Hi again! We just thought we'd check in again before we head to Mexico City tomorrow. The past few days have mainly involved walking around, taking in the city, atmosphere and people, and enjoying the crisp air. We are both in love with San Francisco - it is so beautiful, its buildings are simply amazing, its parks are breath-taking and the food is delicious. We've done a fair bit of walking (5 1/2 hours yesterday) and love the roads - it's so hilly and there are some seriously steep climbs. It's also very cyclist-friendly, with a number of the road shoulders being very wide and accommodating. We also found some really nice coffee...at a few places (FINALLY!), so will be sorry to leave that behind. We undertook the night tour of Alcatraz this evening...very interesting and educational. It's crazy to put yourself in the prisoners' shoes and try to conceive of spending 16-23 hours a day in such a cramped, cold and bare cell...and although it was a maximum security prison, to earn a sentence there all the prisoners needed to do was commit a crime in the community and then commit another crime in the prison they were incarcerated in (varying from exploiting the system to work to your advantage to kidnapping a Warden/murdering a fellow inmate). So really, the prisoners weren't necessarily the biggest and baddest dudes on the block...just those the government believed should be isolated from other prisoners on the mainland. Interesting... As mentioned, we head to Mexico City tomorrow morning (arriving in Mexico in the evening). We'll be spending the next 10 days there before making our way home...hopefully it should be a fun and enjoyable experience. We hope you're all healthy and happy...and looking forward to Christmas! Lots of love Dave and Fi xoxox
Just checking in again to let you know we arrived in San Francisco this evening, after about 5 ½ hours on the train and a 45 minute bus ride.The train wasn’t too bad, except the toilets stunk like pee and poo…they clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a while!!!But if that’s the worst we have to say, then you can figure out we’re still having a great time. :-)
TahoeCity was beautiful…the snow was awesome and we both thoroughly enjoyed walking in it (in small doses for Fi though – too much of a sook when it comes to the cold!).Note to self for future snow trips: pack thermals (top and bottom), thick socks and boots. :-)The lake itself is magnificent – it’s pretty massive and looks absolutely delightful early in the morning (before the rain resulted in a bit of fog cover).We didn’t do a great deal though – had a couple of relaxing spas, walked around and chilled out in the cafes…although, we must admit that the coffee wasn’t too crash hot. :-)
We’re progressively learning more and more about the U.S political system and gaining insights into people’s perceptions…coupled with it being all over the news here, we’re hearing about it a fair bit.
Met more lovely Americans – so far we have not met anybody that doesn’t fit this description. Most people are really friendly, approachable, talkative and helpful…it’s very easy to spark up conversations and gain insight into how they see the world.The service staff have been amazing (mostly) – really helpful and nice.Hopefully our positive experience with people continues for the next two weeks!!!
That’s all we have to say for now…Dave will be attending the AGU conference tomorrow and present his poster, and then we’re free agents.The weather isn’t exactly conducive to outdoor adventures, but we’re keen to walk around and do some exploring so figure that a few rain drops won’t dampen our spirits (nothing an umbrella or two can’t fix!).We’re both excited about the Alcatraz tour on Thursday night and we’re trying to figure out if we’ll be able to watch a Broadway show (or similar) another evening.Our plans are very fluid at the moment - but we’ll certainly keep you updated if there’s anything noteworthy to mention!
We hope that you’re all going well and enjoying the change in weather (for the Canberrans, anyway!).
Just letting you know we've just arrived at Lake Tahoe...with the knowledge that there's supposed to be a snow storm tomorrow. Apparently it's meant to be pretty big as they've seeded the clouds to try and extract more snow (as the resorts are hurting here due to the lack of snow so far). It should be pretty exciting as we've never experienced a snow storm before!
The train ride here was pretty sweet - the train was a massive beast of a thing with a number of regular coach carriages, as well as quite a few couch carriages and sleeping carriages. Apparently the train travels over approx 42 hours (from San Fran to Chicago), so we imagine people would need the sleeping space!!! The conductors were lovely and really helpful - one even gave Fi a tour of the train!!! :-) We stopped off at Truckee (a country and western frontier town - very sweet and helpful people too), had some yummy clam and chowder soup (tastes much better than it sounds) and we were on our way to Tahoe City (via bus). We'll be stationed here for a couple of days and plan on going for a couple of nice walks (weather permitting - plan B (weather not permitting) will include enjoying the storm), relaxing in the spa at our accommodation (7th floor, overlooking Lake Tahoe - beautiful!), and chilling out. We then catch another Amtrak train to San Fran...and get into more reading (we've been immersing ourselves in a couple of awesome books - if you're interested, they include: a) Cunxin, L. 2003. Mao's Last Dancer; b) Iggulden, C. 2007. Wolf of the Plains; c) Yahia, L. 2006. The Black Hole;; and d) Brown, D. Angels and Demons (the author of the Da Vinci Code - just started it but geez it captures your attention!).
We hope everything is going well for you all and you're enjoying the start of your weekend...and you're not missing us TOO much yet. :-)
We just thought we'd write you a quick email to say that we arrived in the U.S.A safe and sound...we're now in Davis and have finally had a shower and starting to relax (after being on the road since 7.45am Tues morning - it's now approx 7pm on Tues 9/12 in the U.S...so very long time travelling!!!). :-)
The flight over was pretty good - of course neither of us could sleep properly, but Fi gave it her best shot and attempted to shut her eyes a number of times while Dave succumbed to the stimulation of the plane and didn't sleep much (and got through an entire book in the process). We also met a lovely Senator from Kansas who gave us some helpful advice and his details in case we need his help with anything (hopefully we don't!).
We then caught a train from San Fran International Airport to Richmond, where we then caught the Amtrak train to Davis. It's a lovely town...we had a nice stroll to Uni of California, Davis and through the town this afternoon (enjoying the crisp "Fall" air and the freshness of it all). The next couple of days will involve Dave chatting with his colleagues at UC Davis and generally relaxing and chilling out.
We hope you're all well and having a great week so far.
