Panamericana, San Francisco & Alcatraz

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:41:35 +0000

The first drive with our new cargo van was the Panamericana, the U.S. Highway No. 1. We drove along the beautiful coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The van did well although he has already a mileage of 350.000 km’s. We had a rest at the sand dunes; they were site of the film “Pirates of the Carribean”. We could watch how the elephant seals fought and we enjoyed the cruise, but remembering that the coastal drives in Australia and New Zealand were comparable.

On our way to SF we got a call from Erica. She is the sister of Jorge, who couchsurfed last year at our place in Germany, she told us that Jorge was visiting his mom in Peru, however he provided us his loft in the middle of San Francisco. So we parked our car outside SF and stayed the weekend at his place. The neighborhood was unmistakable the gay quarter in San Francisco, every 2nd house had a rainbow flag, the shops sold toys for bedrooms and brownies formed like a penis. We appreciated this as part of the really nice and different flair of San Francisco. The town is not too big (700.000 inhabitants) and the townscape offers a lot of interesting things. You can drive up the hills with the old fashioned cable car, drive along endless long bridges connecting the districts of SF. Our longest bridge drive was along the bay bridge, which is a two deck bridge with app. 275.000 vehicles per day.
If you visit San Francisco „The Rock“is a must for everyone. So we took the ferry to cross the water and learned how many people were imprisoned in Alcatraz, how many people died at the rebellion when they took 5 jailors as hostages, why the food always was very good and how 3 prisoners escaped from Alcatraz after they drilled for more than one year with spoons and forks the thick wall behind the ventilation grid. They hide their escape by modeling a head in wax to impose the jailors. They disappeared forever and were never found again. Some people believe that they drowned on their wet way from Alcatraz to the continental shelf of SF, but we think the ones who invested one year of planning, drilling and modeling to complete a successful escape those are clever enough to plan safe water crossing too. In the sixties the prison remained shut forever because of the high costs, but the most famous prisoner, Al Capone, was already dead, a result of syphilis.

The first drive with our new cargo van was the Panamericana, the U.S. Highway No. 1. We drove along the beautiful coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The van did well although he has already a mileage of 350.000 km’s. We had a rest at the sand dunes; they were site of the film “Pirates of the Carribean”. We could watch how the elephant seals fought and we enjoyed the cruise, but remembering that the coastal drives in Australia and New Zealand were comparable.
On our way to SF we got a call from Erica. She is the sister of Jorge, who couchsurfed last year at our place in Germany, she told us that Jorge was visiting his mom in Peru, however he provided us his loft in the middle of San Francisco. So we parked our car outside SF and stayed the weekend at his place. The neighborhood was unmistakable the gay quarter in San Francisco, every 2^nd house had a rainbow flag, the shops sold toys for bedrooms and brownies formed like a penis. We appreciated this as part of the really nice and different flair of San Francisco. The town is not too big (700.000 inhabitants) and the townscape offers a lot of interesting things. You can drive up the hills with the old fashioned cable car, drive along endless long bridges connecting the districts of SF. Our longest bridge drive was along the bay bridge, which is a two deck bridge carries 275.000 vehicles per day.
If you visit San Francisco „The Rock“is a must for everyone. So we took the ferry to cross the water and learned how many people were imprisoned in Alcatraz, how many people died at the rebellion when they took 5 jailors as hostages, why the food always was very good and how 3 prisoners escaped from Alcatraz after they drilled for more than one year with spoons and forks the thick wall behind the ventilation grid. They hide their escape by modeling a head in wax to impose the jailors. They disappeared forever and were never found again. Some people believe that they drowned on their wet way from Alcatraz to the continental shelf of SF, but we think the ones who invested one year of planning, drilling and modeling to complete a successful escape those are clever enough to plan safe water crossing too. In the sixties the prison remained shut forever because of the high costs, but the most famous prisoner, Al Capone, was already dead, a result of syphilis.

Panamericana & San Francisco

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:15:50 +0000

Die Jungfernfahrt über die Panamericana, den U.S. Highway No. 1, einen der schönsten Küstenabschnitte Amerikas von Los Angeles nach San Francisco, überstand unser frisch erstandener Cargo Van trotz Rentneralter (immerhin hat er schon 349.000 km auf dem Buckel) ohne Mucken. Wir hielten an den Sanddünen, die als Drehort zum dritten Teil von „Fluch der Karibik“ dienten und genossen die schöne Küstengegend auf dem Weg nach San Francisco und Alcatraz…
Wir stimmten allerdings darüber überein, dass die Straßen von Australien und Neuseeland keinen Vergleich zu scheuen brauchen. Die Seeelefanten, die wir besuchten, hatten gerade Meinungsverschiedenheiten wie man deutlich sehen kann. Auf dem Weg nach San Francisco rief uns Erica an. Erica ist die Schwester von Jorge, einem Couchsurfer der bei uns zu Hause in Deutschland letztes Jahr übernachtet hatte. Er war nämlich gerade zu Besuch bei seiner Mama in Peru, stellte uns aber großzügigerweise sein Loft zur Verfügung. Wir stellten den Van bei Erica ab, die etwas außerhalb wohnte und bessere Parkmöglichkeiten hatte und eroberten San Francisco von Jorges zu Hause aus. Sein Viertel war unverkennbar das Schwulenviertel in der Stadt. An jedem zweiten Haus hingen Flaggen mit Regenbogenfarben, gleichgeschlechtliche Paare liefen händchenhaltend mit uns die Straßen entlang und in den Geschäften wurde u.a. Schlafzimmerspielzeug und Schokobananen und Schokokuchen in Phallusform verkauft. Auch dies eine Charaktereigenschaft, die zum Stadtbild passt und durchaus angenehm auffällt.
Die Stadt selbst liegt rund um eine Meereinmündung auf hügeligem Gelände hat im Kern ca. 700.000 Einwohner und bietet alles, was man von einer Großstadt erwartet, ohne typisch Ami-Großstadt zu sein, ohne dass man sich – wie beispielsweise in L.A. oder anderen Riesenstädten – totfährt, um von A nach B zu kommen. Die Häuschen sind schnucklig und bunt, die Menschen freundlich, aufgeschlossener und die Stadt hat einen nostalgischen Flair, den sie sich auf nette Art bewahrt, unter anderem mit den Cable Cars, die die Stadthügel rauf und runter gezogen werden. Viele Brücken verbinden die Stadtteile, von denen die Golden Gate Bridge bei weitem nicht die längste ist. Unsere bisher längste Brückenfahrt ging über die Bay Bridge, die 8,3 km lang ist und täglich von ca. 275.000 Fahrzeugen auf fünf Fahrstreifen befahren wird. Die Brücke ist doppelstöckig und wird unten nur von links nach rechts und oben nur von rechts nach links befahren.

http://www.einmal-um-die-welt.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Flair-of-San-Francisco.jpg

Verenas + Jans Weltreise » Alcatraz

Panamericana, San Francisco & Alcatraz

Panamericana & San Francisco