km 13298

Well, what happened the last few days …

On Thursday I first went to the “Whirlpool”, which is a small pond-like bay of the Niagara river and then drove to Caroline’s house to meet her. I also got to know her mum, which talks german quite well and we had some nice conversation. In the evening Caroline introduced me to the TV series “Wonderfalls” which she had on DVD of which only 1 season was completed due to low audience on TV – actually it is a great show and I watched all 13 episodes while I was at Carolines place. Basically it’s about a 24-year old girl with a degree in philosophy which works in a gift shop in Niagara Falls. Someday some of the souvenirs start talking to her and giving her advice what to do … really funny!!!

Friday I went to the falls to see them @ daylight as well and Caroline gave me the advice to visit the flower gardens next to them, which was also quite nice … I spent the evening with watching Wonderfalls again Saturday I went to Niagara-on-the-lake where a wine-tasting was going on in all the wineries, also in 1 where Caroline worked. I tasted some great fruit and red wines and then had dinner @ a nice little restaurant in the town’s centre. I then drove back the Niagara Park Way to Niagara Falls, which was really nice as it started to snow …

Sunday I left at about noon and went towards Toronto thru Hamilton and Missisauga (6th and 9th largest cities of Canada, and nobody really knows them). I parked my car in the garage at Christina’s apartment and went downtown with the subway. I took a walk to CN tower and the harbour and listened to the last few minutes of worshipping at St. Andrews church downtown. Then I got back to Christina’s apartment to meet up with her and we then watched the Academy Awards and I was very happy that Slumdog Millionaire won the prize for best picture.

Next morning I got up early as Christina had to go to work and had no spare keys for the time I was there. That was probably the best that could happen to me as I got to see a beautiful sunrise with Toronto’s skyline in the picture. As the weather was very clear I went to the harbour again to shoot some nice pictures and walked to St. Lawrence market, which was closed unfortunately. I also explored “The Path” which is a shopping area in the underground of downtown Toronto. In the evening I watched the movie “He’s just not that into you” which was a nice pastime …

On Tuesday I again got up early and drove downtown to park my car next to the HI hostel where I would spend the last night. I had breakfast underground somewhere at the path and then went to the Hockey Hall-of-fame which was really cool. Especially because there’s also exhibits about Austria (yeah – there’s actually a sport except skiing where we are good at!!!). I also watched two short movies about the history of the world cup and the Stanley cup. In the evening I went to “The Rex”, a jazz & blues bar to listen to a jam session of 3 jazz-musicians (1 sax, 1 contrabass, 1 drum). Some of the jams where quite good, others just to “experimental” for my taste

I got up early again today to keep the costs for parking in the garage low and left Toronto at 7 a.m. towards Ottawa. I paused near Kingston for 2 hours and made a nap for some time there and finally arrived in Ottawa around 2.30 p.m. As far as I can say from now Ottawa is much more quite than the other cities I’ve been before (except St. Louis maybe), and it has a really nice & cosy touch. There is some rivers (some small, some a bit bigger) running thru the city, which are all frozen by now and people ice-skate thru the city – looks just awesome!

And in a couple of minutes I’ll go out with my host Stephanie and her friends to have some drinks and listen to some Blues somewhere

I wish you all the best at home and everywhere you are – be blessed!

greez,
Gergi

km 12585

Hurray and hello there at home

So, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to the last few days. The 2nd day I was in Chicago I went downtown with the (E)L – that’s how the call their metro, depending on if it’s the ELevated train or the Loop in downtown. I walked thru millenium park and passed by “the bean” which is a huge sculpture, originally named “Cloud Gate” for whatsoever (look at the 2nd and 20th picture in the Chicago-gallery). Yeaaah – there are new pictures online After that I went to the Field museum at the museum complex to see exhibitions about dinosaurs, the pacific islands, native americans and north-american plant-life. After that I went to see the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” which is just awesome!! In the end I got back to Julie and Keegan’s place at 11.30 p.m.

The next morning was probably the worst experience since I’m on my trip – except the lil’ car accident in L.A. I went to get my car out of a parking garage where I parked it for 2 days for $20 a day how I thought (would be expensive enough anyway). Well, the 20 bucks was just the price for half a day and I ended up paying $80!!! I then drove down to the museum complex again to go to Adler planetarium there. I parked the car and as I went off I realized that I had just locked my keys inside the car (((( I went to the parking lot attendant asking him to call somebody to unlock the car for me which cost me another $65 that morning – you can imagine what my mood was like …

I then went to the Adler planetarium, which was interesting, although not really amazing. I also spend the afternoon there in the café watching the Chicago skyline, cause it seemed to be impossible to get into the Shedd Aquarium where I wanted to go first. It later turned out that the reason why people queued in front of the aquarium was the free general admission. In the evening I went to my new hosts Erin and Lindsey (Keegan & Julie were just able to host me the first 2 days) and Erin cooked some awesome chili, while her neighbours Jim & Chris brought some delicious self-created avocado-bacon-cheese bits. After having had dinner and some “getting-to-know-each-other-a-little-bit” we went to the movies again and watched “the curious case of Benjamin Button” for $3!!! (way the best price this day) The movie was o.k. but honestly: if that movie beats “Slumdong Millionaire” for the “best movie Oscar” something’s entirely wrong with this world.

The next day I went downtown again and tried my luck at the Shedd Aquarium again, but the same as the day before: massive line-up. So I went to the Art Institute Chicago to see exhibitions about photography, “the Chicago plan” and Asian/European furniture between the 17th and 20th century, which was quite interesting. After having a snack at McDonald’s I went up Sears Tower to enjoy the great view from the 99th floor (unfortunately we couldn’t go to the skydeck on the 103rd floor). I then went back to Erin’s place to just hang out a little and when she got back from an evening with her friends (to which she had invited me, but I couldn’t find them in the bar she told me) we talked until 2 a.m. in the morning before we finally went to bed.

The next morning (Monday) I got up pretty early at 6.30 a.m. cause I decided to skip Detroit (couldn’t get a couch there) and go straight on to Niagara Falls. As I also would lose 1 hour thru entering the Atlantic time zone I had to get up that early and left at 7.15 (8.15 respectively). I then drove around lake Michigan thru Indiana and entered Michigan where I headed for Detroit. I crossed the border there around 2 p.m. and it was almost a feeling like coming home, being in Canada again. I just love that country!!!!

After having a nice sub just after border-crossing I continued my journey towards Niagara Falls. I went thru London Woodstock (not the famous one) and Hamilton (all pretty large cities in southern Ontario, but I’m sure most of you have never heard about them before, just like me) and came to Niagara Falls around 7 p.m. I went to the HI hostel, answered some mails and got to sleep after more than 850 kms and 11 hours of driving.

On Tuesday I went to 2 body shops to get estimates for the damage of my car to send them to my insurance. They said they would try to cash settle the damage, which means that I get money from them without them having to pay for the repair. I hope that works out. I spend the evening with cooking (I had fish) and just relaxing in the hostels common area, watching TV and playing pool. Today I got up very late and wrote some mails to my next few couchsurfing hosts. The only places I still need a couch are Boston, Phily and New York

After dinner I walked up to the falls where I got a little wet because of all the spray from the waterfalls in the air. There’s almost no tourists around although the falls are also amazing in wintertime. I shot some photos and then went back to watch the animation movie “Surf’s Up” followed by the overtime of the Montréal Canadiens playing the Washington Capitals. And tomorrow … well tomorrow I will meet my couchsurfing host here in Niagara, Caroline.

Wish you all the best at home and hope you go skiing a lot – I’m jealous – I want to go skiing now (((

greez & be blessed,
Gergi

km 11678

Hi again!

After leaving Omaha on Monday 9th I drove on for another 700 km to St. Louis on the border of Missouri & Illinois. I gave a call to Jamie (my host there) to give me directions to her place. She lives downtown with her husband Derril and another couple in a really cool apartment, which used to be a warehouse – so it’s got this nice high rooms with huge windows.

The first evening we went out for Sushi and hang out a little after that. On Tuesday I went to see downtown and took a ride up the Gateway Arch @ the Jefferson Memorial Park. It’s a symbol for the extension of the US to the west which began with president Jefferson around 1800. In the afternoon I went to the zoo (which is for free in St. Louis) with Jamie and her friend Andreanna, but the best was the evening again.

When we got back from the zoo Derryl and I went out to a NHL game of the St. Louis Blues. He got tickets for free and we were sitting in 4th row behind the goal which was just awesome!!! And we also got drinks and food for free – it was like in a dream. In the end the Blues lost 4:6 against Vancouver, but it was an incredible experience again.

On Wednesday I decided to have another walk through downtown and I went for a pool game with Derryl. In the evening Jamie and her friend Nana took me to Delmar Loop, which is supposed to be the nightlife area of St. Louis and we had some beer and chicken wings at Blueberry Hill there. The owner of that bar is owning half of the area around Delmar Loop and @ Blueberry Hill he’s got tons of photos with all kinds of celebrities (movie stars, musicians, entertainers, …) When we got back to Jamie’s place Derryl had cooked some awesome-tasting fish with really good sauces and pasta.

Today in the morning I left St. Louis and drove on to Chicago, which is I think the biggest metro I’ve ever been to. Downtown is huge and everything ist just big, big, big. I went to a poetry reading with my host Keegan and I’m looking forward to check out downtown tomorrow!

Hope you are all fine at home!
be blessed,
Gergi

km 10439

Quite some days passed by since my last blog entry. Sorry that it took so long Well, what did I do …

I left Page in Arizona on 25th of January and headed West again. I went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, which is a really impressive natural monument. I was really surprised when it started to snow there when I left. I drove on to the West the rest of the day until I gained 1 hour again when crossing the Hoover Dam at the Arizona/Nevada border. It was already dark when I got to Las Vegas and I checked in at the HI hostel on Las Vegas Boulevard. I stayed in a dorm room for 6 people there and at the end of the week it would turn out that I would have this room for me alone the entire stay. The first day in Vegas I spent walking along the strip checking out the locations of the different hotels & casinos. I also played for a couple of $s, but didn’t win anything – but I got a good story to tell:

Well, I’m standing at this Roulette table at the MGM Grand watching some others play when 1 women playing asks me: “give me a number quite one”. I just said: “no, better not” cause I didn’t want to be the 1 to blame if it was wrong. You have to know another thing: when I was driving the days before I was thinking about Vegas and the number 87 flashed thru my mind. As there is obviously no 87 at Roulette I thought: “hmmm, you can divide it by 3 and get 29”. I then watched the wheel spinning and the ball jumping and guess where it landed …

On Tuesday I met Grace and her brother Spencer in Vegas, who were there because Spence was invited to a contest there. Grace gave me a badge for the SIA (Snowsports Industries America) convention at the Mandalay Bay resort where the competiton was held. SIA can be compared to the ISPO in Munich and it was really cool to see all the new stuff that would be in stores for next winter.

On Wednesday I went out to see Hoover Dam at daylight. It’s a really impressive facility and I stayed there quite some time. In the evening I went to SIA again to watch some of the kids practise for the contest and have a look at some of the new stuff. Thursday I just spent on the strip again, walking around and taking lots of pictures. Spence’s competition was also that day and he finished 3rd. Friday Grace & Spence went back home and I used the day for a trip to Death Valley. It was a really nice drive there and a totally strange landscape to watch.

On Saturday I left from Las Vegas heading Northeast to Utah, which is a very diverse state with lots of different landscapes. I stayed in Moab for the night at the Lazy Lizard hostel, which is probably the cheapest hostel you will find anywhere. I paid $ 9.80 for the night and watched a really funny movie called “The Anchorman” with the other guys there. The next morning I got up before sunrise to go to Arches National Park to have a look at Delicate Arch and “The Windows” which are really awesome arches of rock. I would have liked to stay there longer but I had to continue my journey East towards Winter Park.

I drove along Colorado River and entered the state of the same name around noon. Entering Colorado was pretty much the spot where the road began to rise steadily to lead me up to the mountains where I passed the ski areas of Beaver Creek, Vail, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge and drove over 2 really high passes – one, the Vail pass approximately 3,200 m above sea-level and the other, Loveland pass, on almost 3,700 m. After those 2 I left interstate 70 and took another pass (more than 3,400 m) to Winter Park where I then followed Grace to her family’s house (she was also on the same road at that time), which is in the forest outside of Winter Park – it’s beautiful there.

I had a very warm welcome and got to know Grace’s other 2 siblings, Charles and Elizabeth, her mom Jane and lots of other people from the Torchbearer’s bible school there. I also met Birgit (Krömer), who works with the bible school here until April. As I arrived Super Bowl 43 was just starting and we all watched it together while having lots of really good junk food  I also talked to Birgit quite a while and it was really good to talk with someone of my own dialect again.

I used Monday to sleep really long and just chill out and didn’t really do much except talking a little bit with the Keirnes’. Tuesday, well Tuesday I went skiing  which was really awesome. We went over to the village of Winter Park (which is on 2,700 m) and I went skiing all day and also watching Spence, Charles and their friend Alex shredding the Park. They are all really good and I was really amazed by another friend of theirs, which is just 8 years old and does 9’s and 10’s on the kickers and already got a sponsorship by K2. I also got the chance to hit a powder line down from North Cone which is actually the highest spot I’ve ever been to with its 12,060 feet (3,676 m). In the evening we went to a really good Pizza place, which was the perfect ending for an awesome day. Wednesday I went skiing again all day long with a hand-written lift ticket  (there was a blackout on the ski hill and the lifts were running on generator in the beginning). In the evening Grace’s mom Jane cooked a really awesome chicken with parmesan and spaghetti and we had a look at some photos.

Thursday the 5th I went down to Colorado Springs and Denver. I first went to “the Springs”  and took a walk in the “Garden of the Gods” there, which is a really nice recreation area. After that I drove back up to the “mile high” Denver and took a walk around downtown which is really nice. But it’s really sad that there are lots of homeless people in the city. After visiting Denver I went back up to Winter Park and Jane, the boys and I went for dinner @ Smoking Moe’s where I had some Colorado Oysters .

Friday I went skiing again in Winter Park and hit some new runs I had not done before and I watched a ski race which was held there. And now the best part: I met Martin there, the brother of my friend Marc. Martin is coach at the university of New Mexico and was there with the university’s team for the competition. I took a lift-ride with him and we chatted a little. In the evening Grace came up from Greeley for the weekend and we watched the movie “Eagle Eye”, which is basically a Matrix/Terminator-style “machine-vs-man” story in a new dress, but still was quite good. Saturday I hit the mountain together with Grace and I started to prepare for leaving towards Omaha on Sunday.

And well there I am right now, in the mid-west in Omaha, Nebraska after a 980-km drive sitting in Ted’s apartment. Ted is an awesome, close-to-nature guy originally from Montana and he cooked Elk today for me It was really great meeting him here!

So that is it for the past 2 weeks! Wish you all the best, whoever you read this and wherever you are!!
Be blessed,
Gergi