Beach Review
This is a translation of a German post. View original or Never translate German
Before we get to our review of the US west coast, a quick summary of our last day here:
We finally manage to wake up in time to catch breakfast and enjoy two bagels and a tangerine each.
We still only really start our day about two hours later after Jan fell back asleep — we're taking a bus to La Jolla, a rich neighbourhood on the shore with pretty scenery. The beach here is occupied by a few sea lions taking in the sunshine.
I was not the only one still lying in bed! (But the only one still asleep.)
Sun salute
We walk along the beach for a while, observing the sea, the gulls, and the people each doing their own things.
On the lookout
Back in downtown San Diego, we spot a Chinese restaurant that looks sketchy enough to possibly fit our budget — the partially obscured neon sign in the window promises "Chinese Finest & Menu Order" — sounds good.
China, too.
And indeed we are served a tasty, affordable dinner menu — we have to find our own chopsticks, this time, but we don't want to fall back on forks just yet.
West Coast Review
A city can have many different traits that make it beautiful, impressive, or even just special. Los Angeles has none of them.
While the inner city is nice to look at with its interesting buildings and museums, there still isn't all that much to do here. And as soon as you get in a car (there's no other way to get around, anyway) to leave the inner core, you enter deep, boring suburban hell. Tent cities full of homeless people building up under highways — more Boulevard of broken Dreams than Walk of Fame.
San Francisco and San Diego, on the other hand, are both very pleasant cities — San Francisco in particular is refreshingly vibrant, even the suburbs here feel a lot more welcoming and lively than in LA. The hilly landscape with its steep streets lined by pretty Victorian houses, the large Chinatown, and the coast with its steep cliffs, ruins, and beautiful sunsets lend San Francisco a very unique charm.
If this city weren't in the US (see below), it would probably be a really nice place to live.
San Diego, of which we have not seen quite as much, especially impresses with beautiful old buildings in colonial style and lots of beaches.
Still, the American Way of life doesn't really get through to us — between fast food, religious semi-cults, advertisements for personal injury lawyers, and sickly coloured food in the supermarkets (where the prices on the products don't include taxes, because that would make everything way too easy...), we can't imagine living here on the long term.
Maybe that's partially because we'd expect a nation calling itself the world's only remaining superpower to acknowledge the advantages of double-insulated glass, tiltable windows, and public transportation. And let's not get started on gun control legislation and other politics.
Even though the "American Way of Life" doesn't suit us, California is undoubtedly still very beautiful and has lots of breathtaking nature to offer in its national parks (... if only we could get to them without a car).
And finally, our two things you shouldn't do in the land of limitless freedom: First, you really shouldn't try getting anywhere on foot (this applies mostly to LA, San Francisco is okay). The cities are simply not designed to accommodate people walking around outside of the innermost city centre.
Second, it's not worth it (as Jan soon realizes) to try getting alcohol if you're under 21 — people are very strict about that here.