Coming home... to NYC

I arrived at the airport in San Francisco at around 5:30AM, dropped of the car and took the air-train to Terminal 3 for United Airlines. The tachometer stated 17788 miles – overall I drove 1254 miles in three days. (that's almost the distance from Hamburg to Madrid!). The flight 'back home' to New York (I love coming back to NYC and in the meantime I feel like at home. Needless to mention there that I still hope NYC will one day be my home - even after the crash at Wall St. recently) was okay with the expected bad service of airlines in the United States. I arrived at my hotel near Times Square at 7PM.

Back to San Francisco

I skipped my running plans since I had to do some office work in the morning and left the motel at 10AM. I went back on the US89 southbound towards Lassen Volcanic National Park. After twenty miles I stopped in McCloud. The city represents all stereotypes Europeans might have about American cities – wooden houses, verandas in the front and pick-up trucks on the street.
With the Mt. Shasta in my rearview mirror I continued on the US89 southbound and stop shortly for another visit of the Lake Britton. At noon I arrived the Lassen Volcanic National Park and spent ten dollars and three hours with driving through and stopping at several spots around the volcanic area around the Lassen Peak.


I left Lassen NP after 3PM and continued on the US70, another beautiful highway through a narrow valley along an artful river. In the late evening I arrived back in San Francisco where I spent few hours on the backseat of my car before heading to the airport and to New York City.

Where the streets have no name

After more than 1000 miles in total I ended the second day of my road trip in Weed, California where I checked in at a nice motel. I spent the morning among others with driving and with visiting the Lake Britton area. The lake itself lies in the beautiful Shasta National Forest. I decided to stop there to take some pictures of an old railroad bridge which is part of the McCloud river railroad. I made this stop here as the bridge was one of the scenes in a favorite movie of my childhood and I always dreamt of walking over it for myself. The construction, 30 meters high with no handrail or anything and just the swells of the old railroad to walk over does not really invite to do so (and children should not repeat this without the allowance of their parents). Anyway, it was great to sit there and wait for the rain... but since the route is in the meantime abandoned there won't be any train in the future.


In the afternoon I drove approximately three hours in the middle of nowhere, that is the Mt. Shasta Wilderness. Lonely gravel roads through quiet forest without any other tourists made this afternoon a mentally very relaxing experience although steering my big SUV over rough and smooth required a lot of concentration. The GPS navigation system helped me not to get lost on all the dirt roads (most of them were just referred as military passes - for sure with a tank it is easy to drive there but not with any other vehicle)

On the road again

I started my road trip to the north of California at 7:30AM in downtown where I picked up my rental car - a Toyota Highlander (SUV). The tachometer showed 16354 miles, for sure this number will increase in the next three days. The first planned stop was at Marin Headlands to take some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge with the skyline of the city. Unfortunately the weather conditions do not even allow to see much of the bridge so I immediately continue my trip to Vacaville for some shopping activities.


I left the outlet mall at 11:30 and continued my trip through the Napa Valley (which was not too interesting) and on different byroads which I would not even regard as roads. At 3PM I arrived on the US1, the pacific coast highway and my favorite street in the US. The first part, north of Stewart Point is not the most impressive I have seen so far but it gets better as further north I proceed. At around 6PM I watch a beautiful sunset near Fort Bragg.

Alcatraz, Climbing and Cheescake

Sunday morning was a good time to visit the island of Alcatraz (=the island of the birds) where the famous prison was located. It is the first day since my arrival with the notorious fog over the bay of San Francisco. Unfortunately the panorama of the city from the island is not the best but did the cold weather make the trip even more authentic as it allowed to feel how it was for the prisoners on Alcatraz most time. The tour (offered in half a dozen languages, among other in German) was very interesting and definitely worth the 26 dollars.

In the afternoon we climbed a second time up on the Telegraph Hill and were this time successful with our visit of the Coit Tower. The top of the tower is more than 140 meters above sea level, offering a great view over the city and the bay of San Francisco.
The huge sport program of the weekend allowed us to end my visit of San Francisco with a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory where to my surprise not only cheesecake but also very delicious food is served - together with a great view from the top of the Macy's building over the Union Square in downtown San Francisco.

Running through SanFran

Me and my friend started the day with organizing a ticket for a tour to Alcatraz on Sunday and a stop at Fishermen's Wharf. As we are both runners, we decided to use the good weather for a run to and over the Golden Gate Bridge. After a short moment of relaxing we continued with sportive activities and climbed up the Telegraph Hill to visit the Coit Tower which was unfortunately closed. The rest of the day was spent for a walk through the financial district of San Francisco to the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Market Street and a visit of the Union Square.

Friday in Frisco

I spent a wonderful Friday morning with lots of sun and 20 degrees in the street of San Francisco, riding the cable cars up and down the hills. Amazing views are given on the stop on Powell and California down the street with the Bay Bridge in the background and down Hyde Street on Alcatraz. After a visit of the Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world, I did a short walk through Chinatown. After lunch I rested on the Alamo Square and enjoyed the view on the skyline with the "painted ladies", some old victorian townhouses in front.
The day ended with a bus trip to the beach and a walk up to the Cliff house and along the Coastal trail where I could get some nice views on the Golden Gate Bridge and also check some better neighborhoods of San Francisco where I will for sure life later ;)

In the evening I picked up my luggage and change my location since I checked-in for the next three nights at a friend's place.

First Steps in SanFran

With every trip to the US, the question at the immigration control appear to get more but I proceeded in the end quickly and before 2PM I arrived at the hostel in the Ellis St. where I planned to spend the first night. As my luggage got delayed in Frankfurt, I had to skip the needed shower but left immediately for a walk around in San Francisco. I stopped first at the city hall and followed then the market street towards the newly restored ferry building at the Embarcadero. The weather was amazing with more than 20 degrees and sun, so I finally felt asleep somewhere on a park bench for half an hour before I continued my walk along the bayside towards Fisherman’s Wharf.

Going to San Francisco

To avoid a huge jet lag when arriving in San Francisco I decided to start this year’s trip to the United States with going out in Rotterdam with some friends. I had to go to Rotterdam anyway to hand in my master thesis at the Erasmus University. I managed to do so although delayed flights and improperly running trains made it very exciting to get there on time. Now I am only one step away from my graduation. That is the defense of my work, which will take place on November 20th at the Erasmus University, and everybody out there is heartily invited!

Being now almost university and study free I did some socializing with friends in Rotterdam, just until 3:15 at night which was the best time to go then directly to Schiphol airport to catch the flight via Frankfurt to San Francisco. In good tradition fights from Amsterdam to Germany are delayed and we started almost an hour late, which left me only 15 minutes to catch my connecting flight to San Francisco – enough for a well trained runner but as I should realize later not for my luggage, which arrived in the end six hours later than me. The flight with the Boeing 747 of Lufthansa was okay, I reserved my favorite seat in row 54 and did nothing else than sleeping or eating. At noon I arrived in San Francisco.

USA2008 - NYC Marathon

Almost a year ago I decided to take another challenge in my life. I planned to run a marathon. Although I did some sports before I was never a big runner. However, running a marathon appeared for me as an excellent physical and mental training. In September 2007 I started my training in Rotterdam and finished it few days ago with a 30km run through places like Kemnat and Balzhausen around my home town Thannhausen in the south of Germany. In the end I ran more than 1500km in one year to make my dream come true - finishing the run in four hours or less. I was very happy about getting one of the few starting places at the New York City marathon, which are not given to travel agencies or sponsors.

On October 22nd I said finally good bye to Germany and headed to the United States. After a short stop in Rotterdam I plan to visit San Francisco, North California and New York. I will collect some expressions from my trip here. Enjoy traveling with me!