Tag Archives: north america

Blog, Travel

Wanderlust

I’ve been reading the magazine Wanderlust for a few years now. It’s a great magazine with interesting stories about places that are often well off the beaten path — my kind of travelling! A couple of months ago I took the unusual step of writing a letter. It came in two parts, a comment about my time in Cuba (in response to someone who said he couldn’t find any night-life) and a second, longer piece about my time in Gdansk, Poland (as a counter-point to their piece on long-weekends for less than ?100).

Of course they published the Cuba story but edited out the rest. I thought the Polish story was the best part so I reprint it here:

The second is a short story from a couple of years ago when I went to Gdansk. Kind of. The friend I was visiting was working in Warsaw and one of her colleagues told her that if we were visiting Gdansk we had to see Sopot which was just a little bit further up the coast. Sopot was their home town and, reportedly, well worth a visit.

Gdansk was lovely, we wandered around, my friend dragging me to many amber jewellery stores and, long story short, we were quite late leaving and heading up the coast. We were expecting a lot and were disappointed. I didn’t miss a word out there. It was the Polish version of Ayia Napa with late-teens running around in an advanced state of inebriation. We weren’t impressed and time was getting on so we didn’t have very much choice other than to stay the night. Unfortunately pretty much everywhere was fully booked.

In the end we got the last room in the worst hotel I’ve stay in for quite some time. It was some distance from town (we were also hungry by this time) and there was a big party going on in a field next door. An all nighter it turned out. Come 6am, tired and miserable, we decide to leave. If breakfast was anything like the shower, we wouldn’t have eaten anything anyway!

Still, it would take more than that to stop me travelling to new places…

Travel

California, 2006

Golden Gate BridgeHaving only ever been to the States once before 2006, it came as a bit of a surprise to find myself in California only a month after my trip to New York. To be fair, this one had been planned some time in advance. A good friend of my wife was getting married, so a good chunk of the week would be taken up with bridal activities. However we made sure that there would be enough time for some sight-seeing too, after all, this is where my wife grew up.

Knowing time was limited, we started pretty much as soon as the plane landed. We picked up the hire car and headed straight into San Francisco. Since we had to pass through on the way to Laffayette — where we were staying for most our time in California — it made sense to stop at a few sights.

Sign on Golden Gate BridgeFirst stop was Baker Beach, which provided a great view of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and my first glance of the Pacific Ocean. Later, when walking across the bridge we came across this sign encouraging people not to jump. Is it just me, or does that seem to be too little too late?

The day of the dress fitting, I spent some time hanging around downtown San Francisco. As an Apple and email junkie, it was necessary to spend some time in the Apple Store. (If you can’t go “high-tech” in the Bay Area where can you do it?) Later, away from the technology, we found the City Lights Bookstore, Fisherman’s Wharf, the seals on Pier 39 and many of the other things that The City is famous for.

San Francisco cable car operatorAlthough tragically touristy, I felt that I had to ride on one of the cable cars. One of the things that they don’t tell you about before-hand is that they pack you in almost as much as a London underground train. Unlike London Transport, however, the only thing stopping you falling into the street is your vice-like grip on poles on the tram. It’s not uncommon to breath in or clench buttocks in preparation for a collision with a car. The scrapes never actually happened but surely it must sometimes?

For the whole ride, from one end of San Francisco to the other, only takes twenty minutes or so. For the whole time the operator is pulling levers and tugging on a frayed string that rings a bell. It’s anyone’s guess what the levers actually do.

Napa ValleyAfter the wedding was over, we finally got some “us” time and headed north to the Napa Valley, the Californian wine region. We ended up spending most of the money we’d saved by staying in Lafayette the previous week by splashing out on a lovely spa-style hotel in Yountville and dining in a great French-style restaurant.

Only ninety minutes from the Bay Area, we got to the hotel fairly early, checked in and decided to take a look further down the valley. We headed further up the 29 and stopped off at the St Supery Winery for a quick drink. The staff were suitably enthusiastic — unimpressed with our choice of wine, he insisted we try a fifth variety — and the wine agreeable enough to warrant the purchase of a couple of bottles.

Lacking a “designated driver” we decided to steer clear of further wineries (as tempting as further tasting was). We turned off the main road and headed back in a lazy loop back to Yountville. The map we were using indicated a lake but had no suggestions how to actually get there. We guessed and were lucky. It was a nice, tranquil spot just metres from the main road.

The whole area clearly has pretensions to being Tuscany. The green and gently undulating country-side certainly helps in this and many buildings are built in the style. It’s quite surprising that it gets so close!

Sonoma MissionOur last full day in California was busy. Starting in Yountville we had to head back to the Bay Area and then further south to San Jose at the centre of Silicon Valley. Our last evening would be spent in the company of Madonna.

But we had to get there first and it only takes a couple of hours to get back to Oakland. We decided to stay up in the wine region for as long as possible but wanted to nip over to the Sonoma Valley which runs parallel to the more famous Napa Valley but also has its fair share of wineries.

Knowing that we weren’t in a hurry, we took our time, stopping off a few times on the way. A few times just to take the odd picture, once in Sonoma itself and finally for lunch at one of the wineries.

Grapes growing in a winerySonoma had a nice, shady square bordered by shops. We wandered around, stopping at the Sonoma Mission, learning about all the Christian missions that were built and stretched all the way from Mexico.

We eat lunch and head straight down to Oakland (it was inexplicably late afternoon by this point). After all the green and space, even if it was only for twenty-four hours, the dense traffic somehow managed to come as a shock to the system. Perhaps in-keeping with the relative chaos of the freeway, our last few hours in the country would be hectic. There was the Madonna concert and then a last chance to meet up with family. The whole time has gone in a flash.

Back home we collapsed. We covered a lot of ground in California and could happily do with another few days off to recover. No such luck of course. Still, the good news is that we’ll be back.

Travel

New York, 2006

The company where I (currently) work is always trying to get people to transfer over to the New York office. There are a number of personal reasons why I didn’t want to do that, however the main reason was always that it — basically — just didn’t appeal. It really didn’t seem to be very much different from London, where I currently live, but, well, more. So when I visited New York in April I was not expecting to like it very much.

As this was my first time in New York, and only my second in the United States, I was immediately drawn to the things that the place is famous for. Yellow taxis. The Empire State Building. The Statue of Liberty. Central Park. I managed to “do” them all, but not always on the first attempt!

The first time I went to the Battery Park pier for the Liberty Island ferry I found a long, snaking line of people and no shade from the sun. Not feeling like turning lobster-red for my wedding photos, I decided to postpone.

Typically the weather turned the day after making this decision. It got to the point that you could barely see statue from Manhattan and I was starting to think the trip might have to wait until my next time in New York. But on my last day the clouds and rain lifted enough to consider it. Even the crowds had evaporated.

For the short trip out, the boat was accompanied by the coast-guard. The memory of September 11th lives on. I just walked around the statue rather than going inside. You can’t go all the way to the top like you could previously — security again. Liberty looks more impressive In Real Life than it does in the pictures. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it has a poise and grace that doesn’t come across quite so well in photographs.

A ferry took me from Liberty to Ellis Island, which was home to US Immigration for many years. It was late so I only managed a quick look around. It was fascinating if only because my wife had been dealing with UK Immigration for most of the time I’ve known her!

I had a similar experience with the Empire State Building. I first got there and found a vast queue. I had to be at dinner in about ninety minutes. Unfortunately the staff said that there was a ninety minute wait just to get to the top!

The next week I came back and splashed out on an Express Pass. I felt like a celebrity walking past all the queues — sorry, since we’re in America, lines — to step into the lift.

The main difference between London and New York I found is that New York is much taller. I guess this is a fairly obvious observation, but the lack of sky was quite striking from ground level. From the top of the Empire State Building you can see it all laid out in front of you. Even nearly a century after it first opened there is little taller. Looking down, ‘little’ six or seven story buildings seem nearly as far away as the throngs of yellow taxis. South of here, the buildings are smaller — the ground-rock isn’t as solid — until near the tip of Manhattan where things get taller again, and where the twin towers used to stand. Facing north you realise just how big Central Park is.

I’m glad I did the Empire State near the end of my time in New York. It allowed me to make sense of the various bits of geography I’d come to vaguely know. Oh, so that’s next to that!

Not quite fitting in the theme of “failed visits,” I saw Times Square a few times at various times of day. On the way to my hotel I believe I passed through it without realising. I look back and wonder how that was possible. To be fair to myself, it does look very different at night. I had to wonder at the value of any particular company advertising there. There’s just so much neon that absolutely nothing stood out, although I was continually dazzled by the lights, the constant flow of pedestrians and traffic and the noise.

I’ve only really scratched the surface of what I saw on my first visit to New York, yet I only scratched the surface of what there is to see in New York. I liked the place much more than I thought I would. I’m sure I’ll be back.