Monthly Archives: May 2009

the beatles ‘love’

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We went to Las Vegas last weekend to see The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil. It was unreal, like the best show I have ever seen. The sets were amazing and the show was all based upon a blended Beatles megamix: absolutely extraordinary. I couldn’t take any photos as they weren’t allowed.

Beatles Love

Beatles Love 2

The rest of Las Vegas was pretty really crap. It’s like a huge version of Surfers Paradise where every second person is drunk and at their worst. After seeing the show I couldn’t wait to get outta there and onto NYC.

fritz scholder

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We saw a Fritz Scholder exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York City this morning.

Fritz Scholder

A couple of his quotes were quite neat:

“You must walk that tightrope between accident and discipline. Accident by itself…so what? Discipline by itself is boring. By walking that tightrope and putting down something on a canvas…coming from your guts, you have a chance of making marks that … will live longer than you.”

“I give thanks every day that I’ve been able to take my craziness and make it work for me.”

golden gate bridge

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I caught a 49 Muni bus out to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across it. It’s really cool, up there with the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The bridge is the most popular place to commit suicide in the USA, and it is apparent by the signage. The proposed suicide nets haven’t been installed yet though, due to cost and public response.

the rock

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We caught the ferry across to Alcatraz Island yesterday. It was really good, especially because it was such a nice day and the island offers great views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We did an audio tour of the actual jail house which was very interesting as it told the stories of those who tried to, and did, escape.

Kitty was also impressed but she didn’t think the prison was as eery as others she’s toured where executions have taken place, Alcatraz wasn’t a place of execution.

The architecture and gardens were a highlight. What I found interesting was the island is true to its name and originally just a rock, no soil. Soil was bought across to create gardens when the prison was built.

san francisco so far

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We’ve had a great couple of days so far in San Francisco. The weather is crap, but we have managed to enjoy ourselves anyhow.

We’re definitely trying to go to Alcatraz tomorrow and hopefully we’ll walk the Golden Gate Bridge sometime soon.

Photos, as usual, by Kitty.

take a jumbo, across the water, like to see america

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So we are in the USA. The flight was long and the V Australia service was pretty crap, I guess you get what you pay for.

We’ve been in San Francisco for a couple of days now. It’s nice, but not what I expected. It’s quite dirty and there is a huge homeless population that you really notice.

chinatown-san-francisco

We’ve had trouble finding somewhere nice yet affordable to eat. American food is weird to us. We found a nice Shanghai place called the ‘House of Nanking’ near Chinatown which was enjoyable.

house-of-nanking

The bill came to USD$52 including tax (9.5%) and tip (15%). Nowhere near as cheap as Australia!

We’re planning on doing some more full on sightseeing over the next few days including Alcatraz. Should be fun.