roadtrip loop
This could be a nice roundtrip. Thanks googlemaps. The new feature with additional destinations is the killer :)
USA 2007: Sailing the San Francisco Bay and Hiking in the Golden Gate Hills
Thursday, March 8th
J and myself jumped on a sail-boat that's sitting in the port of Sausalito. After a few hints on how to handle being on a boat and managing all the different ropes we took off: first motor only to get us out in the wind and then with sails. pure fun and very addictive. especially with a unique scenery like the san francisco bay, the golden gate bridge, angel island and alcatraz. we spent the whole afternoon on the water and in the sun. we put on my ipod with fm transmission to the boats radio receiver and rocked out. fantastic day. after the sailing trip we picked up a couple bags of shrimp + salad and had another great dinner at the mill valley hills house.
Friday, March 9th
Got up at 10am, checked emails, uploaded pictures. Then went for a little walk to downtown mill valley's plaza, got a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant. took some pics on the way - as usual... when i came back to the house m. arrived and the three of us went on a very cool hike in the hills that are above the golden gate. check the pictures on flickr to see what i'm writing about. in the evening we partied first at the house, then at joe's taco lounge, then at the 2am bar, then at the house.
J and myself jumped on a sail-boat that's sitting in the port of Sausalito. After a few hints on how to handle being on a boat and managing all the different ropes we took off: first motor only to get us out in the wind and then with sails. pure fun and very addictive. especially with a unique scenery like the san francisco bay, the golden gate bridge, angel island and alcatraz. we spent the whole afternoon on the water and in the sun. we put on my ipod with fm transmission to the boats radio receiver and rocked out. fantastic day. after the sailing trip we picked up a couple bags of shrimp + salad and had another great dinner at the mill valley hills house.
Friday, March 9th
Got up at 10am, checked emails, uploaded pictures. Then went for a little walk to downtown mill valley's plaza, got a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant. took some pics on the way - as usual... when i came back to the house m. arrived and the three of us went on a very cool hike in the hills that are above the golden gate. check the pictures on flickr to see what i'm writing about. in the evening we partied first at the house, then at joe's taco lounge, then at the 2am bar, then at the house.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
San Francisco - Relevant Links to Information
cultural events
http://www.sfstation.com/
http://sfweekly.com/
http://www.sfbg.com/
tickets
http://www.ticketsnow.com/EventCalendar/EventsCalendar.aspx?MAID=84
http://www.mezzaninesf.com/calendar.asp
food
http://www.yelp.com/
http://www.ebisu.com/
http://www.sfstation.com/
http://sfweekly.com/
http://www.sfbg.com/
tickets
http://www.ticketsnow.com/EventCalendar/EventsCalendar.aspx?MAID=84
http://www.mezzaninesf.com/calendar.asp
food
http://www.yelp.com/
http://www.ebisu.com/
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
USA 2007 - San Francisco / Mill Valley, California
tuesday, march 6th 2007
flying from stuttgart to london on a very early tuesday morning wasn't a problem. beautiful sunrise over stuttgart's airport. my stay in london between the flights was relaxed until i looked at my watch at 10:10am thinking it's only 9:10 in london because of the time shift. thinking about it briefly i thought: maybe doublecheck the flight monitor for departure gate info. did that with the shocking truth that my flight was already boarding for 10:20. you have never seen anyone packing and paying faster at the airports irish pub where i had breakfast. ran for about 7 minutes to the damn gate and actually made it: clueless travellers. gettin on the plane i was rewarded for my sprint and was offered 5 seats in a row for myself. felt like the corporate shuttle... that gave me a chance to actually relax before hitting san francisco tuesday afternoon 12:30 local time. went thru customs no problem, stepped outside in the sun, lit a smoke and was then picked up by j., my cousins husband. from the airport across the golden gate bridge to mill valley it was just a very surreal ride. there were so many memories in the places that passed on the way: incredible... the mill valley house is right out of a dream. with a sun deck overlooking the woods surrounding it. one would never want to leave! just chilled and worked a bit on the computer until cousin m. arrived and made great spicy pasta.
wednesday, march 7th 2007
got up at 6 to join j for a job interview in santa cruz. left mill valley around 6:40 and got there about 8:50. i walked over to SC's main road "pacific" and checked out the coffee shops for a quick breakfast. the cool skateboarding shops (o'neill and santa cruz) didn't open until ten, so i had some more time to chill and check out a border's book store. as usual (just like 5 years ago) i could not resist buying santa cruz logo shirts and hoodies... j's interview was over about 11:30, so he picked me up to drive out to the marine research center where he used to work - nice place right at the beach with several tanks that hold dolphins (weak or injured from the sea) for research. then headed to a mexican place to have lunch and then hit s couple more boarding stores. after that we checked out the surf - nice and easy waves which made me think about just renting a damn wet suit and try again as j brought 2 boards along - we postponed it for later this week. drove over to a bar and had a drink in the sunshine (yep, all red face again), met up with the mullisk and then hit the road back to SF where we had fantastic sushi at ebisu (http://www.ebisusushi.com/). back to the mill valley...
ALL PICS of the 3 week trip will be located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/303/sets/72157594576695042/
flying from stuttgart to london on a very early tuesday morning wasn't a problem. beautiful sunrise over stuttgart's airport. my stay in london between the flights was relaxed until i looked at my watch at 10:10am thinking it's only 9:10 in london because of the time shift. thinking about it briefly i thought: maybe doublecheck the flight monitor for departure gate info. did that with the shocking truth that my flight was already boarding for 10:20. you have never seen anyone packing and paying faster at the airports irish pub where i had breakfast. ran for about 7 minutes to the damn gate and actually made it: clueless travellers. gettin on the plane i was rewarded for my sprint and was offered 5 seats in a row for myself. felt like the corporate shuttle... that gave me a chance to actually relax before hitting san francisco tuesday afternoon 12:30 local time. went thru customs no problem, stepped outside in the sun, lit a smoke and was then picked up by j., my cousins husband. from the airport across the golden gate bridge to mill valley it was just a very surreal ride. there were so many memories in the places that passed on the way: incredible... the mill valley house is right out of a dream. with a sun deck overlooking the woods surrounding it. one would never want to leave! just chilled and worked a bit on the computer until cousin m. arrived and made great spicy pasta.
wednesday, march 7th 2007
got up at 6 to join j for a job interview in santa cruz. left mill valley around 6:40 and got there about 8:50. i walked over to SC's main road "pacific" and checked out the coffee shops for a quick breakfast. the cool skateboarding shops (o'neill and santa cruz) didn't open until ten, so i had some more time to chill and check out a border's book store. as usual (just like 5 years ago) i could not resist buying santa cruz logo shirts and hoodies... j's interview was over about 11:30, so he picked me up to drive out to the marine research center where he used to work - nice place right at the beach with several tanks that hold dolphins (weak or injured from the sea) for research. then headed to a mexican place to have lunch and then hit s couple more boarding stores. after that we checked out the surf - nice and easy waves which made me think about just renting a damn wet suit and try again as j brought 2 boards along - we postponed it for later this week. drove over to a bar and had a drink in the sunshine (yep, all red face again), met up with the mullisk and then hit the road back to SF where we had fantastic sushi at ebisu (http://www.ebisusushi.com/). back to the mill valley...
ALL PICS of the 3 week trip will be located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/303/sets/72157594576695042/
Saturday, March 03, 2007
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