A little slice of home - in the Big apple

Hey Ho, It's 12.44am here right now, so I might have to keep this blog short, as I'm pretty knackered, and need to check out of this hotel in the morning, and check into the Yotel around the corner.   Today was great though, a bunch of fantastic people just got into town, and it was fantastic to see everyone.  So I spoke with Elwood and arranged to meet him outside Tiffany's this morning.  While waiting, Paul and Janine turned up, and the LEzmond and Jodi came wandering along.  That makes 5, soon after Michelle and Jeremy arrived on the scene.  We then went to FAO Shwartz to meet some more people at the big piano.  Jussie turned up next, and it was great to see her - by now we were all fizzing out on seeing each other, and catching up on what has been happening and how peoples flights etc were.  Then Steve and Cyan arrived, along with Cyans brother Emery and her sister Lyla. That makes 12!! How cool to be with so many great people from back home.  We went and found a bar for beers and a spot of lunch.  We then went over to one of the entrances to central park, and got a passer by to take a bunch of photo's for us.

We then broke back into a few sub groups, as it is crazy to try and mission around in such a good group.  Time for the bridal party to go and sort out a few final touches to our plans for wedding attire.  We spent the afternoon shopping and missioning around.  As part of this we went to Union Square, it was the first time I had been down there, and it was really cool, I think I will try and get back down there, before we go.
Now I thought New York was busy during the week, but Saturdays are even more full on, or better, or something ha ha.   I then left the group and went and met my parents for dinner.  We went to this really nice Italian restaurant which was delicious.  Then Rob Joan and I made it down to the theatre to see Jersey Boys.   I really enjoyed it.  It is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and was a great story with awesome tunes.  You know the ones "Oh What a night" "Sherry" "My Eyes Adore you" "Walk like a man" "Big Girl's don't cry" and the list of hits just keep coming and coming.  Musicals are fantastic, the fact that it is all happening live in front of you is awesome, the musicians, actors, sets, its all mind blowing, and every show I have been to has had a WOW moment in one form or another - actually usually there are heaps of WOW moments.  Rob and Joan asked me which show has been my favorite, and in all honesty, I can not pick one.  They were all very good for different reason's, whether it be funny, moving, educational, etc.   Again, I have to say I am a very lucky man, and I am very thankful to my family for taking me to so many fabulous shows.  Next week Jussie and I are going to go to "Sister act" so that will be five shows during my trip here - that's pretty good going.   After the show I went and meet Steve, Cyan, Lezmond and Jodi at Steve's hotel bar, and smashed back a late night Makers Mark.  We then all went for a wander down to Times Square.  We checked out M&M world, and the Swatch store.  So crazy to be able to be shopping at midnight, and every store is seriously packed.  The city that never sleeps!  We then parted ways and made plans for meeting up tomorrow.  Rowan, Jodi, Jussie and I are going to go to a Yankees game tomorrow night, which should be great fun.  Mad Love one and all.
Mizzle.

Me and my Boys!!!!!!

Circumnavagating Manhatten

This morning we went for breakfast as usual in the hotel.  I was going to get up early, as 'Journey' were playing a free live show outside the filming of the Today show.  I decided it would probably be packed and I'm really glad I didn't do it now - people were queuing from 2.30am to get into the area where they filmed it.  Also they have a new lead singer now - so it's not quite the same.  I ended up watching the performance on TV anyway.  Rob and I then went down to the wharf to get the Circle Line ferry.  It is a three hour tour that takes you right around the Island of Manhattan, it's really cool, and I totally recommend it.  You get really close to the Statue of Liberty, and get a feel for the size of the Island, which is incidentally 13 miles long and 2 miles wide.  There is an amazing amount of people, buildings etc in such a compact area - it's quite incredible.

It was a little overcast - but still really warm, so it was a good time to go and tick that off the list.  When we got back Rob made us some lunch in the hotel room, we had some delicious meatballs and salad, which set us all up for the afternoon.  R & J then went back to the Apple store, to continue to sort out the transfer of files etc from one computer to another.  I was going to go to Madison Square gardens but they are closed while they renovate, so instead I went to the 'Top of the Rock' (Observation deck at the Rockefeller centre) It was cool, there were no cues so I was able to go straight up,  There was still a little cloud around so it wasn't as clear as it could have been but the conditions improved while I was up there.  It's cool when you get into the elevator, as it all looks normal, and then the roof to the lift becomes clear and you can see straight up the lift shaft, which they colour with flashing lights and stuff.

(Again - LOTS more photos on facebook, if you want to see more of the view).  After that, I thought I would go over and find the subway grate, famous for blowing up the dress of Marilyn Monroe in the picture everyone knows. I found the corner the picture was taken on, and took a photo of the subway grate - but there was nothing to show that, that is where it occurred.  I expected a plaque or something?? I then walked up to the Trump Tower to check it out and take a photo, before walking back to the Hotel.  On the way I noticed that one of the big screens in times square was showing live footage of people on the square, so I took a few photos there and waved and yahoo'd it was classic.  Here is a little game for you; Where's Mizzle???

Once back at the hotel I made contact with Steve and Cyan, we arranged to met in the bar in the hotel foyer, Cyans brother and sister, were also there, and Michelle and Jeremy met us as well.  So it was cool catching up with everyone.  Especially great to see Steve & Cyan, as they are the reason we are here, and I love them so much. 

I had to mission off though, as I needed to go and meet Rob and Joan at the 'Book of Mormon' just as I left there was an epic rain storm, probably the heaviest rain i have been in, in a long time, it was intense!!  My clothes got absolutely soaked. Here I am looking like a drowned rat, right outside the theatre - then the rain bloody stopped!  When I say soaked, I mean SOAKED.

So there was no way I could go to the show like that, I had to buy a 'Book Of Mormon" T-shirt from the merchandise stand, before going in.  I then went and got changed in the restroom.
The 'Book of Mormon' was so, so funny.  What a great show.  It really had that South Park sense of humour, if you get a chance to see it - you definitely should.  My stepmother (who is a legend) bought tickets earlier in the year, before the show had even had it's first performance.  Since then it has won 9 Tony Awards, and is currently sold out in New York until April 2012.   I was so lucky to be able to see it, and I really loved it.  My Dad bought a T-shirt as well, and the CD of the show, so I have been able to load that on to my itunes as well.  Heaps of fun.  After the show we were going to go for dinner, Rob and Joan found a nice Thai place, but my boxer shorts were still soaked from the earlier rain shower, so I decided to pass on dinner, and come back to the hotel to get changed and hang up my wet shirt to dry,  I was going to meet Steve, but we decided to rain check until the morning.  So I uploaded some photo's and then went down to get some pizza before returning home to write the blog.   While out for pizza, a fight broke out right in front of me - I have no idea why, but these guys were absolutely wailing on each other.  It was intense, heaps of people starting chanting "Fight, fight" (like a school yard dispute) and all these phones came out - not to call the cops..... everyone just starting filming it and taking photo's! I didn't have my phone or camera, so I could not get involved either way, although I did stand a way back from the crowd, and watched it go down for a while.  It's Friday night in New York, and i don't know if that's an indication of more to come or not, but I got my pizza, and missioned back home to write this.  I must say however, that my impressions of New Yorkians, was very wrong.  I imagined aggression, people in a hurry, people being rude and not giving you the time of day, but i couldn't be more wrong.  The people here are awesome.  They are really helpful and courteous on the most part.  I have been really impressed with the people I have met, and even the people i have just stood back and observed. 
You gotta love New York, and I really do!!

Hakuna Matata

Well Steve Job's has done well out of my family during this trip.  Since buying my ipad my Dad has brought one and my step mother has brought a new Mac Book Air, so to start the day, I became the family IT support network. 

We checked out the Apple store for quite some time, the store is amazing and the staff are fantastic, such good support and advice, it's really cool.  My step mother had to go and pick up her laptop so that could transfer all her data over for her, So Rob and I went for a stroll around central park, we really only did the far end as we wanted to stay around the same area, and meet back up with Joan to help her during the final stages of her purchase.  We walked to Strawberry Fields and checked out the memorial for John Lennon.  Rob and i hang around the edges of a tour party to get in on a bit of the local knowledge around it.  Turns out John Lennon was shot outside his apartment (as we all know) he was taken to hospital and after they tried to restart his heart he was pronounced dead.  Laying in the room next to him was a TV producer who had had a bike accident or something and he overheard that Lennon had died.  He rang his TV company with the scoop (or the 'skinny' as they call it in these parts).  It was a Monday night and in America Monday nights are big football nights.  They broke the news for the first time, during a broadcast of one of these football games.  Fairly out of it piece of trivia right there.  Anyway's we missioned back to the Apple store, and met Joan.  After all that was sorted we went to FAO Shawrtz as it is right behind the Apple store, and I wanted to see the Big floor piano, as that is the rendezvous point at midday on Saturday, when a bunch of the kiwi crew hit town.   Rob and Joan had never heard of the piano - or seen the movie BIG, so they had no idea what I was talking about - which I was surprised by.

We then went for a spot of lunch, and I ordered a Philly Cheese Steak, which was pretty bloody good to be honest.  After lunch Joan continued to shop and Rob and I took a subway train out to Coney Island.  It took about an hour to get out there, but it was worth the trip.  There was a really big Boulevard along the beach front and heaps of people out sunbathing and swimming.   There are also heaps of old school rides, and a Hot Dog stand called Nathan's.  This is where they have the Hot dog eating championship every year, which is a massive event these days.   They have been making Hot dogs since 1916, and are a pretty massive chain these days.

They have the stats on who won each year and how many dogs they managed to eat in 10 minutes.  It started back in 1988 When Jay Green smashed back 13 hot dogs.  The new champion is called Joey Chestnut and in 2009 he wolfed down 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, which is a hot dog every 10 seconds or so - bun and all.  How crazy is that!!! Anyway we decided we better try one of these dogs, So Rob and I did a taste test - they were actually really good.

So we hung out at the beach for a while then jumped back on the Subway into the city.  Once back we mucked around on various bits of technology for a while, then went down to the Hotel dining area for two hours of free drinks and snacks.  Following that we headed to the theatre to watch the Lion King!!!!!

What an incredible production...... Now, I Love the Lion King, I always have, I have probably seen the movie at least 20 times, I have the soundtrack, the works.  So I was really excited to see it on stage, and I was not disappointed.  It was mind blowingly good.  Incredible costumes, awesome music and some amazing special effects and production.  We were 6 rows from the stage, and it couldn't have been more perfect.  If you ever get a chance to see it, I recommend it, especially if you can see it in New York!! It was a sold out 1700 pax theatre, and the crowd gave the performers a standing ovation at the end.  FANTASTIC!  So that's another blog under my belt for the day, I am feeling really exhausted due to having about 10 -12 hours sleep over the last 48 hours.  Its just hit midnight here, and I am going to crash out big time!!  Me and Rob are going on a three hour ferry tour in the morning which goes around the whole island of Manhattan, so that's exciting, then tomorrow evening we are going to "The Book of Mormon' which is the hot ticket in town at the moment.  It is the new musical from the writers of South Park.  It won 9 Tony awards this year - and has been sold out ever since.  So that should be great fun.  Steve and Cyan are driving down to New York tomorrow, and Jussie, Lezmond, Jodi, and Nell, all arrive into town around midnight, so I am looking forward to catching up with the crew on Saturday.   So sweet dreams, take care one and all, and say hi to your Mum for me.

Mizzle :-)

New York, New York, big city of dreams!

I *heart* New York!! Due to the slight difference in time zone and the fact that I am so excited about being here, I ended up going to sleep sometime around 1.30am.  I was awake by 5.00am, tried to catch a few more z's but by 6am I couldn't take it anymore and had to get amongst it.  I got up and took a shower and then knocked on R & J's door.  I think they were a little surprised to see me up so early too, but they were totally keen to seize the day, so we all rocked down for breakfast at the hotel.  Here we discussed plans for the day, and Joan and I decided we should knock off the outlet store (for a variety of reasons that all made perfect sense).  So we went to get a return bus ticket to an outlet store in an area called Woodbury Common , It was about an hour bus drive out of New York, and it was cool to check out the country side on the way over.   It was just me and Joan, Rob decided he didn't need to shop today and so he went to the apple store (Which is open 24 hours a day here) and got himself a new ipad, and went on his own missions around Manhattan.  Now those of you that know me well, will know that I am not the greatest of shoppers at the best of times - but today............ I shopped my face off.  I mean I shopped like I have never shopped before, lets call it shopping with wild abandon!

Here is a photo of my purchases after about 2 hours.  I met up with Joan at lunch time - and I had to pull the pin on myself.  We decided that Joan would continue to shop and I would take the 1.30pm bus back into Manhattan, so we enjoyed a nice lunch together and went our separate ways, this is when I noticed I had not been to the Addidas store yet, and couldn't help myself.  So I went and made another purchase and caught the 2.10pm bus back instead.  Now as I mentioned earlier I had had about 5 hours sleep at most, and so when I got on the bus and it started moving - like a toddler being driven around the block by it's mother to get some respite - I was asleep in 2 minutes max.  I woke myself occasionally with the old drooping head buzz, but all in all I was crashed out HARD.   I woke when we got back in the city, and went up to the hotel to drop off my purchases, have a shower and get into some new gears.  I then went to Rob's room to see if he was around, and he and I went for a bit of a walk.  We went to check out the hotel that I am staying in from Sunday to Wednesday next week, which is a crazy place - but their will be more on that when I get there, so i will save that story for later.   By now I was in text communication with two of my favourite people on the planet, and arranged to meet them on a street corner.

We then cruised down to my hotel, as they have free drinks and snacks from 5 -7pm on certain nights.

Great time spent over drinks sharing travel stories, then we split our different ways, R & J and I made our way to the theatre to see Avenue Q, and Jeremy and Michelle went to see Billy Bragg performing a free gig.   Avenue Q was awesome, so cool going to see live theatre in New York city, it was a great production and I absolutely loved it - I am so so lucky, and thankful to my folks for sharing it with me (I have four more Broadway shows to go to over the next few nights!) We then went to go and get a spot of dinner, but just before ordering I received a text from Jeremy suggesting a nightcap, so I excused my self, and went on a mission to go and meet them. We went to a nice Irish bar that will probably end up being our default setting for when we get stuck for things to do - or need to reassess what to do next. 

It's such a special feeling when travelling to not only be able to hang out with your family, but also have special friends in town, so we spent a few hours enjoying the atmosphere, and vibing off each others energy, and the energy that the city that never sleeps provides.  Now, I am back at the hotel, it's 1.30am local time, and chances are I will be back up again in a few hours (I can catch up with sleep some other time - this place keeps you rocking like the energizer bunny).

Once again, I will post a bunch more photo's on my facebook page.   Thanks for having a read.  Tomorrow the plan is to check out Central Park with Rob, which will be great.  Then watching the Lion King in the evening, which I am incredibly excited about.  

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]
 Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]
Ingonyama
 Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabaal [It's a lion and a tiger]
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (Se-to-kwa!)
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (Asana)

Take care one and all, much love,

Dan x x

P.S: I bought lots of things today, Bought with no R, cause that would be brought - which is much different - thanks Joan, Love Ya x x

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

WOW, ............... I mean WOW!!! This city is incredible!

So I had an early start today, 6.30am pick up from the hostel at San Fran, it has been a long day of travelling. took five hours to fly to New York, then I had a bit of a muck around waiting for the super shuttle, and it was quite a long trip into town during rush hour which took a couple of hours, so all up it was a good 10 hours of travel.  Also you gotta add 3 hours cause of the time difference.  Anyway - who cares about that - I'm here now, and it was more than worth the wait.  New York has been my dream destination for at least twenty years - and I have finally made it.  Here are the first couple of guys that took my interest at the airport.

Totally cliche I know - but you gotta love it!!  The first thing to hit ya is the heat - its crazy hot here right now,  Thick heavy heat, but its great, will be interesting to see how I hold up during the day tomorrow, cause it must be stonking hot at midday. Anyway, made it into the city and got dropped off down the road from the hotel, I walked down and went up to Rob & Joans room. It was fantastic to see them, and they managed to get my room moved and effectively upgraded so I am staying in style right now which is primo.  Got a little kitchen, a bath, a TV with a ridiculous amount of channels, and a desk for writing my blog, which beats the hell out of writing it on your knees on the bed.  The picture above is the view of the Empire State building from my hotel room.  At the end of the block is the New York Times building, and right round the corner is times square, so its a great location.

So yeah, I got here around 7.30pm and caught up with R & J, and we went for a walk and some dinner.  San Fran was a complete contrast to this place, in San Fran my eyes were bugging out of my head, in NY my eyes are bugging out and my mouth is dragging on the ground.  Its just so awesome here, Bright lights big city.  Its incredible - I don't know how else to portray how fantastic it is. 

So we walked a couple of blocks around time square, and booked in to have dinner at Bubba Gumps shrimp restaurant, there was a bit of a wait so we continued walking with the plan to head back a little later.  Then the heavens just opened, heavy heavy rain, bucketing in, and people were running all over the place to find cover. (Still really hot though), so we walked back to Bubba's for shelter, turns out so did heaps of people.  Quite hard case to see all these people running into stores for shelter. So after a short wait, we got a table, and had a nice dinner.  We then wandered down another block back to the hotel.  The rest of my evening tonight will be reading up about what I want to do over the next few days and having a bath.  I want to get to sleep fairly early so I can get up in the morning and seize the day.  The next four nights are going to be filled with Broadway shows, which is going to be choice as.   I am feeling on top of the world right now, and I am totally rapt to be here.  Not a lot to report in today's blog due to all the travelling, but there will be lots more over the next week or so - you can be sure of that.  Its currently 11.23pm local time and its still gotta be 30 something degrees, so thank god for Hotel air con.  Stay well everyone, much love coming at ya from D Miz - Live in New York BABY!!!



Rain bucketing down


 



San Fran - Been there, done that, brought a t-shirt, tick it off

O.K, when your on the travel buzz, you just seem to get up and go, well that's how I find it anyway, I mean why would you lie around all day, when you have an amazing city to go and enjoy. So even though I had a crazy sleep, and crazy dreams, I knew I had to go and seize the day, therefore I woke up with gusto and hit the road. It was a fairly overcast morning, as i left the hostel, but that was cool, a nice relief from burning sunshine.  I wondered down the road and jumped on a bus to take me to china town.  I then proceeded to climb this hill on the way to 'Lombard street'.  In hindsight, I tackled this at the best time of the day, because it got much hotter as the day went on.   also............ it's a street, sure its the the crookedest road in the world (Bar Wall Street :-)) but at the end of the day -

It's probably one of the most famous streets in the world - So ................. check it off the list of sights to see.  (All I could think of was the Tony Hawk skate boarding game - and I would seriously nail those rail slides!) I then wandered down to Fisherman's wharf, it was a good time to check it out, last time when I was there it was midday on a Saturday, this time it was early Monday morning, heaps more space to actually suck it all up.

I strolled around at the wharf for a while, and then I went to a restaurant to get a clam chowder bread bowl, you gotta do it I guess, and to be honest it was pretty god damn amazing. I then decided that to top off the San Fran experience, I should get the cable car/tram back to the city. 

Its a good ride, the trams are crazy due to the nature of the landscape, and sometimes it feels like the whole car will just ride away, there are a couple of guys on the brake mechanism and you can smell the brakes as they are applied. (Also there were all these hard out Harley Davidson enthusiasts from Canada, so I was imagining they were the Canadian chapter of the Son's from Anarchy) Anyway,  On my way back to the hostel I came across a little boutique T-shirt store, I was having a look around and became intrigued about the tune that was on, turned out it was a hip hop crew that the salesman knew and he was watching it on YouTube so I asked if i could hang out and watch it.  We got chatting and I ended up showing him the GND videos, which he really enjoyed.  I ended up back in the city, and came back to the hostel for a shower. 

Back at the hostel I organised my shuttle to the airport in the morning (6.30am) and also my pick up in New York. 

OK, transport sorted. 

I had a couple of beers in my room and then ventured back down town, I ended up in a bar and met some interesting people.  First of all I chatted to a guy from Phoenix for a while, he was right into basketball so we chatted about the NBA for ages.  He had to go and catch a flight, so I started chatting to a couple from Chicago (Well that area anyway ).  I ended up being in the bar for a good four hours or so, and they were lovely, they brought me heaps of beers and shots and we had some really good conversations.  He was 64 years old and a Vietnam veteran and she was a financial advisor. Great people, and it was cool to be able to have a good chat with some folk. I then came back to the hostel, changed again and went out to get some dinner.  

and so here I am, Bags are packed ready to roll out in the morning, and everything is tickidy-boo.

This blog is lacking in some crucial detail - but to be honest, I am struggling to even get this report in. Never the less, San Fran has been a blast, I totally recommend it to anyone who is thinking of coming out this way.  Its a cool place, with some really friendly people.

Random observations: Lots of people walking dogs, and the traffic is amazing, they are so polite, and wave you thru most intersections.

Again ............... more photos posted on facebook and much love Whanau.

This is a fairly drunken D-Miz signing out, from San Francisco, big flight to NY tomorrow and I am really excited about seeing everyone.

Much Love

D.

San Fran Lazy Sunday

Hi all, I hope you are enjoying my blog, I think I have enabled people to be able to leave comments now, so if you feel like leaving me a note - please do.  Anyway's here's the latest;

Last night I did go out and see Captain America.  It was pretty cool, I especially enjoyed the teaser after the credits lol. Going to the movies here is cheap as - with the current exchange rate, and the theatres are plush as.  Really nice comfy seats and big screens.  It's certainly a bit different going out in the evening, you need to be on your toes a little more, the homeless people are a bit more intense, actually everyone is ha ha, but my solution to that is putting on some headphones, rocking some hip hop and keeping eye contact to a minimum, when ever you think someone is a little suspect.  I haven't listened to solid hip hop for a long time, and I am loving reconnected with some of the albums I have.  Anyway I woke up this morning, feet a little sore, and sunburn popping off, (my neck is the most burnt) so first thing on the agenda was getting some sunscreen. I didn't have much of a plan, but I decided I would go and try my luck down at the Giants stadium, and see if I could hustle a ticket.  I didn't have any luck.

You see, the Giants won the World Series last year, and so they are really popular,  the game was sold out and I found out later that most of the games are sold out, which is out of it, because they play HEAPS. the regular season is insane and the teams play just about everyday - I had no idea.  Anyway, I wondered around outside and enjoyed the atmosphere, there are lots of guys asking for spare tickets, and I'm pretty sure they then scalp them on to tourists.  One massive dude offered my 'standing only' tickets for $80, and there is no-way I wanted to go that badly.  (You can go over the Bay Bridge to an Oakland athletics game and get in no worries for about $5 - but they weren't playing).  I also had a camera fail - and went out with a flat battery, so only had my iphone to take pictures, that was ok though.

Hmmm, what to do next??? I wandered over the road and went to an Irish sports bar, It was quite out of it, watching all the fans getting liquored up before midday on a Sunday, on the way to the game. I had a couple of Stella pints there, which were lovely and cold - it was seriously hot here today and they went down a treat. I watched a number of people order a drink by a Mexican name, I cant remember what it was called but it is basically tomato juice mixed with Budweiser, I couldn't believe it, and had to ask the guy next to me if that was actually what they were drinking.  Sounds pretty bloody disgusting to me, and this is one time that the phrase 'when in rome' was not going to apply to me.

So a couple of beers under my belt and I decided to get back out into the sun and do a slow wander back to Union Square.  I have been wearing a Biggie Smalls T-shirt that I brought the other day, that says "Going, going, back back, to Cali Cali" I love it.  A guy at a stall selling Giants merchandise noticed it and made comment - something about how Biggie was shot in California and he probably wishes he didn't come back - and then some sly comment about NY - cracked me up, because I think he just presumed I must have come from NY - until I opened my mouth.  He was all good though. Then I found myself at the Apple store, what an amazing place - really busy and heaps of staff.  I have been reading about 'Love Brands' lately, brands such as Harley Davidson and Apple, and you can certainly tell that they know what they are doing.  They had in store seminars teaching people about the products and all sorts of stuff.

So I spent a bit of time in there, and brought a couple of things, the most cash I have spent since being here, but I was always intending on a couple of big ticket items to reward myself with, so I have ticked that off my list.  :-)  It was cool too because the customer service is incredible, they helped me set up my gears and even helped me sort out a few things on my iphone that I had no idea about.  So that is running heaps better now - (not that I noticed it wasn't)

Next I walked back through Union Square, I decided I should go and drop some stuff at the Hostel as I didn't want to be carrying them around in my bag all day (I didn't want to get mugged either lol).  On the way I came across a free circus act performing in the square, a troupe of English tumbler/juggler/acrobat type cats, so I stayed and watched them for a bit.

Back to the hostel to drop some stuff off, I got into my room and couldn't resist a little play with my new toys.  I then realised I was actually quite stuffed, the sun I have been basking in had taken it out on me, and a couple of beers probably didn't help so I crashed out for a couple of hours in my room.  I woke up a bit later and listened to some tunes and read my book for a while (currently reading "Life" by Keith Richards - Its awesome.)

Then at about 8pm I went and got some supplies from the local store and wandered down to find a place for dinner.  I ended up at a really nice Thai place.

They had a TV on in there which was playing a Streetball game, it was great and I was right in my element watching it.  The series is ballupstreetball.com pretty much like the old And1 stuff - even had some of the same players.  Now to be honest as a mid 30's guy, and a newbie to the whole travel game, I was quite nervous about touring around by myself.  I am really enjoying the experience though, you have lots of time to think and take things in, and you can just kind of go with the flow and do what you want. So although your not sharing the experience with someone I find that it is still really special and enjoyable.  On that note I think San Fran is a great place to start, as it is a fairly laid back and mellow city,  I cant wait to get to New York, I'm pretty sure it is going to be another level all together but I'm more than up for it, and looking forward to seeing my family, and friends. Anyway I digress, dinner was lovely and the drinks are cheap! I had a primo chardonnay for $4, you can also get bottled beers for about $3.50 - you cant beat that! Tipping is a funny thing as well, I have a new strategy of asking the waitress to take a photo, might as well get as much service as you can for your extra $2 bucks or so - ha ha - cheap, hustlin Kiwi!!

So that was my fairly lazy day, chilling out now and knocking back some peanut butter M&M's (they also have coconut flavour and pretzel flavour - which is a salty, sweet snack, pretty random, will get some to take back for Judder Bars, cause he will be into them - ha ha).  Last day in the beautiful city of San Fran, and I think I will go and check out Lombard St - kinda one of those things you just have to do -  and then I might go back to Fisherman's Wharf, it was cool down there, and I'm sure there is more to see.  Thanks again for reading my blog, It is really just a journal for me to reflect on when I get back home - but I love being able to share it - so sorry if its a bit of a waffle.  Take care everyone, and I will catch you on the next blog - 2 more sleeps until I get to the location I have dreamed of going to since I was a teenager - New York - The home of hip hop!  So things are going to get interesting.  Lots of Love. Mizzle.

More San Fran Shinanigan's

So got up this morning, mucked around for a bit and then waited in the lobby to join the free hostel walking tour at 10am.  It was awesome, a local guy by the name of Brendon walked us around and showed us a bunch of spots around town. First we wandered down to Union Square where I had this photo taken;

We then went up to China Town, Which is apparently one of the first and largest China towns in America, it was really cool, lots of good sights and smells. We went down a tiny alleyway, that I'm sure you wouldn't go down normally and Brendon pointed out where the first fortune cookie was made and invented.  Not only that, but the fortune cookie was invented by a Japanese guy - hard case, I never knew that!!  This was also when I found out that Amy Winehouse had died, I didn't particularly care to much, but I think it is amusing that i will never forget where I was when I found out ha ha.

This little store front above is the fortune cookie place, there are a bunch of people inside stuffing little bits of paper into cookies - they make 20,000 a  day!                                                                                                                                          

Next we went down an alleyway and checked out the "City Lights Bookstore" this is where the whole "Beat Poet" and writers era occurred. I think the alleyway was called Jack Kerouac Lane.  It had a few quotes from him placed in the concrete down the lane.  Right opposite the bookstore was a little bar called Vusuvio.  Back in the 60's everyone wanted to be around these new exciting writers that were challenging the system and writing about drugs and free love and stuff, so this bar was a hang out for all sorts of people such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Grateful Dead etc.  It was a pretty awesome place.

Next we took a walk up this seriously step hill, up to a place called Coit Tower.  This is named after a woman called Lillie Coit, who was a socialite back in the day, when San Fran was first being built.  There was a major fire on the hill and they were short of man power, so she volunteered and went up and helped them. The fire service became her life's work, and she ended up doing heaps of work and fundraising etc for them.  She sounds like a really cool lady, she would shave her head and wear men's wigs because she loved to gamble and smoke cigars and as a woman wasn't allowed into those sort of places. When she died she left 1/3 of her fortune to the City of San Francisco, so that they could beautify the city.  They placed the Coit tower on the top of a steep hill, and that is where we walked next.  Here is a picture of me going up the hill (I have added heaps more photo's to my facebook page, so if your enjoying reading my blog and want to see some more pics etc, check em out there.  The photos should be easy to recognise after reading this.)

We then kept walking to the top, and took some photo's of the view and the Golden Gate bridge in the distance and stuff.  From here we walked back down the other side, and wander through Levi Strauss plaza.  This is where Levi's became famous, as he was supplying jeans to the miners in the area.  It is now the headquarters of Levi's and has some really nice gardens and stuff.  We then continued down to the waterfront area, which is madness.  So busy with people bustling about all over the place, taking tours to Alcatraz, eating crabs and clam chowder and stuff.  This was the end of the walking tour (took about 2 and a half hours) and we were free to do what we please from there,  I ended up going out for lunch with an Australian guy and a Canadian guy.  Turns out that all people know about New Zealand is that we had an earthquake and the All Blacks are from there. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, I ended up telling the guy that's the way we like it, and that we just chill out, drinks pints and fly under the world radar. :-)

Anyway's these two wanted to head back to the hostel and I wasn't done with looking around the wharf, so I parted ways with them and continued looking around.  This is when I came across 'Bushman', in Wellington we have 'Blanketman' here they have 'Bushman' he sits and hides behind a bush and then jumps out and scares unaware tourists, so funny!! here he is;

He has heaps of tourists hanging around watching people getting a fright, so when you are walking along, you kinda wonder why all these people are videoing, while you are busy wondering that out he pops with a hiss and a raw, its so classic and he makes a pretty good earn out of it.  While I'm on the subject, there are heaps of homeless people all over San Fran, its quite out of it, cause you don't really see it as much at home.  They don't really bother you to much though, although I did have an interesting experience outside the hostel, but will tell you about that a bit later on.  Another couple of things - just as a side point - I constantly find myself waiting to cross the street and gazing around at the various sights, and almost miss the cross signals, there is no noise, no buzzer, no beeping, just a light with a countdown, so I often look back and people are in the process of crossing, so I hustle myself over the road.  Also, I am always trying to figure out which way the traffic is going, it sounds like a simple thing, but when your used to it being one direction your whole life, and then it is flipped around, it really gets you.  I haven't been close to getting run over or anything, but I have had a bit of a fright a couple of times.  So Anyway, I was really keen to go to Alcatraz, but it turns out at this time of year you need to book in advance.  Your only other alternative is to get to the wharf at 5.30am and line up for the first sailing which is at 9am.

Even if you queue at that time they only take the first 50 people, so I decided that that was a crappy idea, and jumped on a small boat that took trips out and under the golden gate bridge and around Alcatraz.  Way cheaper option and still heaps of fun.  The reserved tourists on the boat found it hilarious when I struck this pose, the guys running the boat thought it was awesome though and took a bit of a shining towards me.  Had a good chat with them about various things, and I brought up the Giants game that is on tonight.  They told me if I go outside the stadium and wait i will probably get offered a ticket for cheap or even free - they reckon as a 'kiwi' I would get looked after and it is a heaps cheaper way of doing things.  (Long day though, so not up to it tonight - but there is another game tomorrow afternoon, might try it on then.)

Above, a photo of Alcatraz (again there are heaps more photo's on my Facebook page) and here is one of me on the boat with the city behind me. 

So yeah I got off the boat and walked back down the wharf towards town.  My eyes are constantly bugging out of my head as I walk along.  I came across a small stage where they were holding auditions, to find people to sing the National Anthem before the 49'er games.  So hard case, 3 hours of people singing the same song, over and over again, and Americans cant get enough of it.  Suffice to say I didn't hang around there long, watched two performances and that was enough for me, after each one the crowd that had gathered would go nuts, cheering and yahooing ha ha.  They were really good singers though.

then while wondering back down the wharf, a huge black man riding a Harley Davidson caught my attention, he was blasting music form his motorbike and due to my 'New York State of Mind' I had to video it, (having trouble uploading it here, but will add it to facebook or something as well)

So next I walked back through the city center, I went to Macy's and sorted out my visitors 10% discount (They have a visitors centre where you show your passport and they give you a card)  I brought some sunglasses, some shorts, socks and boxer shorts, probably all the clothes shopping I will do here for now, until I hit the outlet stores in NY, not the best at shopping for things by myself and appreciate a second opinion, so figure I will wait till I'm with the family and the rest of the crew in New York.  By now my feet were killing me, my new kicks served me well, but the miles I put in were paying the price, so I decided to cruise back to the Hostel, once there I sat outside and had a cigarette, (I'm intending on giving up - and have been cutting down heaps, but do enjoy one now and then, nice to sit and just chill for a bit.) this is where the homeless woman I alluded to early comes in.  She was a hard out crack head, she asked me for twenty dollars, and said she had nineteen dollars in quarters but needed notes to catch the train, blah blah, scam, blah etc.  I told her I had no notes on me, and she proceeded to sit down beside me.  She then asked if i had any cigarettes, so i gave her one of those, that's when I noticed the glass pipe in her hand, that she had been smoking crack cocaine out of, she started mumbling about having awesome coke, and started picking her teeth and other parts of her body (a real full on addict) she then continued mumbling about needing money and went on a prostitution rant - I'm sure you can imagine - I promptly put out my cigarette and wished her a nice day, and then got the FUCK out of there.  Back into the hostel.  Where I now sit, drinking Becks and writing my blog. Had a shower when I got to my room, and it turns out I got quite a bit of sun today, minor sunburn that should turn into a tan pretty quickly I hope (didn't hurt too much in the shower).  Have decided to flag the baseball tonight, but might go back into town later and check out Captain America in 3D or "Real 3D" - not sure what the difference is, but there are two types of screenings.  So thanks for reading my blog, hope its not too long or boring for ya. I will write some more tomorrow.  All in all though I am having the time of my life! Peace out yo.

Miz