I left my heart in San Fracisco

Dinginnnnn :P
It's Tuesday morning, November 2nd' 09, 8.27 AM California time :)

Ga bisa tidur lagi, as the weather is cold in the morning. My aunt doesn't really want to on the heater, coz few weeks ago, it blew out fire she said :P hahahaha :)

I just got back from SAN FRANCISCO, the must-go city, recommended by EVERYONE who has been here, and I have no wonder why :)

If u remember the song: I left my heart, in San Francisco, house on hills and windy sea. The songwriter is really not joking when he/she said house on a hill. All houses @ San Francisco are on hills. It was built on slanted road. I cant imagine driving in Singapore (not just yet) more over @ San Francisco :P It's like mini Puncak :P every alley is upslope & down slope. Woooottt. If Suwarto wants to drift, he can try here:P

Anyway, the story goes like this.

Saturday Oct 31 Morning, wake up in the morning, straight away heading to where the tour group meets. We are going to SF, passing through a couple of place.

First stop : Solvang. It's knowns as the only Danish Capital in United States. The one and only. U felt like u are in sweden when u go there.

We go to eat the pastry here @ Solvang Bakery. One bread lasted me the whole day, as it was so big and filling. Didn’t take any more lunches thereafter. We also ate Pouverches (Atuh gimana tulisnya teh, kagak tau) U noe the famous food u eat @ Bandung’s café ? Turns out that the real Pouverches is not as nice as Bandung’s one :P Hah !!

Well nothing much about here in Solvang if you don like the kind of Europian village feeling. For me, I like !! So I’m happy enough being in a place that feels like birth land of IKEA J hahaha

Then from Solvang, we continue our journey to Hearst Castle. This is a Castle built by a gentleman called William Hearst. He’s richest man in America before 1930. He built the castle to commemorate his mother. He loved his mom, and I love his Castle J haha :P

During our journey from Solvang to Hearst Castle, we took highway 101. This is the highway that bring us to see the HOLLYWOOD sign, and the highway to Hollywood walk of fame, Universal Studios, etc. I’m going there tomorrow. Highway 101 is met by highway 1. Highway 1, is located exactly next to the Pacific Ocean Coast line, so while I was sleeping from Solvang to Hearst Castle (probably coz of jet lag), everytime I opened my eyes I was welcome by Breathtaking view. I saw the Ocean on my left side, and rock mountain in front of me. Just like in the movie. No wonder they love movie there.

From Hearst castle we went for dinner @ this Chinese restaurant. USD 13 per person. This can be considered cheap they say. As I only eat bread in the morning, I ate much more during dinner. From there, we straight away head to our Hotel: Crowne Plaza @ San Jose to rest.

Second day : November 1st’ 09
It’s daylight saving time. So we adjust our watch to 1 hour back. Wake up at 6.15 AM local time. Gather at 7 AM. It’s the day I’ve been waiting for, we tour around San Francisco today J hohoho

The bus straight away head to China town in SF for breakfast. As we enter SF, this is where I saw lots of house on a hills, and Foggy Sea. Wooh, the houses !! on hills J So nice. Too bad I was too sleepy to take pictures. Hahaha


After breakfast, they take us to walk around the city. First stop: Palais of fine arts, followed by GOLDEN GATE hohohoh :)

Then, the tour group bring us to experience the upriding hills in SF. My Aunt feet hurts so much coz of that. The uphill, is totally steep. We head towards the Lombard street. The most crooked street in the world (so they say)

From Lombart street we head to: FISHERMAN WHARF, Pier 39. No one ever mention bout pier 39 to me but I guess it’s so famous that I felt like Dejavu when I saw them. We ate : the most delicious Clam chowder I’ve ever tasted.

After lunch we join the extended tour of the City. First stop : Church of St Mary. Next stop is the view from the highest pt of San Francisco : the Twin Peak.

And then we move to City Hall. This is the City hall where the Harvey Mik, (the movie played by Sean Penn) gather all the gay ppl and march out. It’s a beautiful city hall but, my Camera Battery run flat there :P…OH NO !!

Lesson for me: never ever leave my extra battery and the charger behind. So these are my last attempt in taking the pics, powered by Miracle from Him that allow me to take the last couple of Pics. Oh my, should I have more battery, let me tell you, my memory card will run out too I suppose :P

So the day is over and we head back to Hotel early. My battery is flat anyway and I have no more mood to take any more pictures. Actually, I lost the mood coz I wouldn’t be able to take the picture for the next day, which according to my auntie, ga ada apa apanya :P Yosemite waterfall.

But seberapa ga ada apa apanya, waterfall is still waterfall. And the fact that even the tour was ended early so that we can get up at 4 AM the next day to go up the waterfall at 5 AM in the morning, I bet there’s got to be something wonderfull there.

So gua pasrah:P I hope I wont regret it so much that I miss bringing the extra battery and I hope I will do what is enough there to enjoy the nature.

But it turns out, I still regret not having enough battery to take picture. This is one last picture that my camera can take, after being untouched the whole night.
One last one. Yosemite waterfall.

If you can see, there’s a rainbow at the end of the waterfall. It was so beautiful. The road heading towards Yosemite itself was sssoooo beautiful. Breathtaking. I can literally say that I lost my breath (coz next to the bus is cliff anyway, that’s why is breathtaking…haha)

I thought this will be the end. I hope not to see anymore beautiful place lest I regret more. There are a lot of scenic place in here itself that I can only record with my memory.

But again, the tour brought us to even a more beautiful scene. I saw pine trees all over hill, green tall pine trees everywhere.

At this last bit, I really cant take it anymore. I gather all my courage to ask our tour mate to lend her camera, I put in my memory card inside her cam, and take picture with it.

Friend, as it was said by the tour guide herself (Sabrina Chien, who look like Nicole Kidman btw), this is the place where they make a lot of movies, and I believe the picture on Ricola’s cover was taken here. Here it is, my most breathtaking pictures

So, that’s the end of my tour. I thank God I manage to secure the last 2 pictures and I kept the rest of the wonderful memory in my heart, sealed with a prayer : I’LL BE BACK TO TAKE WEDDING PICTURE IN SAN FRANCISCO & YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. * Ngimpi boleh dong ?*

We head home, reach LA at 7 PM, then we go to a Mall. I did feel tired but the day seems so young and longer here in States than in Singapore. I think Singapore and Japan are the fastest city on earth :P

At the Mall, (Westfield mall) I manage to shop for dress & skirt @ Macy’s. The price tag after a massive discount reads : 17 & 14 dollar. When you scan the item, it was like 12 & 8 dollar. Oh my gosh. I have to control myself !!

So, now is 12.36 PM (see how long I spend to update this blog), and I’m going to Hollywood later J and, Universal studios tmrw. I have not met anymore good looking ppl, so keep wishing me luck J

Till then….see ya

bombie {=^o^=}
is loving states