Hey Guys
How did your week go? Mine was full of werk werk werk ! Finally I got some time off to write this second post of my travel series from America. I love writing personal posts on the blog that kinda makes me feel connected to you all, and your lovely messages on Snapchat and Instagram completely make my day. Thank you so much for the love on the previous post Road Tripping To Monterey . I am so excited to share my second post in the series American Travelogue : The City Trails. So after spending 3 days offshore and in the outskirts of the country. Now I headed to the most exciting part of my trip. I visited4 major cities of the west coast starting from San Francisco > Los Angeles > San Diego > Las Vegas > The Grand Canyon. San Francisco has become one of my favourite cities in the world. The up and down hill roads with rows of beautifully painted victorian villas on the sides will make you fall in love with them. Instead of going the touristy way exploring through cabs, we decided to explore the city on foot and by trams with the help of handy maps. Yes, the steep hilly roads took our breaths away ( like literally 😛 ) Exploring the various downtowns, my favorite was the hippy street ‘Haight Ashbury’ filled with amazing street art and some high-end boutiques as well as thrift stores. Post some thrift shopping experience we headed to have Cuban food at an amazing local restaurant ‘ Cha Cha Cha’. A few blocks away we headed to check out the famous 4, Beautiful Painted Ladies, yea those are the million dollar houses that make a major tourist destination, can’t say the owners of those houses are lucky with the uncalled celebrity status or tortured every day with thousands of people outside their house :P. Next day we covered the Union Street, the Cannought Place of San Francisco where I finally found a Zara Store, god it is so difficult to find one in the US unlike India in every mall. Then we headed to Chinatown and The famous Criss Cross Lombard Street and finally The Golden Gate Bridge to watch the sunset. We drove down to the sunset point and to our surprise we again spotted whales in the ocean.
China Town
Los Angeles
We stayed in Los Angeles for 3 days, this city is completely different from all the other cities in the US. The vibe is so energetic, but the temperature will make you melt, it reminded me of the Delhi heat. But as you head towards the beach the wind starts to get colder and the fun environment at the Santa Monica pier and Venice Beach will make you forget about the heat. LA is full of amazing street and artists, every corner of the city is so artistic in its own way. Next day we visited the Universal Studios, my most memorable part of the trip. And did I mention The World of Harry Potter inside the Universal Studios is the best place on earth to be. The Harry Potter ride was one of the craziest 3D roller coaster ride I have ever sat on, do no miss this if you are visiting LA. We sipped on butter beer and strolled around the exact replica of potter town while shopping for some Potter World baubles and souveniers. Later we experienced the other wonderful rides in the Studio and comenced our day with a tour of the Original Universal Studios where all the film shooting is done. On the 3rd day we headed to the Hollywood Walk of fame and drove through the famous Beverly Hills where I secretly wished to bump into a celebrity, haha.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, LA
BEVERLY HILLS & RODEO DRIVE
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
SAN DIEGO
I personally declare San Diego as the most gorgeous city in the US, each and every house has it’s own story to tell. The people are so humble with such positive vibes. This city has the best of both worlds, the quaintness of a small town clubbed with the urban city vibes which included amazing cafes and boutiques. Next day we visited the San Diego Sea World where I saw a Polar Bear for the first time, yay yy ! along with some sea beasts like the Killer Whale. Though I am not a supporter of keeping and breeding animal and fishes in captivity, but here they informed us that most of the animal are rescued taken care of properly. Which gave me a sign of relief and happiness off course The ext day we headed to the San Diego Zoo which is considered to be one of the best zoos in the world and it truly stood up to its name. Our San Diego journey ended with a good walk along the La Cove Beach and watching seals and sea lions chilling on the shore.
Las Vegas & The Grand Canyon
Welcome to the Paradise, yes that’s how they welcome you inside the hotel referring to the party capital . Though the temperature was burning outside the real paradise was o the hotels. We almost spent all our 3 days and nights hopping from one casino to the other. I surprisingly became a pro a the Black Jack table :P. Post some splurge at the casino we headed for the Martin Garrix show at the famous Omnia Club. That ambience inside was full of madness but worth experiencing. The next day we woke up early morning( which was a task considering to the last night madness) We headed off to visit The Grand Canyon and the Hoover Bridge. After a long drive on the iconic Route 66 Highway we reached our first spot, the view was breathtaking and the long drive was worth it. Hover Bridge reminded of so many Hollywood movies in which it has been a part of. Next stop was the Grand Canyon, after a 5-hour long drive we reached the natural wonder of the earth which was freaking huge. We then took a helicopter ride to cover the massive canyon from the top. The ride was breathtaking and scary at the same time, but worth it. After a long day, we returned to our hotels all tired and drenched. But since it was our last night in Vegas we wanted to make the most of it and headed off to the casinos 😛
Hope you enjoyed my visual journey from my last trip to the US. Those of you who were connected with me on snapchat while I was in US could have related more closely 😉 I will be sharing my final blog post of the trip with you guys very soon.
Till then, Stay Curious
Love
CC Shivi :*