West Coast trip - Day 4 [Yosemite National Park]

West Coast trip - Day 3 [San Francisco]

China Town

Around 8.30 o'clock in the morning, we departed from Crowne hotel for breakfast at Chinatown. FYI, San Franciso's Chinatown is the largest Chinatowns in the States. It is also the oldest Chinatown. Trust me, it is muchhhhh larger than Los Angeles' Chinatown. For breakfast, the tour guide brought us to dim sum restaurant. Because of the "limited" budget, me and Sebastian decided to have breakfast somewhere else. We ended up at bakery shop and bought Charsiew bun and egg tart. Yummyy!!!


3 for 10 bucks

Chinatown, located in downtown San Francisco, has a lot of smaller side streets and alleyways which gives an authentic characteristic. We tried to find the famous Dragon gate on the corner of Bush Street and Grant Avenue, but we almost got lost. Luckily, we did found our bus on time.


Typical Chinatown street

Love this picture!! So pretty ... and well composed ... Hahaha

colorful butterflies

Lombard Street

Next was Lombard Street, the crookedest [most winding] street in the United States. What does this mean? The steep, hilly street was created with sharp curves to switchback down the one-way hill past beautiful Victorian mansions. The street is paved with bricks and is an amazing site to see!


The famous Lombard street view from Leavenworth Street

The houses beside the street are really someone houses. Someone really live there! Yeah in fact, I saw one of the owner shaping his garden.

Me and the Lombard street

We climbed up to Hyde street and took couple pictures. The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block.


The unique Powell-Hyde cable car


Alcatraz island (top left background), Lombard St from top

Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District is a building originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. It is now popular as a favorite wedding location for brides and grooms throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. When we went there, we saw a bunch of primary students running around. Probably there were having study tour.



Palace of Fine Arts - in front of Colonnades


The park @ Palace of Fine Arts

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County as part of US Highway 101 and California State Highway 1.



The bridge has six total lanes of vehicle traffic, and walkways on both sides of the bridge. On an average day there are 100,000 vehicles crossing the bridge. Amazing!





According to the tour guide, the Golden Gate Bridge is a "popular" site for suicide. In 2006 itself, there were 34 confirmed bridge jump suicides, excluding various unwitnessed deaths that appeared to be suicides but could not be confirmed.


Me posing on the south side of the bridge

Pier 39 & Bay Cruise
Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction. The Pier is located at the edge of the Fisherman's Wharf district which is pretty close to both North Beach and Chinatown.


Hard Rock Cafe @ Pier 39


Giant crab in front of the Aquarium of the bay at Fisherman's Wharf

We reached there at 2 pm and hurried to queue for the bay cruise tour which started at 2.30 pm. Therefore, we had no time for a proper lunch. We grabbed $5 hotdog, finished it within 5 mins and ran for the ferry.


Sebastian, hotdog, and bay cruise ticket


A very crowded queue for the bay cruise tour

Luckily we were able to find a good spot to take pictures. Sebastian said that I should take as many pictures as possible since we paid $21 for this tour. No problem Sebastian!


Pier 39 - taken from ferry boat

The ferry brought us to see Angel Island, Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, and the might Alcatraz island. Along the way, we saw several sea gulfs tailing our boat and the captain warned us that they might come to disturb people.



From top left: sea gulf, SF from San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Me and Sebastian


Golden Gate Bridge from the water surface

Alcatraz was well known as a military and federal prison until 1963, when it became a national recreation area. During its 29 years of operation, there were no prisoners had ever successfully escaped. 34 prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, 2 men trying twice; 7 were shot and killed, 2 drowned, 5 were unaccounted for, and the rest were recaptured. Only 2 prisoners made it off the island but were returned, one in 1945 and one in 1962.


The Alcatraz island



Sea lions at nearby Pier 39

At the end of the tour, we still have time to wander around the pier and took a bunch of pictures. The pier was really really crowded. A lot of Asian tourists there! There was a funny sign about "No Thongs" hung at one of the restaurants there. The one who dares to wear only thongs in this windy and cool weather must be crazy!



Pier 39 - The crowd and street performer

The Twin Peaks

The Twin Peaks are the second highest hills in San Francisco after Mount Davidson. The peaks are around 900 feet above the surface. From the peak, San Francisco looks very small, foggy and dense. The tour guide shorten the time to spend here since he said he was cold. I told him that it is nothing compared with Ohio...




San Francisco view from Twin Peaks

We departed from the peaks for Castro street which is a gay village, and later on headed toward City Hall.

City Hall

City Hall is our last stop of today city tour. To me every city hall in States look almost the same: the dome-kind architecture. Therefore I didn't take much pictures here.




City Hall - outside and inside the building

Nite in San Francisco

It was raining quite heavily when we went off from City Hall. And it made me hungry!! The tour guide decided to bring us back to china town for dinner. We ended up eating nasi lemak at Singapore Restaurant there. Look at my dinner below! It did not taste as nice as the outlook ... pretty disappointed.


Nasi Lemak

Before we headed back to our hotel, the tour guide made a quick stop for those who wanted to take picture of Bay Bridge at night.


Bay bridge at nite

We arrived at hotel by 10.30 pm and that's it for today. Next day: beautiful Yosemite Park! Stay tune.

West Coast trip - Day 2 [Solvang Market and Hearst Castle]

In the morning, we waited at hotel lobby for a "correct" tour guide since at that time, there were at least 2 different tour groups picking up their clients. Luckily, we were able to find our tour guide and departed at 9.30am. The bus that we took, brought us to another meeting point where we switched to other bus. From this point, we were separated from xinen's parents and therefore the journey began...

Our destination for a day was: Solvang Market and Hearst Castle.

Solvang Market, Solvang

Solvang market entrance

The trip to Solvang took about 3 hours. We reached there by noon and had our lunch at Viking Garden Restaurant. The restaurant has Viking decorations like its name. We had western-chicken rice for $8 which was served in small portion. But it tasted quite ok.



Lunch at Viking Garden Restaurant

FYI, Solvang is a little Danish replica village. The windmills, quiet streets, horse drawn carriages, wineries, Danish bakeries, authentic Danish costumes worn by some shop keepers, Danish atmosphere and architecture are how the city looks like.


The giant windmill in Danish architecture

The shops at Solvang

Nice Oreo Fudge that I bought!!


On the way to Hearst Castle - Ostrich farm

Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle was is located near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. William Randolph Hearst, is the man behind Hearst Castle. He is an important figure from the 20th century whose influence extended to publishing, politics, Hollywood, the art world and everyday American life. By the mid-1920s he had a nation-wide string of 28 newspapers. Cool right?

By the way, we reached the castle at 2 o'clock, and took 2.40pm tour.


The Hearst Castle from a distance

The castle itself is five miles (eight kilometers) inland on a hill. The guide brought us touring around the park and its main building. Look how huge and interesting the Hearst Castle is!



Hearst Castle - Neptune Pool and Casa Grande


In front of the Casa Grande

Casa Grande or the main house has 5 rooms on the ground floor: the Assembly Room which is the largest of the four sitting rooms, the Refectory which is the huge dining room, the Morning Room which is a magnificent sitting room filled with Spanish antiques and Flemish tapestries, the Billiard Room which is a game room, and the Theater which is the largest room in Casa Grande.


The Dining Room where only those invited can eat with Hearst


The dining room decoration and the statue in Hearst's Theater

The tour ended 1hr 30mins later at the indoor pool. It was a great tour. Awesome mansion!!


The indoor pool, modeled after Roman baths, with gold mosaic tiles

From the castle, the bus drove us to Crowne Hotel, Oakland South - Union City. It is located at the east bay of San Fransisco. We had our dinner at Burger King on the way to hotel. Not feeling to eat chinese food at that time =)


On the way to Oakland

That's all for today! Next entry will be about San Fransisco ... wohooo!!

West Coast trip - Day 1 [Hollywood - China Town]

Today we began our trip to West Coast. After a-month preparing the itineraries and booking the tickets etc ... (thanks Sebastian), we were ready for West Coast. We woke up at 3 am to catch 6 AM flight to Los Angeles. Special thanks to our friend Ching Yuh who was willingly sacrifice his time to sent us to the airport!

The flight to Los Angeles took about 7 hours plus an-hour delay in Chicago. Yah ... it was not a direct flight. Luckily, I had an access to the Red Carpet Lounge since I have a Krisflyer Gold membership card. Look how convenience it was in the lounge ... Hehe!!!


At the Red Carpet Lounge, Chicago

Around 3 pm Pacific Time (LA has 3 hrs time diff), we reached the City of Angel, Los Angeles. After the tour guide picked us up at the airport and brought us to hotel for rest. But we did not want to waste our time doing nothing on the first day. So after settling our luggage, we rushed to Hollywood. We reached at Hollywood/Highland Station after almost an-hour bus + Metro subway ride. Pretty tiring but exciting!!


Hollywood/Highland Station

Our first destination was Mc Donald! Yup ... I was verrry hungry at that time.



Pplz said the McDonald's on Hollywood Boulevard are the most expensive exterior of any McDonald's restaurant in the world. It looks pretty clumsy to me. But it does have a few minor extras inside, though: a large skylight to let in sunshine and a few Hollywood stars pictures.


Mc Donald - Hollywood Boulevard

Xinen's parents were with us. We actually planned our trip with them, so that they can help us translating chinese to english since we were taking Chinese tour (yah ... the tour guide speaks chinese as a main language). But, turned out the tour guide changed our schedule, and therefore we were on different tour. I'll explain about the tour later. But now, let's look at Hollywood first!


The Hollywood Sign from Hollywood & Highland Center


Hollywood & Highland center

El Capitan Walt Disney Theater across Hollywood and Highland Center

Hollywood Boulevard is a such crowded place. The sidewalk along this road and Vine Street is so called Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of celebrities honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce along the road.



Hollywood Walk of Fame

We went to Kodak Theater complex, but didn't have an access to the theater. FYI, Kodak Theater is the home of the annual Academy Awards Ceremonies ("The Oscars"). And for American Idols fans, it is well known as a place where the final two competition is held.


Kodak Theater

Next is the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater, the worldwide-famous movie theater located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard whereas nearly 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs printed in the cement of the theater's forecourt.

Grauman's Chinese Theater


Picture with Mr. Schwarzenegger's fingerprint and footprint

In front of theater, there were a lot of movie characters walking around and offered if we wanna take picture with them. I did not know that we should give them tips. When they asked, we gave them a dollar.


Picture with Yoda Starwars

We walked along Hollywood Blvd until Hollywood/Vine subway station. Along the way I saw people selling Star Maps for only $5, live band, skateboarder, Green-leaves tree.


The uniqueness of Hollywood Blvd


Capitol Record

We therefore contd our journey to China Town, which was nothing much there since all stores closed after 5.30pm. So disappointed!


LA China Town

We headed back to our hotel after "tapao-ing" our dinner at cheap kopitiam. We can't find any taxis in China Town, therefore we took Metro train back to Union Station. Remember when Jack Bauer (24 Season 6) intercepted the bomb carried by Fayed follower at Union Station? Haha ... 24 freaks!



The waiting room at the Los Angeles Union Station.

We reached our hotel around 7 pm and had our rest. Waiting eagerly for the real tour tomorrow!

White Easter

Happy easter everyone! Easter is always specially for me. Three years ago I was baptized back in Singapore. Now, I saw people getting baptized. How wonderful Lord called each of us. St Clare Church has 3 people this year, and I heard from Alvin, St. Mary of the Angels in Singapore has 100+ people. Praise you Lord...

K, back in Cleveland. Today is around 27F (-2.8C). Lake effect snow (Erie) brought us 4-6 inches of snow as the Easter gift. No white Christmas back in December, but we have white Easter. Haha ... April Snow is unusual!



Saturday morning - Outside balcony

I reached the church by 6.30 pm for choir rehearsal. In the vigil celebration, we have timpani, bells, piano, organ, and trumpet as the instruments. Cool right? Yup, It looks like orchestra!


Church of St. Clare - Parking lot covered by snow

Church of St. Clare - the Altar

The service started at 8 pm with no light. Then the priest brought the easter candle and lighted up parishioner's candles. Exsultet therefore, intoned by the deacon. The reading that struck me today is about Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. I recalled what I learnt during RCIA couple years ago. It doesn't matter whether it is Egyptian or any other tyrant, it is just a symbolic for a sin. Moses brought Israelite from Red Sea means brought us out from sin, cleanse us from sin! The same thing about Paul Theology about "die and rising from the death". John 3 and Roman 6! Hehe I still remember the chapters.


The Baptismal font

Congratz for those who are baptized! May the Lord guide you to be light of the world. Be faithful, be strong and always remember that you are not alone.



People cleaning their cars @ the parking lot

Oooh no, I thought the snow would probably stop after mass, but I was wrong. I needed to brush the snow and scrap the ice. The road was so slippery. But, I managed to take couple pictures hehe.




Once again, happy easter everyone. Let's spread the joy and peace to the world!
K... I need to sleep now.