Some days go by, I wish I was famous
Or maybe religious, so I could go to heaven
Just like you
I can have a big house, complain about taxes
Payoff my ex’es, ain’t that living
No one makes fun of me, cause I can’t stand up for myself

Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday. So I’m feeling a bit sappy reminiscing on my year as 21 and invincible. It’s been quite a year. A year of great joys and of great sorrows. A year of growing up mentally and emotionally. A year of getting one step closer to figuring out my place in the world. A year of finding that peace from within, knowing it exists and cherishing that feeling. I wish I could hold onto that feeling. Maybe one day I will be able to.

My great joys were all centered around 5 weeks: I got to fulfill my dream of going to the land of the free and the home of the brave, the United States of America. I got to see the US as I wanted to see it. I got to find out what it’s like to feel American, if only for a little while. I found myself there. It was such a great relief to know this country is exactly what I thought it was. That being there would make me feel how I thought I’d feel. It was great to find out I belong there. That it felt like home in more ways than I could possibly put to words.
Everything about the US was amazing to me – the skyscrapers of New York City, the hills of San Francisco, the football and baseball fields, the massive fast food chains. Everything about it seemed familiar. Everything about it seemed to make sense. I made sense to myself.

This year was also about great sorrows. My grandmother passed away after battling cancer for 5 years. In a way she was dead for a while now, ever since she had that fateful stroke a year and two months before she passed away. It hindered any progress she made battling the illness. After that, she was a ticking time bomb waiting to burst. Fading till there was nothing left to hold onto. I don’t think I can quite comprehend what these 5 years watching my grandmother go through this did to me. I think this will be something that will take months and maybe years to surface, and a very long time to reach a point where I can be at peace with it.
I wish I could say I miss her. But she hasn’t really been her since the stroke. She was confused and dazed and disoriented without many moments of clarity. I can’t possibly miss her, I’ve gotten used to her like this.

Woah, I’m 21 and invincible
Woah, can’t wait to screw this up
And woah, I’m 21 and invincible
I’m in power for the hour
I guess today’s gonna blow us away

I also started university this year. I got to work. I got to go on that amazing trip all by myself. I paid taxes. I pay social security. I’ve become an adult in more ways than one. It’s quite mind blowing to think about it. To look back and see what a crazy year I’ve had. The twists and turns life brought on me and how I came out of it all swingin’.

I can only hope the coming year is just as eventful and amazing as the past year had been. Though, preferably, with less sorrows and stress and agony. But life’s not ideal. I’m willing to take it all on as it comes. I just want it to come. I’ve never felt more alive than I do tonight.

And it’s been autumn since the day that I met you
If I hit bottom, must I crawl out alone
And I don’t wish to know the secrets of summer at all…
LETS GO!

And whoa, I’m 21 and invincible
Whoa, can’t wait to fuck this up
Whoa, I’m 21 and invincible
I’m in power for the hour
I guess today’s gonna blow us away…

My 3 days trip to Canada was an organized one, with a company called Ezra Tours. I was to be at the New York Public Library at 6:30am to be picked up by the bus. I didn’t have to wait long there before Ezra himself showed up. He quickly checked our passports to ensure we have the proper documentation to enter Canada and then return to the States and then collected the money, in cash, $349 is how much this trip cost me.

We boarded the bus and headed to New Jersey to pick up 2 more people, going through the Lincoln tunnel on our way, and then headed northwards. We had a breakfast stop 2 hours later at some gas station. They had Dunkin’ Donuts but I had Yona’s sandwiches so I had those instead…
After breakfast, Ori our tour guide, opened up some maps and showed us where we were and where we were heading. He showed us the Finger Lakes, that look like actual fingers, and told us their names. He also showed us the lakes further up north on the border with Canada and explained all about that. And off we were again.
We only drove past the Finger Lakes. Drove on the banks of one of the big ones, Seneca. Didn’t get to stop so my pictures of that had to be through the bus window while driving rather fast. As you can see, the pictures were mostly unsuccessful and failed to really get the beauty of the area.
For lunch we stopped at a massive outlet stores area. I had a Subway sandwich (meatball marinara, what else?) and wandered around some of the stores while all the other Israelis ran around from store to store in complete amuck attack, trying to see it all, buy it all, and get to all the discounts. I was looking for some new Converse All Stars shoes but none of the models in those shops caught my eye enough. One of the stores did have me hanging out for longer, it was a punk kiddies shoe store with a ton of Converse and Vans shoes, and 2 TVs playing a music channel that happened to have the “Swim” music video by Jack’s Mannequin on. That made me jerk my head upwards in shock towards the screen and plastered a silly ass smile on my face. I spent the next 3-or-so minutes watching Andrew rock it out on TV.
After two hours of total boredom in outletsville (that included, other than lunch and a futile search for shoes and a messenger bag, also a phone call to mum & dad), we headed off again to the Canadian border.
We got to the Canadian border in the late afternoon. After waiting for a while for our turn, we made quick work and zoomed on into Canada.
We were then taken to our Inn, driving by a magnificent street designed for tourists. It had all sorts of shops and tourist attractions, all full of lights and glitz and glamour. It has some wax museums, some scary attractions (Dracula’s House, Frankenstien, etc.), a massive ferris wheel and a lot of tourists. We were told to meet Ori, if we wanted, at 8pm so he can take us to the falls.
Most people used their free time to shower, I headed on outside after settling in to explore the area, and had dinner at TGI Friday that was slightly expensive, but overall enjoyable (other than the PDA couple sitting at the bar right near my table that made me slightly queasy). I had a burger and fries, naturally.
After tipping my nice waiter with $3, I headed out to meet Ori the guide. He took us all the way to the falls – American (rocky at the bottom, smaller) and Canadian (no rocks, much larger and shapped like a horseshoe) and we attempted to take pictures of them at night time and waited for them to be lit up. When they were, Ori helped us take pictures, setting up our cameras and showing wicked skill.
After that, it was each man for himself so I wandered around the boardwalk area until 10pm, when the fireworks went off as they do every Sunday in the summer time. Following the fireworks I headed back to the tourist street and wandered around some more until eventually calling it a night and going back to the Inn to sleep (not before losing my way and discovering a store that was all about Coca Cola, such a shame it was closed!).

The morning of day 2 dawned and an annoying wake up call disturbed my sleep. After getting ready and packing up my stuff, I went downstairs for breakfast that consisted of tasteless cereal, and a bagel with peanut butter (and later also jelly) on it.
After checking out of the Inn, we headed to the boats locks to see how boats get from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario even though the lakes are in different heights. Very cool process where the boat gets into a narrow lock, and the water either rise or are filtered out to get the boat to a different height.
After that, we headed out to Niagara Falls to be humbled by their vast size and greatness. After taking some day-time pictures, we went on the Maid of the Mist boat (and got to wear highly fashionable blue rain-coasts that were in fact thin plastic bags made in shape of a coat) for our 10 or so minutes tour of Niagara Falls where we got near both the American and Canadian falls, so near we could feel the splatter of water against our faces, and attempted to take pictures. Kinda hard with all of that water. But it was seriously beautiful.
Before leaving the area we went to see the Flowers Clock, a massive clock in a flower garden design that changes every year. There were gardners working on it when we drove past it in the morning and they were still there carefully working at it when we got there at noon. After a look at the clock and the mechanism that work it, I went and got myself some ice cream. A vanilla and caramel ice cream. Delicious.
Our next stop was Toronto. We drove for a few hours to get there and stopped for lunch at a Jewish area where I could not find any fast food joint to feed me so was forced to settle for a too-massive-for-my-capability lasagna. While I was eating, Ori the tour guide sat with me and we had a chat that other group members joined on occasion. Found out he’s a really cool dude that despite being a Jew, is as secular as you can get, and doesn’t keep kosher, he has a wicked sense of humor, the sarcastic kind, and he also has a wristband in support of cancer research, like mine, and showed interest in mine. I was also starting to get to know the other people in our group that included; two sisters, one 30 years old and the other 18 years old, travelling together. A guy and a girl who are friends from the army, both in the States since June, being councilors at a summer camp, much like my buddy Maya. A family of 6 – mother, and 5 kids (father is nowhere in sight) – 2 older boys, two younger girls and a baby boy. They made a heck of a lot of noise. A mother and a son who are Yemen and live in Brooklyn. And various other characters.
Our next stop was the Toronto Capitol where security was… a joke. Our bus was allowed into the parking lot with no one to look at it and the security at the entrance merely glanced at us while continuing their conversation, standing lazily and casually about.
Ori took us around the Capitol building and explained the way the Canadian government works. We saw the plenary and were explained the different positions in there and their different functions. There was also a picture of Queen Elizabeth, the English queen, at the entrance to the plenary. Turns out that as a former British colony, the Canadians, unlike the Americans, still feel some sort of a bond to the British monarchy.
The building was not too impressive. It was plain at best and the fact some of it was under some sort of renovations certainly did not contribute. One section of it was made of wood, the other of marble as a result of a big fire in the building that demolished the second wood section and forced them to rebuild. Both sections contained a display of the history of the building and some info about Canada at large, and Ontario in specific.
We headed to our Inn in Toronto then, and were instructed to be downstairs at 7:45pm to go to dinner – a Chinese kosher restaurant with an all-you-can-eat buffet. While waiting and because I only shower before bed, I spent the time watching Canadian TV. Some Family Guy, a lot of channel surfing and a creepy show about a woman who wants to be a man and has a boob-removal surgery. Ewww.
The Chinese restaurant was nice. Since we didn’t have to pay for it as it was included in our trip package, we all enjoyed a nice helping of food. It was pretty delicious and I enjoyed myself. I shared a table with the two sisters and the guy and girl friends and we talked about our trips in the States and stuff like that.

Day 3 of Canada started even earlier than the previous 2 days. We got a wake up call at 5:45am and were down at breakfast at 6:30am, so we can leave at 7am. Once again I had cereal and a bagel with some peanut butter (funny, I remember the days I hated peanut butter) and Ori the tour guide sat with me and we had a nice chat.
After this, we headed on a long-assed drive to the 1000 Islands. We had a cruise scheduled for 11am and had to make it in time. Somewhere along that drive I finished “Time Traveler’s Wife” and had a hard time stopping myself from weeping. I thought I probably should, being on the bus with a group of strangers and all. If I had more time on my hands I’d probably write a review, but then I probably don’t so I’ll just say – great book, read it.
The cruise in Saint Lawrence River was amazing. The 1000 Islands area is just so beautiful that my camera simply could not do it justice. We saw all sorts of islands, including Heart Island where a rich man called Boldt built a castle for his wife but stopped halfway when his wife died. He also built a tiny house on a different island, and called it “Just Room Enough” for his mother in law. The mother in law couldn’t swim and he put her on a tiny island from which she could not get off unless he came and got her. Heh.
We also saw the world’s shortest bridge between 2 islands that through it there’s the border between the US and Canada. Pretty nifty.
We then headed on a long and winding journey home that was filled with rest stops at the borders of the different states (drove past Delaware and stopped by the Pensylvannia and New Jersey border rest stops) and lunch at a supposedly kosher restaurants that sold me a Philly Cheesesteak. SCORE.
The border was also an interesting feat. There was a duty free (Israelis love shopping, even more when things are duty-free) which was pretty boring except that it had a creepy massive cardboard cut out of Matthew McConaughey’s perfum advert… in the women’s bathroom! Nevertheless I got some maple syrup and more of that delish vanilla and caramel ice cream and made the most of our stay there.
We got back to New York pretty late, at around 9pm. First we dropped off the Jersey folks, then we were dropped off in Manhattan. I took the Subway back to Yona’s, which was a delight as I had to carry my suitcase up and down those damn stairs, and then had to run for the damn bus. Nearly passed out.

Pictures to follow… eventually.

The morning of August the 29th was a gloomy one. The clouds dominated the sky and it was raining. 90% of rain at Coney Island the forecast said. Brilliant. I decided to go anyway.
The trip was a long one and took forever, even on the Subway. Imagine trying to get there any other way… I read a book while at it, “Time Traveler’s Wife” that I started reading the day before. Made quite a progress on it, too.
When I got to Coney Island, the gloomy sky instantly showed their might with some rain. I walked my way to the boardwalk. After wandering around, watching the “freak show” folks get ready and then start their freak shows, and going onto one of the piers all the way to the end, pretty far from the beach where the fishermen were hard at work, I called it a quit when I realized the rain was becoming more and more relentless and the theme parks were not going to open anytime soon.

I headed back, stopping at Popeye’s to eat an early lunch. It was amazing. They serve real amazing chicken with the most awesome crispy covering ever. I enjoyed it immensely.
I then took the Subway back to Manhattan, reading my book all the way back. When I finally got there, ages later, I decided to go to Carnegie Hall. Alas, tours were stopped and were not to resume for a few weeks so I couldn’t get in. Took a few snaps from outside and headed to 5th Avenue and the beloved Apple store.
After that, I decided to call it a day and headed on back to Yona’s so I could pack my stuff for Canada the next day… All in all a rather boring day, but at least it was spent in New York, right?

Some pictures from that day:
New York City, 29.08.09

So, I decided to live as a New Yorker today and limit the tourist beast in me to a minimum. Yet again it took forever to crawl out of bed (bed being aunt’s sofa) this morning. I set my clock to 8:30am and got up at 9am. Another solid half hour of my favorite sport, snooze-button-hitting.

When I finally got out to a lovely cloudy/rainy/chilly morning, I headed out to Union Square. I had to exit the subway station at Broadway & Lafayett station and come back in at the Bleeker St. station. Even though I’ve done this before, I still got lost and took a while to find the Bleeker St. station. Grr… Some day I’ll learn.

When I got to Union Square, I headed straight for the cinema there and got a ticket for Alexis Bledel’s new movie, “Post Grad”. It cost me $12.50. No kidding. 12 and a half fucking dollars. America, have you gone insane?
I had about 50 minutes to kill so I went back to Union Square and took some pictures of the square cause last time I entirely ignored it in favor of the Barnes & Noble.

I also found a Max Brenner restuarant (big chocolate place in Israel) and took pictures of it like a moron. I found it so awesome that I found this store that I was sure was strictly Israeli, right here in New York.

I decided breakfast was in order so I headed into the Barnes & Noble and got myself a stuffed pizza pretzel at the cafe there. It was very good and also very hot. Never mind. Ate it anyway and then looked at the time and noticed I’m nearly late for the movie so dashed on outside and towards the cinema.
Turns out I was right on time, as the trailers begun. I don’t think they had regular commercials like we do but if they had them, they must’ve been short and/or started a while before the actual time on the ticket, which I find weird and illogical. So I’m left to deduce there weren’t any commercials.

“Post Grad” was a cute movie. Alexis Bledel was her usual charming, beautiful self, she had a hot best friend who loves her but she only saw as a friend, flirted with her 34 year old neighbor and overall had fun trying to find the job of her dreams.
In general the movie was all over the place with the main plotline being constantly overshadowed by the subplots, which were Ryden’s (Alexis’s character) strange family, the friend, the neighbor and any other distraction under the sun.
It would’ve been an okay movie if I didn’t have to pay for it. Now I know why the warez community got so big and vast in the States, it’s simply not worth paying this much money for a ticket when most movies are not worth this amount.
And don’t even ask me about the popcorn and stuff, I didn’t even glance at it. Thought the mere prices would make me dizzy.

After the movie I wandered Barnes & Noble some more, and ended up buying the newest edition of AP magazine with Paramore on the cover (awesome pictures! And what looks like a nice lengthy interview) and seeing a couple more books I wanted, but stopped myself from buying because dang, I bought too many books already!

My initial plan after that was to go to Starbucks, get something to drink and figure out where to go next while sitting there. But Starbucks was packed and I decided it’s time to wrap it up for the day. So I got a banana and strawberry milkshake and went back to Yona’s, not before stopping by McDonalds near the subway station and getting myself some Chicken Selects and fries for lunch.

Not a very eventful day, I know, but I enjoyed myself being a New Yorker for a day. Heck, a tourist with a thick accent asked me for help with the subway and for once, I actually knew how to help her. I’ve really got this New Yorker thing down now! The only thing I need now is to stop confusing the coins, and to actually live here.

Some more (though not many) pictures from today:
New York City, 28.08.09

This is a catch up blog. Hopefully by the time I finish typing it, I’ll be at the present moment with the recounting of my adventures in the land of the free and the home of the brave. HOPEFULLY.

So Tuesday the 25th of August was uneventful at best. It was a travelling day. Woke up at 8am and after getting ready and checking we haven’t forgotten anything, Maya, Susan and I checked out of our hotel in San Francisco (The Wharf Inn hotel – a nice, cheap hotel at a great location. Highly recommend it).
Susan drove Maya and me to the airport as our flight was at 11:20am and 11:35am (respectively) and hers wasn’t till 1pm so she headed out to fill gas and return our rental car once she dropped us off. Incidently, Susan’s flight to St. Louis left from the same gate as mine did to NYC an hour and a half earlier. How awesome is that? Pretty rad. We didn’t get to see each other though, which is less rad.
At the airport, after the intense security that once again included the taking off of shoes and removing laptop from its comfy cover in my bag, I wandered off into a book store. Of course. Where else would I go?
I found a copy of “Rock Sounds” I believe the mag is called. It’s a British music magazine that gave away a free CD with all sorts of fairly unknown (to me anyway) bands and had Paramore on the cover with a pretty rad (though too short to my liking and not probing enough) interview about their comeback single/album and the turbulence they went through a year and a half ago when they cancelled some British tour dates.
After I got the mag, I got myself a Subway Meatballs Marinara sandwich for the flight and headed to my gate.

The flight was rather dull. Had my sandwhich as soon as they were serving cold drinks, read the Paramore interview from the magazine I bought and typed the last blog on Microsoft Word for as long as the laptop battery held. I could’ve logged onto wifi internet but that cost like $12 and since my battery life is not longer than 2 hours or so, I didn’t feel like paying $6 an hour for wifi.
I also read some “Heart of the Assassin” by Robert Ferrigno and at the end of the flight, saw an interesting movie about McDonalds – where it started and when, the inside look at the restaurants and new product developement, their branching out to China etc. Unfortunately I never got to see the end of it cause we landed.
After waiting for my luggage for far too long, I waited even longer for a shuttle to Yona’s apartment. The shuttle van was full and next to me were crammed two obnoxious Brazilians that are big fans of PDA, which made me feel uncomfortable. To make matters worse, the dude that sat next to me spread his legs wide open leaving me little to no space to sit without actually touching him and actually hit me with his elbow at some point. When I commented him on that he lighted the seat with his phone going “I don’t touch you” and when I told him the least he could do was apologize for hitting me he sneered and went “‘pologize? I don’t touch you”. Idiot. I just went “whatever” and waved him off. I hate Brazilians and their sense of self-entitlement. Things in English speaking countries are different, buddy. In the US or UK, it is enough that you MIGHT have accidently brushed against someone, you apologize. Clearly this is douchebag’s first time in New York. Moron. Won’t last a day here.

Wednesday the 26th of August started early. I got up at 7am and headed to South Street Seaport for Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth. Turns out I was there way too early. I’ve waited for about an hour all alone till 9am when people started joining the line. On the plus side, I was the first in line and after 3 hours of waiting I scored row L (11) seats for “In The Heights”, smack in the middle, by the aisle, and this was the first elevated row at the theatre so no one blocked our view. My aunt was really pleased. But more about that in a bit.
After this, I headed to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. I took a tour around the area and saw the theatre there, the arena (where Britney Spears’ stage was from 2 nights of shows and ready for a third show that very night), the dressing rooms of the basketball teams, and some of the VIP areas at the arena. All in all a very cool tour.
My next stop was Borders by Penn Station where I bought yet another book (I need to stop this, I really do). After this I had some Subway (same sandwich as the day before, I’m addicted) and then headed back to Yona’s early to get ready for the show.

Yona insisted on getting there by bus. We took about 3 buses. This is the second time I’m going on buses with Yona. She never knows where she’s going, always asks the drivers that mislead her, and always ends up on more buses than she bargained for. This pissed me off as I paid for 2 rides (third was a transfer) instead of just paying for one ride on the Subway and getting there a heck of a lot faster!
After waiting in quite a long line that thankfully moved fast, we were led into the threatre and showed to our awesome seats. The show was really good, as I said. Funny in some parts, heart-wrenching at others. The actors were all skilled singers and dancers, some of them were very impressive. There were also some really powerful songs. Note to self: Download the soundtrack. I really enjoyed myself and it looks like Yona did too.
While we were there, there was a guy there that appeared gay in the way he behaved. He came with another guy, that looked rather bored as he was instantly abandoned and mostly ignored because the first guy saw 2 women he knew 2 rows behind him and spent all his time not watching the show, talking to them. He also took pictures of the show even though they asked not to!
After the show, we headed to Sbarro to eat (not before checking out TGI Friday’s that was too expensive for Yona’s taste and McDonalds that was too crowded) – Yona had pizza and I had some pasta – and then headed back in the partial rain to 42nd street where we caught a cab back home.
Some pictures from my triumph return to the Big Apple:
New York City 26.08.09

Today, Thursday the 27th of August, started slow. It took a while to get up, I was so exhausted and slept so deep I hit the snooze button for a good half an hour before Yona eventually came carrying the phone with my grandma on the line and I had no chance but to get up to talk to her.
After sorting through my stuff and realizing I bought 8 books and only finished 1 of them (“Heart of the Assassin” – really good, go buy it and read it. Hell, read the entire Assassin trilogy by Robert Ferrigno. Awesome for futuristic-thriller lovers) so made a mental note to try and buy less books from now on and only buy them if I REALLY want them.
I decided to head to Central Park again today and hit the northern half of the park, the one I didn’t visit so far. Before that I intended to head to the MTV store at Times Square to check it out. It was not worth it.
Morning rush meant the subway was jam packed with people and it looked like some of the tunnels where closed which created a traffic jam down at the subway. After waiting at 23rd St. station for a long while with a standing train, I decided to head out. One of the workers of the train was talking to some dude in a suit and they both came to the conclusion all the trains in the area were jammed and that it was best to walk. So out I went.
I was starving by then so went into the first McDonalds and got myself an Egg McMuffin. Funny, I don’t remember it having ham in it when I had it in the UK, but it did here. I ate it anyway, paying no mind to it and telling myself it was just a sausage of sort.
I then walked 20 or so blocks to Times Square and after being disappointed with the MTV Store and another store selling Broadway stuff (didn’t have the Wicked hoodie I wanted and were too expensive anyway), I took the subway that was slightly better by then, to the Natural History Museum where I headed into Central Park.
At first I got slightly lost, but after I started finding my way, I started exploring the northern half of the park, getting to a Shakespear flower garden, seeing the long line for Shakespear in the park and passing, seeing a cool castle, seeing the massive resovoir and enjoying the many squirrels, ducks, birds and other wildlife in the park. At two points I stopped to read my new book, “Time Traveler’s Wife” and seemed like a local to 2 tourists that on 2 different occasions asked me questions on directions and whether the water at the cooler were worth drinking. I felt really good at successfully passing myself off as a New Yorker, and the book is interesting so far. Captivating. Well done!
I got all the way to 110 St. where the park ends, but can’t say I’ve seen all there was to see. There are still grounds left unexplored. Perhaps I’ll get to them next time. It IS a big ass park, about 50 blocks big!
After reaching the conclusion that 110 St. offered no suitable fast food options, I took the subway to Columbus Circle where I once again entered Borders. There, I got 4 CDs – Relient K’s “The Anatomy of the Tongue In Cheek” and “Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right… But Three Do” in their gold editions, not sure yet what makes them more special than the original versions but nevermind. Also, The Rocket Summer’s “Do You Feel” and Hawthorne Heights’ special edition (with bonus tracks & DVD) of “The Silence in Black & White”. Since I got a special coupon on my way in and since I signed up to a free Borders member card when I was last at that store with Yona, I got $5 off each of the albums. So ended up saving $20 and only paying $38 for all 4, which is makes it about $9.50 each CD. AWESOME! I love you, Borders. You’re better than Barnes & Noble.
After this I was really starving for lunch so I wandered around till I found a Wendy’s and thought “hey, this is a fast food joint I’ve not tried yet, lets give it a go”. I got Nuggets that didn’t compare to the McDonalds ones, they didn’t have sweet n sour sauce so settled for shitty BBQ sauce, and the fries and cola were alright. I did get their smallest portions so paid less than $5 for this meal and was still pretty full afterwards so all is well.
It took forever to get back to Yona’s. First I got lost and accidently ended up on 9th Avenue. Then when I finally found the desired subway station, the trains were full and slow. Quite a nightmare. I only got back after 6pm, the latest I ever got back while in New York… Le sigh.
Of course, I instantly packed my computer and headed to this cafe I always sit in to connect to the world via the interweb as soon as I got back. My aunt is driving me insane and I prefer spending as less time with her as possible…. I mean I love her, but I prefer loving her from a distance and in small portions.
Funny thing is, there’s another Israeli here. New but not entirely unexpected as this is a neighborhood full of Jews. At first he didn’t know I spoke Hebrew (passing off as a New Yorker again. SCORE!) and talked to me in English. But now he asked me a question in English and I answered in Hebrew, so cat’s outta the bag. Hah.

My visit to California was hectic at best. I was on the go for most of the day and tucked in fairly early every night. But mostly, my excuse for delaying this blog for as long as I did is Susan’s bad influence. See, my good friend from St. Louis, Susan, has joined me for my Californian adventure and has enhanced my experience to no end. I found that he knowledge of all things American, especially when it comes to shops, restaurants and fast food joints, was highly beneficial for me. Also, the fact we rented a car made things a heck of a lot easier – we could freely and quickly get anywhere we wanted without needing to depend on public transport.

Bright and early on Thursday (20th of August) morning I woke up to head to Washington DC’s Dulles airport. So early, in fact, that it was still dark outside. It WAS 3am after all. By 4am I was at the hotel lobby after checking out, waiting for my shuttle to arrive. It arrived at 4:20am, slightly late but there nevertheless. It already had 1 passenger and picked up 2 more on the way to the airport.
When I got to the airport, I was instructed by the American Airlines ground personnel to check into my flight using their ticket kiosks. I put in my ticket reference code and had my tickets printed for me. I then waited at a near endless line to check in my bag, that I was doing for free. For some reason American Airlines doesn’t want my money for checking in a bag. I don’t know why and frankly, I don’t care.
The Dulles airport was pretty boring. After the regular security checks that included x-raying of my bag, getting my laptop out of its warm comfy bag for inspection, taking off my shoes and walking through a metal detector, I was finally allowed to wander around the terminal.
I got breakfast at a random café that gave me a greasy looking croissant with greasy omelet and a greasy potato thing of sort (I forgot how it’s called, I’m sure it’ll come back to me at some point). It wasn’t the best meal and my stomach was well upset with me for the entire duration of my first flight from Dulles to Dallas Fort Worth. I tried to drown it out with coca cola on the flight, to no avail. While having breakfast, I also had a quick chat with mum on the phone, through stifled yawns.
When it was finally time to board the flight, I could not wait! I got into my comfy seat and as soon as we were in the air, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. I failed to sleep, but I got some rest for my eyes and the above mentioned coca cola gave me the boost I needed to wake up entirely and completely.
After what was a rather uncomfortable flight, seating at a window seat with 2 more ladies next to me which meant I tried not to get up, and the fact that breakfast was still causing great unease deep within my stomach, I was pretty glad to be landing in Dallas for my connection.
After a quick train to a different terminal, I had to board my flight to Sacramento. I didn’t have the luxury of time to roam the airport as I had less than an hour in between flights. I did hear a call for someone who forgot their tambourine and guitar case over the speakers and wondered what Ryan Ross was doing in Dallas
The flight from Dallas to Sacramento was slightly better. Susan was on it, only a row ahead of me, but I didn’t see her till we landed. Maybe that’s cause the only time I got up was for the bathroom at the back of the plane… in any case the upset stomach was no longer upset and I was slightly more cheered by this.

When we landed in Sacramento, Susan and I headed towards baggage claim to get our suitcases and then took a shuttle to where the rental cars are. There, we waited for over an hour in line for our rental car.
While we were waiting I saw a sign with instructions for people who were renting a car to get to the Burning Man Festival in San Francisco. Jokingly, I suggested we went there cause Adam Lambert went there and had an epiphany there while being high on drugs that he needs to go on American Idol. The woman at the counter only got half the conversation and thought I was serious about going! We joked around about this for a while, I think that woman kinda likes me now! We also saw her on our way outside to the PT Cruiser car and she smiled and went “See ya later!” at me. Weirddd.
We took a while to find our motel in Sacramento but we were “exploring” the area while looking, so it wasn’t so bad. When we finally made it and went to check in, I saw 2 Israeli couples, undoubtedly from the David Cook Tapuz community where I recommended on that motel to those going to the Cal Expo show of his because it’s so close to the State Fair grounds where the show took place. We instantly recognized each other as being Israeli, by sheer looks (well, I heard one of the couples exchanging some words in Hebrew but the second couple I recognized by looks) and exchanged awkward smiles.
On the way to the motel, we saw an In N Out Burger where Susan has long decided we shall eat. I was all game for it because the Relient K boys, especially Jon Schneck and Ethan Luck, speak highly of In N Out that only exists in 4 state at the southern west coast (California, Utah, Arizona and I believe Nevada as well). So as soon as we dumped our bags at our room (that was “charming” in its simplicity. It didn’t look fancy at all, it looked old and like it needed renovations, but you get what you paid for, right? And this motel was cheap), we headed out to the nearest In N Out and dined our heart out.
What I loved about In N Out is the very simply menu – burger, fries, coke and milkshake. They literally sell nothing more. I got a cheeseburger with some fries and a coke. Naturally, the coke was a fountain one, which meant free refills, something the Americans are VERY fond of.
After some chat and lunch, we headed to the nearest Target store to look for a belt for my good British friend David. We could not find the belt, unfortunately, but have not given up the search…. After that we headed to Arden Fair mall right by our motel and wandered around the shops, including Macy’s, Apple, and a music store that was at a complete chaos as far as the organization of the CDs was, but I still managed to find Say Anything’s “In Defense of the Genre” record to buy. They also had a cardboard figure of Robert Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen. The dude at the register jokingly suggested I bought it for my sister but it was too big to take on a plane
For dinner, Susan insisted we went to the Cheesecake Factory near the mall. I only had a (rather pathetic and not very pleasing) Greek salad but Susan enjoyed some pasta. They do have a massive menu with something for everyone, and some awesome looking cakes. We were looking at the cakes while waiting to be seated and Susan observed out loud that they have a calorie count on them. A woman (possibly Israeli judging by her accented English) that overheard her commented she wished she hadn’t cause she wanted to enjoy the cakes without knowing how much they’ll “cost” her in terms of weight gain! She also illuminated us that it’s a law in California to display the calorie count. Hmmm. Learn something new everyday.

Friday, August the 21st, started at 8 o’clock. The night was rather uncomfortable at the bed was stiff, the pillow plain and too small and to add insult to injury, our toilets were broken and were dripping water all over the floor. Not only that, we kept hearing the noise of the water feeling the toilet but it didn’t, and it made noise all night, starting and stopping at random intervals. So at around 4am when I got up to use the bathroom, it started making noise and did not stop for a long while, pretty much fucking up our night’s sleep.
No matter! We were up and ready to explore in no time and headed out to Old Sacramento. We wandered around the old wooden houses that looked like they were from all these Western movies. They had shops and restaurants from old western movies as well.
Since it was still too early for the Discovery museum, to which we headed, to open, we settled ourselves in a café of sort and had awesome doughnuts. Mine was all chocolate, but covering and the actual dough. It was delicious.
After some more wandering around Old Sac, we went to the Discovery museum and learned about Sacramento in the old days and the gold rush days of California. It wasn’t the best museum but it was nice enough and it killed some time.
After that we went to the Railroad Museum and after seeing how much it cost, settled for a wander around the gift shop where I introduced Susan to Thomas the Truck Engine and his friends. Having no kids, she didn’t have to put up with that herself so was unfamiliar with the smiling Truck Engine.
I also observed how Abraham Lincoln seems to be following me or, rather, he was anywhere I turned. Whether on the $5 bill, or at half of the sights in Washington DC, he also showed up at the Railroad museum as he used to be a rail splitter before he went into politics and law.
We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant at the food court in the Arden Fair mall – I had 2 different kinds of Tacos, chips and some coke – and then headed to the Barnes & Noble where I bought “Son of a Witch”, the second in the Wicked books series.
After that, we made for the California State Fair to hang out and then see Cookie! (aka David Cook)
Some pictures from the morning’s exploration of Sacramento: Sacramento 21.08.09

The State Fair was pretty rad. It had a ton of rides for all kinds of ages, animals on display (from horses to pigs, goats and sheep), entire areas where you could buy everything from a hot tub or a pool for your yard to pots and pans and compost. We didn’t get on any of the rides as they were all 4-5 tickets per ride (1 ticket = $1) but we did get into an interesting art exhibit there where we saw a massive model of San Francisco made entirely off toothpicks where 2 ping pong balls could roll around inside from one SF landmark to another. There was also a bass guitar made of iron that was actually working and some pretty rad statues and drawings and paintings.
After wandering around and exploring the fair, and having a glance from afar at David Cook’s tour bus and the herds of frau and tards waiting in line for the free seats for the concert, we went and grabbed something to eat. Susan got a smoothie of sort and I got a frozen banana, covered in chocolate and nuts. It was quite a feat! I enjoyed it immensely.
We then made our way to where the concert was to take place at around 6pm and took our seats at row R. We watched the frau and tards that did have tickets file in and tested out our cameras. All the while I was getting pretty pumped about seeing my dear dear Cookie.
The fair’s DJ went on stage to get the crowd pumped and excited. He gave away free t-shirts, some merch of the support act, The Crash Kings, and 2 tickets for the front row for someone in the free seating area. This made the frau get up and start dancing wildly. Especially for those Golden1 t-shirts…. Quite the scary sight!
The Crash Kings went on stage at around 7:30pm. They had awful sound, played when it was still light and were not very good. They also played to a pretty tough crowd – the frau showed them no interest whatsoever and were parking their fat asses on their seats, waving their M&M’s paper fans frantically about. An old frau that brought her husband and was sat in front of me was having a conversation on merch with a young tard and her mother sitting in my row. She then vanished, only to return with her own David Cook t-shirt. A male tard that was wearing an MCR t-shirt, came back with a David Cook hoodie. Personally, I refused to spend so much money on merch, when none of it really caught my eye. In hindsight I probably wouldn’t ended up buying the hoodie if I hadn’t decided I wanted it after the show, when there were a million and one people around the merch booth.
After The Crash Kings were done, the roadies did a quick work at removing The Crash Kings’ drum set off the stage (Kyle’s drum set was already there, propped behind the one of the Crash Kings), removing the rest of their gear off stage and replacing it with Andy, David and Neal’s guitars, Andy’s keyboards, Monty’s bass and David, Andy and Kyle’s microphone stands.
At long last, David and the boys went on stage. They started off with Mr. Sensitive and went on to playing (not at this order): Lie, Kiss on the Neck, Bar-Ba-Sol, I Did It For You, Heroes, We’re Only Honest When We’re Sleeping, Little Lies, Declaration, Come Back To Me, Died In Your Arms and Light On to wrap it up.
During “Lie”, David sang acapella and sounded amazing. Before “Kiss On The Neck” he asked how many people are in love in the audience, when not many raised their hands, he said the song was for everyone who are NOT in love. Before “Bar-Ba-Sol” he declared everything up to that point was just practice, and asked if it’s cool he played a pre-Idol song when he did “We’re Only Honest When We’re Sleeping”. He also talked in between most songs, with funny banters, showing off how cute he really is. He was making fun of a tard sign that wanted to take him to Japan and that had an ugly Tard Art drawn on its other side, read aloud a sign of someone who went to the same high school as him and started talking to him, until stopping himself and saying they’ll talk later, and told us how Sacramento is really not hot compared to Lancaster the night before.
All in all, David was a champ. He played guitar on every single song, which was surprising as I thought there were at least some songs in which he didn’t play guitar. He was candid and fun and amusing, sang his heart out and, according to him later on Twitter, sweat his ass off! All of this made him extremely sexy to me.
Even though I didn’t get “Life On The Moon”, “A Daily AntheM” or “Permanent” and even though he chose not to listen to the audience yelling for “Billie Jean”, I was still really happy with the set list, and I think Susan was too, as there were a few songs she knew from her days of loving 80’s hair bands. The set felt too short, but I knew he wouldn’t play more than an hour or so. I was pleased and annoyed at the same time to find time seemed to have flown by and that I didn’t even notice how quickly the show was over.
The picture taking I left to Susan and her x12 zoom camera. Mine didn’t zoom half as close enough to get decent pictures and she seemed quite content to be a photographer for the night. She came up with some pretty awesome pictures considering our location in the audience and got the first 50 seconds of Bar-Ba-Sol on video, after which she was asked by security to stop filming
Speaking of security, there was an annoying security dude with a ’stache that located himself ride in the middle of the aisle – my only clear line of sight – and forced me to move around as he moved around, so I could see anything!
To conclude, the show was amazing. I wish I was seeing David again and one day I will have to repeat the experience some way, because he was just too good live and left me with a distinct taste for more. I was singing along the entire show and even dancing a bit, air-guitar playing and air-drum playing. I had a REAL good time.
Some pictures from the show – some are mine (the shit ones), most are Susan’s. Thanks Susan!
David Cook – California State Fair, Sacramento, CA 21.08.09

After the show it took us a good half an hour to find our way out to the parking lot. The plus side was that while being slightly lost, we discovered a ride that had funny American Idol cartoons on it – Taylor Hicks, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, Clay Aiken, Ruben and Kathrine McPhee were all easily recognizable. Others, not so much. I think they had Fantasia up there and maybe Kelly Clarkson too, and a bunch of others that looked too generic to mean something.
When we got back to the hotel we found out our bathroom was not, in fact, fixed as we asked it to be from the front desk that morning. So we called and asked to be moved to a different room. In a choice between non-smoking disabled room with 2 beds, non-smoking regular room with 1 bed and a smoking room with 2 beds, we went for the first option which was good all in all – more comfy beds, a much better, bigger shower, and a ground floor room which meant I didn’t have to handle with heaving my suitcase down the stairs (the motel security guy helped me with that when he moved us to the new room). We also got a better air-conditioner than the weird one we had before that was old and falling apart and stopped working at random intervals and then started working again. We slept better that night, needless to say.

The next morning, Saturday the 22nd of August, we headed to San Francisco, counting McDonalds and Starbucks restaurants on the way and noting the drastic change of weather the more we neared San Francisco. While it was summer-hot in Sacramento, it was winter-cold (Israeli winter anyway) in San Francisco. Susan also showed off her fast foods chains of America knowledge, as she pointed out ihop and Jack in the Box.
After crossing the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, I gave Maya a call to find she was checking into the hotel. She was allowed to do that, even though the room was on Susan’s name, by giving the hotel a $200 deposit that she only got back once Susan and I got there to check in.
After a quick reunion between me and Maya (we haven’t seen each other in 2 and a half months!) and a quick introduction between Maya and Susan, I put on something warmer and we headed out to brunch at ihop. Ihop is a sinful restaurant that has an incredible amount of variety for breakfast, most of it fattening and sugary yet incredibly mouth-watering. I took some French Toast with whipped cream, bananas and strawberries, Maya had a rather plain oatmeal and Susan had pancakes in what I believe was caramel syrup. Sinful.
After breakfast, we hit the downtown area of San Francisco, going into the Cable Car museum briefly and losing our breath as we climbed Nob Hill. We got to Washington Square Park where we saw some art exhibited outside. There were some amazing paintings there and all the artists were there showing off their work, so we took a business card off the woman who had the paintings we liked the most.
After some more walking around, we discovered an Apple store, wandered around Union Square and took pictures with 1 of 120 massive heart statues that are scattered all over San Francisco and that have fun cartoons on them (it’s a “I left my heart in San Francisco” sort of reference. The square had 4 hearts and we’ve seen more in our travels around the city), sat at a nice bakery (Susan opting for a piece of carrot cake – “my daily carrot intake of the day” according to her, while I protested it doesn’t count, Maya got a pretty massive muffin of sort and I got a strawberry smoothie that I could not finish half of!) and hit the Westfield mall, which was pretty massive. Yet, it had a Hot Topic which is a store I was already fond of from the Arden Fair mall in Sacramento. There I bought Paramore’s “Riot!” CD for my sister for only $14. A bargain considering elsewhere I could only find it for $18-$19.
After we’ve properly exhausted ourselves at the mall and Maya had her fun at a “Forever 21″ store across the street, we went to another Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The place was packed and we got a beeper sort of thing and were told to wait for 80 minutes till we’re called. We went downstairs to the Macy’s where we settled on some of the couches at their furniture department and waited. Susan and I were talking, Maya occasionally joining, till she fell asleep on the couch she was lying on.
After what seemed like forever, we were buzzed upstairs and I only barely woke up Maya. We were seated outside with a stunning view from the 8th floor of the building of Union Square below (there was an outdoors movie showed there!) and under a heater so we won’t freeze to death, and made our order. After what seemed like forever, Maya and I decided to order an Alfredo pasta together and added some chicken to it for good measure. While Maya was the one taking food onto her extra plate, I was not able to finish my portion on the main plate, but I do suspect she took less pasta than me. All in all it was delicious, and I did my best attempting to finish it… Susan, on her part, braved a massive portion of pasta with chicken breast schnitzel of sort. She could not finish it either. The portions at the Cheesecake Factory are simply too big.
For desert, Maya and Susan got a cheesecake of sort to share and asked for it as takeaway cause we were all too stuffed to eat anything more at that point.
We took a cable car back to Fisherman’s Wharf, partly because we were freezing and because we were too tired to walk back. It cost $5 and it was a rather strange ride but at least we could say we rode a Cable Car in San Francisco! On the way to Fisherman’s Wharf (where our hotel was), Maya asked the conductor how the car worked and he explained that underground cables were pulling the car to its destination. It was cool, in a way, but rather uncomfortable.
Some pictures from day 1 of San Fran:
San Francisco 22.08.09

The next morning, Sunday the 23rd of August, we decided to use the car. We headed to the South of Market area (SoMa) where we had a quick Starbucks breakfast. I had chocolate milk and a plain bagel with cream cheese, Maya had a vanilla coffee that she was not entirely pleased with and Susan had hot chocolate with a blueberry cake of sort (“my fruit intake for the day”, once again I insisted it doesn’t count).
At 11am, we entered the Cartoon Art Museum that had a cool display on Sleeping Beauty, a display of various webcomics and a ton of cartoon and comics through the ages. What I was missing was some of the more contemporary comics, like the Marvel superheroes. They did have some Watchmen stuff on display and at their gift shop, and had a bunch of Spider-Man/Superman/Batman stuff at the gift shop as well as other comic/cartoon stuff, but not enough on display.
We then headed to the Golden Gate Park where, after getting slightly lost and taking forever to find a parking space, we finally made it to the California Academy of Science. We had lunch (Susan and Maya opting for a Mexican wrap of sort, I think it was a burrito and me going for some pasta) at the museum that only had organic cola (what the hell is organic cola?) and healthy foods, and then headed to the main exhibit, the rainforest.
The rainforest was pretty cool. We got to see all kinds of animals – spiders and lizards and fish and butterflies and some birds and bats and whatnot – all sorts of rainforest plants and learn a lot about rainforests. This was followed by the Aquarium and learned a lot about sea life, seeing countless sea dwellers.
We had very little time left after that so Susan and I briefly checked out the evolution exhibit while Maya briefly observed the climate change one. After that, we left the museum.
Outside we wandered around Golden Gate Park, looking at the Japanese tea garden from afar (cause it cost money to go in) and wandering around the wilderness of the park, meeting squirrels between the trees and ducks and Canadian geese at Stow Lake. The scenery was quite remarkable.
Our next and final stop for the day was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so cold at the bridge we didn’t stay for too long. We took the mandatory pictures there and headed on back to the hotel, not before stopping at a camera shop for Maya to get batteries (and finding an Israeli owner to the shop that gave Maya a small discount) and getting some groceries for a humble dinner. Susan, on her part, went to get Burger King.
Back at the hotel, we all sat and watched True Blood on the free HBO. Maya never seeing it before and Susan only seeing it once before, they both needed me to explain things that were happening to them. I didn’t very much mind that at all and in general, found the experience of watching with other people both strange and enjoyable. After all, I’m used to watched alone on my computer at my bedroom.
After True Blood, a warm shower and some Family Guy as well as a dumb movie with Ryan Reynolds, we all went to sleep.
Some picture from the day: San Francisco 23.08.09

Monday, August the 24th, was our last day in San Francisco. We got up bright and early, Maya and I got some warm beverages from the hotel office (me chocolate milk, her tea) and headed to pier 33 for a ferry to Alcatraz island, not before Maya stepped on my shoe from the back, sent my heel flying out of it which ended up tearing a hole in it Shockingly enough I’m still wearing these shoes.
We took some pictures on the ferry and after a short explanation from a park ranger and an orientation movie about the island, we went up the hill for the audio tour of the cell-house. The audio tour was pretty interesting, as I listened to the tour, I was told where to go and where to turn so it was like having a real guide. It was narrated by former prisoners and former guards at the prison, which was pretty cool. The only shame was that my headset was not quite right and sometimes worked both ears and at other moments didn’t. Kept flicking on and off, a bit annoying really.
After the audio tour, Susan and I wandered the gift shop while waiting for Maya. She was behind us even though both her and Susan were ahead of me at some point, having hit play several seconds before I did.
They were selling all kinds of crazy stuff at the gift shop, from whistles to keys to dozens of DVDs with movies and docs about Alcatraz and a ton of books. The author of one of the books, a woman who lived on the island while one of her parents worked at the prison, was actually there to talk to people but I didn’t have anything to say to her and she soon vanished.
After catching up with Maya, we had a short stroll around the island to appreciate the scenery for a while, and then caught the next ferry back to shore.
Back at Fisherman’s Wharf, we headed to the hotel so Maya can grab her money belt that she forgot there and then headed to lunch. Susan, the never-ending fountain of knowledge as far as junk food restaurants were concerned, suggested we went into Johnny Rockets. It was a good suggestion. It’s a 1950’s sort of diner where you can choose songs from a jukebox with quarters (they gave us the quarters and while the jukeboxes were personal to each table, the song was played at the diner’s speakers for all to hear), old school food and restaurant design and just feeling all-American. Susan and I got cheeseburgers, as well as onion rings and cheese-fries (MOST AWESOME INVENTION OF ALL TIME!) and Maya got a cheese steak.
After this awesome experience, we headed out to wander the piers. We also got us some tickets to a Bay Cruise and after going to visit the (smelly and loud) sea lions just hanging out at the pier catching a tan, we got some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (Chunky Monkey FTW!) and then we went on a 90 minutes cruise.
The cruise was pretty rad. We sailed most of the Bay area and were told stories of what we saw and of wildlife and plants. We sailed under the Bay Bridge and learned of the earthquake that ruined it and how they’re re-building a new east section to it. We saw the AT&T baseball park with the massive coca cola bottle that has a playground for kids in it. We also heard some explanations about the San Francisco skyline and stuff. Good interesting things.
After the cruise we strolled the pier area some more and ended up at Chardelli after Susan insisted to go, she had a peanut butter hot fudge Sunday and Maya and I had chocolate milk. Maya’s was fancier but I couldn’t quite finish mine anyway so it’s a good thing I didn’t get a fancy expensive one.
More wandering lead us to a Barnes & Noble where I bought a hardcover copy of “A Lion Among Men” for only $6 or so dollars (last copy at the store and they’re not bringing any more) and a soft cover of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Lestat” to add to my ever-growing collection of books.
We were all too tired, so decided to call it a night. There were some ambitious plans of dinner at an Italian restaurant but Maya fell asleep watching TV as we were “chillin’ out” till dinner time and we never did bother waking her up, except for long enough to get her to change to a PJ and get the hell off my bed.
Some pictures from that day:
San Francisco 24.08.09

San Francisco was freezing. Like, winter-freezing. Didn’t stop us from having a blast though!

Today was a crazy sort of day. It started shit early as all days in Washington DC have started, because a lot of the free sights are first-come, first-served tickets and you need to get there early so you’ll have a chance of getting in. Other than that fact, today needed to end early because I have an early flight tomorrow and needed to get back to the hotel early, get my shit together early and go to bed early.

At 7:50am I left my hotel towards the White House. Now, it’s quite a mission to get inside the White House for a tour. US citizens simply contact their senator or congressman for tickets, international folks like me need to contact the embassy. Both US citizens and internationals need to do this months in advance. And I didn’t. So I didn’t get into the White House to visit President Obama. Boo. But I am determined to get in next time I’m in DC, whenever the heck that will be.
Instead, I took a picture of the southern side of the House from as close as I could get (not very) and settled for the visitor center that had a nice interesting movie on the construction of the house and its rooms, the china patterns the different presidents have used and the unique furniture.

On my way to the White House I saw two squirrels chasing one another, perhaps it’s Scrat and Scratte fighting over that acon? I tried filming them with my camera but they vanished as soon as I got it out I love squirrels. There are a lot of them here and they are commonly sighted.

After that I headed by foot to Ford Theatre where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. After getting a ticket for 10am (it was nearly about 9:50am) I waited outside to be let in. First, they let us into the Lincoln museum under the threatre where we could read up on Lincoln’s life, his presidency, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War, as well as his assassination.
We were then let into the threate where a park ranger told us the story of the night at the theatre when Lincoln was murdered. He told us how Booth got into the president’s box so easily (he was an actor who also got his mail there), why he wanted to kill the president (a south supporter, he was against the freeing of the slaves) and of his escape and eventual capture and death. Very interesting stuff.

After this, and watching a fat cow who cut me on the way out fall on her fat ass while tripping on the stairs, I went across the street to Peterson House, where Lincoln was brought after he was shot, to be made comfortable till his death 9 hours later.

It was a rather short visit. Saw the house from outside, the room Lincoln died in, the room his wife Mary waited in, and the room where the government held an emergency meeting following the assassination to draft a letter to the vice President letting him know he’s going to be sworn in ASAP. After that, I left. It was a walk in, snap a picture, look for a minute, and move on to let the next person have their go sort of place.

The next stop was the Museum of Natural History. I went around, saw some more dinosaur, an impressive array of marine life, African Mammels, the people who started western civilization (from ancient Greece and Rome to Mesopotamia and Egypt), among other stuff. What I most liked was the star fish that was yanked outta the aquarium so people can see and hold it because he spends most of his day hiding.

There was also the Hope Diamon, 54.52 carat and blue and pretty. Said to be very rare.

My last stop was the National Archive. There I saw 3 very important documents in the REAL form – the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Awesome! They were fading and hard to read and put in a rather dark rotunda so the light won’t ruin them even more, but it was still very cool to be seeing the real copies.

Dinner was compiled of a Subway sandwich. Thing is, I left the hotel especially to get dinner. When I came back, the key to my room just would not work. Both my cards failed to open. I asked the front desk for help and they ask for an ID… Doh, left my passport inside the room! Nevertheless they sent a guy up with me but he couldn’t open it either with a new card so he got his supervisor who couldn’t open it with his master key. Finally they got a machine of sort to open it and concluded there’s something stuck inside the lock. Weird, it was working fine the past 4 days!

Other fun facts: I also watched “City of Ember” on TV, and realized I saw most of it at work at the cinema. I do have to mention the lead guy is a cutie.

Other pictures from today:
Washington DC, Day 4

Tomorrow starts at 3am waking up, 4am shuttle to the airport and 6:45am flight from Dulles airport to Dallas. From there another flight to Sacramento, CA. Phew! David Cook, you’d better put on quite a show….

Another hot, seriously freakin’ hot, day in Washington DC started with a very, very, VERY long line to get (free) tickets to the Washington Monument. After a very, very, VERY long wait in a line that reached great distances during which I listened in on a conversation of a farmer from Colombus, OH and a Japanese woman from PA about corn and tofu and also witnessed President Obama’s convoy zooming past us to much noise (many vehicles, including quite a few police cars and motorcycles), I got tickets to 11am. It’s a good thing I was alone, because the girl at the ticket booth had tickets left for 1pm-onwards, except for a few single tickets for earlier, one of which she gave me.

It was 9am and I had 2 hours to kill so I decided to visit President Lincoln and President Jefferson first. I headed by foot on a very long walk to the Lincoln memorial. En route I saw the White House, the World War 2 memorial and a bunch of geese that escaped the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln memorial and went seeking for food.

I also found the reflecting pool to be fascinating. It had 3 kinds of water birds in it and it was filthy as hell – as these movies where you see them jump into that pool (like Forrest Gump), the must’ve cleaned it beforehand because it’s full of feathers and bird poo. Nevertheless the geese and ducks and all were very cool – flying back to the pool and gracefully descending onto the water, and then diving for food in the water. Very cool.

The Lincoln memorial was awesome. There he was, Honest Abe, sitting on his thrown, gazing upon the fine nation he gave so much for. With words of wisedom etched in the walls around him and a marvelous marble palace to spend eternity immortalized in.

After visiting Lincoln, I went to visit Jefferson. Took forever to get there as I sort of gotten lost on the way. The plus side? I got a quiet walk around the Tidal Basin, I got to meet a lovely DC squirrel, I saw a Japanese pagonda among the cherry trees and I discovered the rather impressive Franklin D Roosevelt memorial en route.

I got to the Jefferson memorial at 9:40am so I literally took 2-3 minutes to snap some pictures and get outta there so I can get back to the Washington monument. I power-walked there in the hot boiling sun and somehow managed to get there on time without passing out. Impressive!

The Washington Monument greeted me with another long line, during which we were all entertained to a soundcheck for the free concert held tonight by the US Army Band. They started with the usual “Check 1,2. 1, 1, 1…” and went on to the soundchecking dude telling some kiddie story. I was too hot to compute half of it but it was very pleasant and I want a bit annoyed when he stopped midway to talk to the sound tech. Thankfully, he resumed where he left off later and finished the story.
We were finally let inside in groups of 10. After yet another wait (this time inside the monument in an air-conditioned room) for the elevators, we were lifted up 500 feet into the air to the top of the monument.The elevator ride took 70 seconds during which the park ranger explained some of the construction of the monument and how it stopped midway because of the war and lack of budget.

At the top, there were 8 windows – 2 in each direction – from which there was a great view at DC below, as well as a glimpse of Virginia and Maryland in the distance.

One flight of stairs below the top there was a small information center about the monument, from which we took the elevator back down. This time the park ranger stopped the elevator at certain points on the way down, showing us stores donated to the monument from the different states that are inside the monument. He also explained about the thickness of the walls and how in real windy days the monument actually sways and they have to close it to visitors.

After the Washington Monument it was time for lunch. I headed back into the American Histoy museum – the closest Smithsonian – as I figured these museums are my best bet at normal food in the area (outside there were only the shitty overpriced refreshment booths). During lunch I talked to mum on the phone some and after lunch, I headed to Arlington Cemetery.

I got slightly lost on the Metro and got off on the wrong stop so had to go back but eventually I got there. The cemetery was a short yet flaming hot walk from the Metro station so when I got there I went straight for the air-conditioned building, where I bought a ticket to the bus tour of the cemetery. The woman at the register complimented my stoned-Cookie-monster t-shirt and said she’d look for it online (told her I got it from London…)

The bus tour was nice. We stopped at John F Kennedy’s grave where his wife and 2 of his children are also buried. A little way away there was a simple white cross – the grave of John’s brother, Senator Robert Kennedy.

We also stopped at the grave of the unknown soldier to see the changing of the guards and at Arlington House that other than being in renovations and therefore uninteresting, had a great view from behind it of DC.

All in all, Arlington is kind of like Mount Herzel in Israel – a military cemetery where some of the nation’s finest are buried/commemorated.

After Arlington I got lost some more en route to Georgetown, which ended up being pretty boring so I hit the Barnes & Nobles there, bought Mugglenet.com’s “Harry Potter Should Have Died” and sat reading it at Starbucks at B&N. How very cool and American of me.

More observations about the Americans:
1. They’re as polite as the Brits, even when it’s not needed. I’ve yet to realize if thise politeness is genuine or hypocritcally fake.
2. The Washington DC Metro passengers prefer their newspapers to books.
3. USA Today is a boring newspaper that reports on a very narrow ray of subjects.

More pictures from today:
Washington DC, Day 3

I wrote this e-mail to my Mum just now. I decided not to send it to spare her the worry. But it felt good getting out there. I’m posting it because I think it’s an important piece in describing my journey through life in general and this trip in specific.

Hey Mum,
I miss you a lot too. For some reason, I’ve been feeling pretty down ever since I got back to the hotel today. I don’t know why, but I feel really bad, emotionally. Maybe you were right, it’s hard being alone for so long. I miss having someone to talk to. I realized this after I thought about how desperately I kept talking to you today despite the fact it really does cost me a pretty penny. I need someone to talk to, someone to share my experiences with. It gets really tiring being on my own all the time even though I usually don’t mind being on my own (I spend most of my days at home on my own, shut in my bed-room on the internet, after all)… Okay now I feel like crying. I need to stop thinking like that because I really am having a good time seeing all these amazing places and falling more and more in love with this wonderful country. Mind you, I only get to see the tourists’ side of the country, I’m sure it’s a lot less magical in the real world.
I also really miss Sharon. And I make sure to tell her this whenever I talk to her. I really do love that kid, I hope she knows this. I keep thinking about her and looking for Twilight things for her, taking pleasure in the thought of how much she’ll love having these stuff and how happy it’ll make her. Okay, now I’m really crying…. And I really shouldn’t be telling you all this… I mean it can’t be easy for you knowing your daughter is not happy and not being there to comfort her… I know, I know, I’m sorry for putting this burden on you. I’m really really sorry. I just needed to get it all out in writing. I might not send this e-mail. I mean, if you’re reading this, I did send this e-mail but as I type this, I contemplate not hitting the send button so basically if I don’t, I’m sitting here talking to myself. Which is alright, I guess.

Love,
Yaara

Day 2 in the great capital of this great nation started off with one of its more important buildings – the Capitol. All the tips I read about visiting the Capitol suggested I came early as it’s a first-come first-served basis. Now, let me tell you something about free first-come, first-served – as a rule, if you don’t get there early, don’t bother getting there.

On my way over I stopped by the Starbucks near my hotel (did I mention this hotel rocks?) and got a spinach wrap for breakfast. Now, I’m not big into spinach but that was the best thing I saw they had to offer and I was willing to eat and in any case Starbucks has a reputation of making anything taste great so I decided to put that to the test. Well, it tasted pretty good. I still don’t like spinach but I didn’t suffer eating it.

When I got to the Capitol, we were asked to empty our bags from any food or drinks that we had, so I did. The security lines went fast and while waiting in line for the tickets for the tour, ne of the tour guides came out and just started handing them out for a tour that was starting in two minutes, imagine that! I got in before people who had previously reserved a tour!
The tour started with a nice video about the building and it’s significance to the American people. That video, like many others that I’ve seen so far and will undoubtly continue seeing, protrayed America as a big, strong, noble country. Built on fine values of the highest of standards. All in all, a swell place to be. Ain’t America great? Well, they sure love spinning it that way whether it is or it’s not. However, they were preaching to the choir, I already happen to think America’s pretty great.
After the video we were divided into groups and taken on a short tour of the rotunda and another room. The nice guide explained about the architecture of the room and its decorations and the building of the Capitol, all extremly interesting and once again a lot was learned. For example, I didn’t know the British burned down the Capitol among many other buildings in the capital, and that it was rebuilt and then renovated and enhanced.
I also learned about the Senate and the House of Representatives, what is their jobs and why there are two different bodies and what are the differences between them.
Finally, I got to sit at the Senate gallery, where Senate gathers to debate those important issues. There were no debats today and no photography was allowed, but it was still mighty cool to be there.

After the Capitol, I headed back outside for the Library of Congress for the guided tour at 11:30am (I did my homework, I’ll tell you that). We were first shown a video of how great America is and how awesome the library is, and shown and told about the purpose of the library, what sort of things it holds within and how massive it actually is.
We were then once again divided to smaller groups and assigned guides. Our group’s guide was Phil and I lost him before the tour even started, so had to scramble around to find him and the rest of the group and missed some of the initial explanation.
Nevertheless I learned a lot about the books and other artifects in the library (everything that gets copyrighted in America – from books to maps and films, all is there), how to get books and the elaborate process it requires, a lot about the architecture of the magnificent buildings (DC has some pretty buildings, I’ll tell you that) and about the first printing and how it changed history.
I also saw the first map that ever had the word “America” written on it, one of 3 perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the books that started it all – Thomas Jefferson’s collection.

After the Library of Congress, I headed to the Supreme Court. I decided to approach lunch before touring the court so I can be more at ease. Got myself spaghetti and meat balls that I could not finish (but not because it wasn’t tastey) and some coca cola, and feasted on it while reading on the court from an information leaflet I got there. Afterwards I called home and talked to my mum and sister and then headed to visit the court.
Sadly, the court room was closed and the lectures that were supposed to be every hour on the half hour (see? Did my homework) were cancelled. So it was self-guided for me. The building itself looks magnificent from the inside and even more so from the outside. Once again, great architecture.
I saw a very interesting video there about (how American is great and) the court and the judicial system and how it works and tours the halls as much as possible – again, not a lot of it was open to public so there was not much to see.

My last stop for the day was the American History Museum. On the way over I met a nice man who helped me find my way even though I didn’t really need to, and told me he was collecting money for the homeless. He was so polite, so “God bless you” and so articulate and well spoken, that I easily believed him. He didn’t show any proof that he’s really collecting money for such a purpose but the fact he was willing to give me change from a 20 made me think that he’s legit. I don’t know if he is or isn’t, but I choose to believe I gave $5 to a good cause. If not, well, life’s too short. It’s only $5.

The museum was, as expected, massive. I started with the star spangled banner exhibit and saw the first American flag. Once again the entire exhibit was all about how great America is. Nevertheless it was very touching to learn the story of the first flag and as a result, the story of how the national anthem came to be.
After that I headed to the popular culture room and saw Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Kermit the frog, Ali’s boxing gloves, Oscar the grouch and other fun stuff.

This was followed by an interesting exhibit about Abraham Lincoln where I learned all about his life and presidency and assassination. This is a nice prologue to my encounter with his memorial statue tomorrow followed by the Ford theatre where he was assassinated on Wednesday.

After that I was too tired so I just skimmed briefly through the other exhibits, seeing an array of dresses that belongs to the first ladies over the years, learning about the presidents, those who died in office (8 died in office, 3 of them were assassinated. I didn’t know all that – I only knew of Lincoln and Kennedy’s assassination), and the White House. I even saw Bill Clinton’s saxophone. How awesome is that?

With hurting feet, I returned to Dupont Circle. I decided to look for a supermarket and buy some food/snacks but after a long wander around the area surrounding the circle I was made to conclude there isn’t one in the area. So I got a smoothie of sort at Starbucks, and some coca cola, Doritos (Nacho Cheese, yummy!) and M&M’s (2 for $2) and binged on them when I got back.

Another observation about Americans:
The have funny medication commercials. They’d advertise a medication of sort and go on to describing all its side effects and risks in a calm, soothing, matter-of-fact voice. Then they will expect people to run to their doctor and ask them to prescribe them. Heh. I’ve seen 2 of those already – one for some sort of viagara-like pills and one for anti-depressants. Why would anyone want to get those meds after watching those commercials is beyond my comprehension. Yet, I find this mildly amusing.

I’d like to conclude with five great things about America. Freedom, justice, America, and uh…what that last one? Right, Taco Bell. Thank you.

Photos from today:
Washington DC, Day 2