Grand Cherokee ZJ 4.0 Limited
Juli 22nd, 2010New York City
November 28th, 2009Unfortunately we had to drop off the car at JFK, which is on he other side of the city and no road signs what so ever is directing the way, so we had to rely on the good old map but it did not quite work as expected. No signs to JFK at all, so we had to find our way through the Bronx, Corona, Jamaica and some other funny areas with quizzing people on the way. Finally arrived we got rid of the car and took the shuttle bus to Manhattan bus station on 42nd. Our hotel, which I have booked via hotwire.com, was on 46th street. Crown Plaza, Times Square. Hotwire saved us a lots, lots of money, and we were in the middle of everything. After the fire alarm at 3am in Toronto I didnt want to get into a room above 4th floor now we were on 22nd floor with a nice view on Times Square and the rest of Manhattan. No resistance. We strolled along all the streets we could possibly find. Luckily enough it was my birthday in NYC as well so we took a taxi to Little Italy and had the hard choice which mob we want to support Well, in the end it does not matter, they all probably add by default 25% tip to the bill without asking. Highlights: Times Square, Central Park, The Rock, 110th street, 5th Avenue and many other streets. Simone had to leave and I stayed for another couple of days. Mainly at Jimmys Corner, Subway and other attractions around Times Square till the President of Unites States deiced to go to a musical across the hotel I had a room on the 7th floor. The entire block was sealed off. No one in and no one out. Except you were a guest of the hotel then, go to your room and do nothing, now. Snipers on every roof. Unfortunately I had a room at the 7th floor facing the main entry of the theatre the President was attending. Best picture position you would ever get you would think to get some pics of the President. Not really, while I was taking pictures of the Presidents arrival , someone knocked at the door. The concierge. Saying, that the Secret Service does not like open windows and it would be safer to close the the windows and also the curtains Just in case of. The 44th President on 44th street. Thank you.
Down To New York City
November 28th, 2009Well, from Toronto we took the coach to Buffalo, just behind the boarder, where we booked a car for two days to get to New York City. At the boarder we had to undergo the usual boarder crossing procedure pictures, fingerprints and questions. I still had a valid visa, since I entered the USA few weeks back when I set foot on Hawaii ,the friendly officer from the boarder patrol was browsing though my passport and wondering about all the stamps from the different courtiers I collected. He asked me about Dubai and the big skyscrapers, well yes they are there and still growing. From central Buffalo bus station we had to take a taxi to get to the airport, so I asked a couple, which were on the same bus to Buffalo, if they want to share a ride to the airport. They had huge luggage but the cap driver manage to get everything in. Odd couple, they were frisked already at the boarder quite seriously. But we got to the airport, paid 20 US$ and off to the rental pick up. We got a Pontiac G6, comfortable ride. At the first gas station I bought a music CD, ABBA Gold for 10 Dollars which accompanied us the long way down to NYC. It was a nice ride, passing cities like Amsterdam and some other Dutch cities. We stopped somewhere along the road in a Super 8 motel for the night and enjoyed the rural tranquility with tasty tin sardines and local beer from the supermarket topped by a visit to the local bar, which was very refreshing.
Toronto-Niagara Falls
Juni 30th, 2009From Montreal we rented a car to drive down to Toronto, Ill never book a car from Payless again, the pick-up and drop-off locations are not in or at the airport it was near the airport, hidden in a small office with a tiny sign and no one told us that we dont have to drive to the airport. Anyway, on the way down to Toronto we drove along lake Ontario and had good weather. We did a little detour via Kingston and Picton, where we stayed for a night in a motel with a nice view over the little harbor. The ride down to Toronto was fairly easy, but getting to the hotel downtown was literally horrible, no signs at all to downtown, so we passed it, twice. Finally there, we checked in and went up to the 22nd floor to our room with a balcony and a nice view. Then one night at around 3am the fire alarm went off, beautiful sound at 3am. (Why do we say the alarm went off when the sound goes on?? Same as taking a dump or hang up the phone). A voice over the internal hotel speaker system told us the situation: The fire alarm was somewhere triggered on the 4th floor, it is under investigation and we should stay in the room. Thanks for the info, we are on the 22nd floor so we still have time to jump? Do we have to? This gentleman repeated his announcement at least 4 times, every 5 minutes accompanied by the alarm sound. After about 20 minutes, going though all McGiver episodes in my mind searching for the bubble gum parachute manual, the next announcement came from Toronto FD, saying everything is OK, false alarm, we apologize for the inconvenience, have a good night! We would have been millionaires if this happed in the US. Toronto is famous for shopping, we did a lot. Apart from that, nothing special in Toronto except Niagara Falls, 130 miles from Toronto, bordering the USA. More than 6 million cubic feet of water falls over the crest line every minute, pretty impressive, loud and wet. And gazillion of tourists. We also went to The journey behind the falls where you get a garbage bag pulled on and walk behind the falls, well there are two big holes and you just see a white wall of water, but the observation deck during that tour brings you closer to the action and the water.
Montreal, Canada
Juni 30th, 2009Finally I have some to update the blog with the latest pictures. During my online search for hotels I came across hotwire.com where you can book rental cars, flights and hotels. The interesting part is that you book the hotel by location and star rating i.e. Montreal downtown/4-star. They tell you the hotel name after you confirmed the booking with you credit card details. Well, a 4-star hotel in Montreal downtown for 95 USD per night is not bad at all. And you cant do anything wrong with 4-star hotel. After I got the hotel name I compared the total price with the hotels website. And just for this hotel it saved me already 300 USD. I did all other bookings via hotwire and was always a happy guest. Montreal is a very beautiful city, although the official language is French, with about 1.8 million people of which 70% speak French at home. My hotel was directly on the main street where all the bars are, even with a pool and bar on the roof top and the shopping mile was just around the corner. After a few days being alone I picked up Simone from the airport, she joined me for two weeks on the way down to New York. We walked though the different city areas, Olympic stadium, Notre Dame, old town and up the Mont-Royal with a nice few over Montreal. Montreal probably a nice place to live and to work, if you speak this weird language Je ne regrette rien.
Dodge and me
Mai 23rd, 2009From San Antonio Dodge and me headed west to Laredo, bordering Mexico. Small city and all is Mexican. Next stop Corpus Christy along the Rio Grande via Roma, Rio Grande City, Harlingen. Next stop Galveston, Ike destroyed in 2008 some buildings, but still quite touristy. The water is literally brown, as I learned later in Houston this brown sediment is coming from the Mississippi river. Between the beach and the hotels is a 4 lane almost highway. So if you want to go to the brown water beach from your hotel you first have to survive the highway crossing and this promenade road is really busy. Next stop Houston, finally managed to get a ticket for the basketball playoffs Houston Rockets vs. LA Lakers in the Toyota Center. Just spectacular. Firework inside the stadium, load music, cheering, creaming crowd. Crazy. I had a middle section seat on the third floor, surprisingly good view. During time outs and half time, entertainment comes to its best. Shooting t-shirts into the crowd with slingshots, driving with a motorbike on the floor, noise-o-meter to animate the spectators to make noise. They love this game. And Houston won as well. I celebrated the victory in a pub called Flying Saucer. Over 200 different beer brands. If you join the flying saucer club you get a membership card, if you have tasted 200 different beers you get a metal plate mounted on the wall of fame. I met a couple working on their plate of honor, both had already about 100 different beers on their membership card, took them four years. His father is actually German, and because his delivery was so quick, they named him Blitz. Blitz Babylon. Next overnight stop Onalaska. A tiny village about 150 miles north of Houston. I stayed at a nice and clean motel with a great view over the lake and I was the only one in the motel. Texan tranquility. From Onalaska I headed west via Livingston, Woodville, JASPER, Wiergate, Milam to Lufkin. A boring 30000 people town in the deep east of Texas. However, the ride itself was very nice, lots of green, trees, ranches, lakes and small Texan villages with grill stations along the road. My last stop was somewhere near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport where I had to drop-off the red lady with additional 2200 miles. Resume: Texas is different then I thought. Its green. No cowboys screaming Yeehaa firing rounds in the air. Funny dialect though. Actually I havent seen a single gun shop, gun club or someone wearing firearms. Unfortunately I havent found a live bar where you can throw bottles on the stage when the music is crap and the musicians are protected by a grid.
Laredo
San Antonio, Texas
Mai 15th, 2009The St. Anthony hotel is stayed in San Antonio was the venue for many occasions. Actors like John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger spent time in the historic hotel (they also have a Madrid meeting room). John Wayne actually stayed in the room just below my room. Sometimes its just faith Not enough, our birthday is on the same day. Anyway, the ruins of Alamo, an old fortress during the Mexican revolution and the Riverwalk are some of the highlights of San Antonio. Just like in Amsterdam you can hop-on to a river cruise. The river is about 5 miles so the cruise is just about 30 minutes, but nice to do. And important historical information is provided by the captain as well, like San Antonio was actually founded by Germans and there is still a church holding services every Sunday in German. After 3 days I went to the airport to pick up my rental car. The lady behind the desk offered me to upgrade for a few Dollars to a SUV. Sure, which SUV? Grand Cherokee! Right. After a short discussion, calculations with all discounts I got a red 2009 Dodge Charger for one week. Looks like a nice ride and it actually is a nice ride, the front looks very cool but the back just ugly.
Adios Mexico, Howdy Texas
Mai 7th, 2009Due to the current flue situation in Mexico I decided to cancel my flight to Mexico City. You dont want to catch the flue and end up in a hospital in Mexico. So I stayed few days in Dallas, which was more or less waste of time. Nothing much there to see or to do. Even the bars closing at 10pm. I was watching a Win or go home basketball game, Dallas Mavericks playing San Antonio in a bar when I heard the bartender saying last round! It was 5 minutes to 10 and the game still on. I left and tried few other bars, not many anyway, but the same. So in the end I went home and watched the game in my hotel room. The view from the hotel room was interesting, I overlooked probably the most visited spot in Dallas. The street JFK was shot and the building where the shooters hideout was. Finally I took the train to Austin, 6 hours for 380 km and only once a day. Austin was much better then Dallas, finally some bars and entertainment. No one is asking for change or cigarettes on the street, like in Dallas 4 times a day. The highlight in Austin is of course 6th street and the warehouse district on 4th street. They do have a lots of bars and many of them with live music some even with two bands, playing on the roof top. 6th street is closed at night for traffic, because there are so many people on the streets stumbling from one bar into the next. After few relaxed days in Austin I took the train to San Antonio where Im at the moment and stroll along the Riverwalk.
Kauai, Hawaii
April 29th, 2009Hawaii has 6 islands for tourists and I spent one day on Kauai the other day. Rented a car and drove around the island a took a helicopter flight in the afternoon with 27 year old pilot Cliff to see the island from above. We flew around the whole island, into green canyons with waterfalls and abandoned beaches. Very green and very nice. Cliff was playing music during the flight i.e. Hawaiian Tiki music and some soundtracks like Jurassic Park, which was shot on Kauai.
Oahu, Hawaii
April 28th, 2009On my way from Auckland to Hawaii I had a layover at Sydney terminal 1. No place to smoke, no shops, no proper food station. 4 hour trap, great. And then a 9,5 hour flight to Honolulu. Finally there I was picked-up by a old school mate the traditional way with flowers around the neck. Aloha. The hostel I booked turned out to be a shithole and after three nights I upgraded myself into a proper hotel for 20 Euros more per night with pool, jacuzzi, palm trees and a proper room with small kitchen. And just 5 minutes from Waikiki beach. In Honolulu is not much happening except business. All the beach and nightlife action is happening in Waikiki. There are more people on the streets after sunset then during the day. My friend gave me very good tips where to go, what to see and also had the time to drive along the entire cost along Oahu, passing some famous surfing beaches like sunset beach and pipeline beach where Jack Johnson and other surfer dudes hanging out. Oh, and of course some Magnum p.i. spots like the Robin Masters estate and T.Cs chopper base. Unfortunately Lost is not shooting at the moment but you can explore some shooting locations by horse or all terrain vehicles. Huge tourist attraction. So basically I stayed most of my time in Waikiki on the beach relaxing between palm trees and watching people, using the hotel jacuzzi after dark and enjoying Waikiki and its amenities.
