Yosemite: land of the bears

So lets catch up with the number of national parks we have been to and put Yosemite in the spotlight. Yosemite is great if you like giant rock formations, huge pine trees and German tourists:) The park offers many great hikes but they can be pretty packed during holiday season. The funniest thing though is the all-around paranoia of bear attacks. On every possible surface they hang notices to warn you not to leave ANY food in your car, in your tent, on your table, and if possible don't even think about food. They have bear-proof boxes made of steel to store all your food and smelly items and preferably lock them up with a numeric padlock secure enough that an average bear or a crafty squirrel will not figure out the combination. These rules and the lack of sufficient benches makes it pretty difficult to eat anywhere at all after sunset, Anyway in the end we didn't meet any bears even though Paul kept dangerously attractive socks in our tent:P

 

Stayin alive in Death Valley

Death Valley National Park is a land of extremities. Not only it is the largest national park in the USA, but it is the lowest point under sea level in the western hemisphere, and one of the hottest places on Earth. The record temperature ever measured was 57 degrees Celsius, but we were lucky to have some mild 44 C (111 F) temperatures. Due to the big distances and the lack of mobile phone coverage, it can be pretty funky if your car breaks down or runs out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. As a matter of fact, we had some hot moments running on the last drops of fuel at one point:)

Some car manufacturers are actually using the Valley to test upcoming car models in extreme conditions, so it is not rare to see an unknown branded car shielded with black cover cruising up and down on the motor roads.
The Valley also features an Inn and a ranch to stay at. The Inn is closed down during the hot months of summer, but we had the luck to stay at the ranch. Probably it is the only place in the world where no matter how you operate the taps in the bathroom, you will end up with striking hot water.

Death Valley is a must if you travel nearby, but it is not for the faint hearted. During the summer take lots of water with you, buy a cool cowboy hat, and never leave your car if it breaks down: it is the only shadow you will have:) Ah, and don't try to fry an egg on the top of your car, we tried, it didn't work:)

San Francisco: home of the homeless

Our first impressions about San Francisco: chilly, smell of marijuana in the air, a number of homeless people on the streets. In fact, according to the statistics, SF has the highest number of homeless people per capita in the USA. And it feels. Literally. Just a few blocks from the upscale shops of Union square, one can see all the less fortunate men and women trying to survive the cold San Francisco winds wrapped into several layers of sheets and rugs. As a matter of fact I have never seen a woman pissing in her pants while walking down the street until I have been to downtown Frisco.

All the rest is pretty much candy for the millions of tourists arriving every year: walk the Golden Gate, see the Alcatraz, ride the cable car, eat at fisherman’s wharf, buy a discounted camera, etc. The western part of the city with the beach, the huge park and the quiet residential neighborhoods is nice, but the rest was a disappointment. Thumbs down for SF:)

 

Couchsurfing is king

Just a little retrospective to send out huge thanks for our first official couchsurfing hosts: Val and Theron.
They made our stay so pleasant in Chicago that we still wanna leave windy Frisco behind and go back to the not-so-windy city:)

 

Also not to forget our welcoming hosts in Toronto: Detti and Raza. Together with Mehmet, “Peppino”, Rafa and the other guys, they showed us how to party before the party:)

Last but not least huge thanks to our very first hosts, Fru and Jonathan, for offering their comfy couch in Montreal, and showing us what a real poutine is:)

Thank you all!

Last day in San Francisco... heading to the desert !

Here are my last pictures uploaded (Chicago & SF):


And we might be silent over the next days as we have a long long road before reaching LA. For those interested, here is the roadmap (merci Bidi!) :


Afficher US West Coast sur une carte plus grande

How to eat well in US ? :)

Chicago, 1 st foot in USA !

Let’s catch up with the blog updates, and continue with Chicago. First, we were hosted by an awesome couple who cheered us up during 5 days ^^ The large flat turned quickly into a youth hostel or as in “l’auberge espagnole” for those who knows. After some time to get used to the strong texan accent of Val, serious things started…

The crazy noisy Train from the serie Emergency Room, the “El”, lead us to Downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

to finish the day at the musical Billy Elliot.

The day after, the weather being a bit rainy, we were a bit lazy, going to the laundry (finally!), chilling out on the beach, going to a comedy show (and trying to understand it!). We recovered to continue the city tour, to the Navy Pier, and on top of Hancok tower…

 

 

for finally making friend with the bus driver, who drove us to Little Italy to drink the best limonade in town ^^

To finish the day by an totally wicked diner in Yoshi french-japanese fusion restaurant !!! (teriyaki sea bass !!!!!!)

Finally, last day… hungarian/french dinner party which was not that bad neither ^^

After having left Chicago with a tear in the eye, comes San Francisco for new adventures!

Quebec, Montreal, or Toronto ?

Sunday, September the 5th, we are in a plane connecting Chicago to San Francisco. Buses and flights give us definitely some time to update the blog offline :)

So what do you think about these 3 cities we visited in Canada ?

Well, Quebec is a small size city, with more “canadians” than the others. Its medieval character, pedestrian street, smaller size, cultural events make it a great place to live… in summer time. We just got testimonies of winter time, but with the Saint Laurent river in the city, it seems you’d better be equipped for the winter time…

Montreal is a new city, with 60% of expatriates. Bigger, more traffic, less cultural events, but still a charming cities. Green areas, night life, shopping streets reflects totally Montreal. However, this impressive underground network of stores to avoid going out in winter make me thing that the cold is not much better than Quebec :)

Toronto, even if it is supposed to be the newest city, as a strong personnality. More dirty, more chaotic, more districts (little italy, chinatown, portuguese village, korean village…), more ethnies…  it’s a melting pot… a smaller New-york version Canada.

So finally, Adam and I would vote for Toronto… but we need to post asap on Chicago… an awesome city!

My Canadian Photos

Hi all, on top of Adam's photos uploaded on the blog, I'm sending you a link of bunch pictures I did over the last two weeks. Just click on the thumbnail below. Cheers!

Traces of Hungarians in Canada // A magyarok nyomaban Kanadaban

Just a few steps walking distance from the famous Schwartz's in Montreal, stands a little shop named "Hungarian shop".Now the trick is that in fact this shop does not have much to do with Hungary, but if you step inside the "Fairmount"
just next door, you will most likely meet Joseph Prepszl, a friendly Hungarian shopkeeper offering a wide range of
Hungarian goodies. We were quickly obtaining some "Balaton" choco bars, and even though the "turo rudi" on sale is from Russia,
its a must visit place for any Traubi-lover Hungarian traveller:)

// Nehany lepesre csupan a hires montreali Schwartz's etteremtol all egy magat magyar boltnak titulalo intezmeny. Az
igaszsag az, hogy a boltnak nem sok koze van a magyarokhoz, "megvettek a Jugoszlavok", ahogy a szomszed boltban dolgozo
Prepszl Jozsef meselte. A szomszed bolt ugyanis "Fairmount" neve ellenere igazi magyar finomsagokat arul, es Jozsi bacsi is jokedvuen
elbeszelget a betevedt magyar turistaval. Gyorsan be is szereztunk par Balaton szeletet, es bar a turorudi orosz szarmazasu,
minden Traubi-szereto magyar kukkantson be ide, megeri.

Walking around in the hippie Kensington market in Toronto we found this weird marriage of Hungarian and Thai cuisine. Dont ask, we didnt try:)

// A torontoi hippi Kensington market negyedben jarva talaltuk ezt a fura otvozetet a magyar es thai konyhanak, ne kerdezzetek, nem probaltuk ki:)

Walking in the Distillery area we found some piece of Rubik-cube-art. The pictures are made of non-standard cubes to reduce the black
lines between the colored panels and can cost you up to a few thousand bucks.

// A Distillery negyedben jarva talaltunk egy Rubik-kocka muveszt. A kepek modositott kockakbol keszulnek, hogy a szines panelek kozotti fekete csikok
minimalisan zavarjanak, es egy-egy kep akar tobb ezer dollarunkba is fajhat. Tapasztalt kockazok hazilag hetek alatt olcsobban elkeszithetik;)

Stepping out at the bus station at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls a Hungarian traveller will drop his jaws. A depict of
the hungarian coat of arms salutes from the probably-once-famous Hotel Europa. Now closed and waiting for better days.

// A Niagara vizeses kanadai oldalan, a tavolsagi buszmegalloval szemben all a hajdan valoszinuleg szebb idoket megelt
Hotel Europa. Falan ma is tisztan kiveheto a magyar cimer.