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Los Angeles
Last day in San Francisco was spent going to the Tech Museum in Silicon Valley.
The museum was good! All their exhibits are interactive.
You can try to build your own roller coaster, then try it out on a screen after you have submitted your design.
You can scan a 3-D picture of your own head and render it all sorts of textures.
You can play with windmill models, solar panel models and water wheel models to generate your own electricity.
I saw (while in the car on the freeway) Adobe buildings, Yahoo Buildings, Siemens, Microsoft, Oracle....
It is The Silicon Valley after all.
We left in the afternoon and went to Union Square (San Francisco's main shopping district).
Macy's, Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue were all around the area. This is an expensive area. Loads of high end shops like LV, Tiffany, Gucci....
The only thing I got from this area was shimmerbricks from Bobbi Brown. For some weird reason, Bobbi Brown is only available in the higher end retail chains of Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Macy's carries high end labels, but also cheaper labels.
We had dinner in Chinatown and the parents in law were happy to finally have rice for dinner.
One can only take so much of bread and pasta. :p
Before we left San Francisco the next day, we made a stop at the gigantic Outlet Mall in Great Mall Drive. To really shop in US, you have to go to factory outlets. Their normal rates are just to expensive.
We only spent 2 hours there and we barely covered 20% of the mall. Father in law seems to like it and spent quite a lot in there.
I happily bought more stuff again.
And so on the road we go on again.
We drove all the way to Los Angeles and it was a 7 hour drive. We finally reached our hotel in the evening and all of us were tired.
The Chosen One and I had Denny's and ordered some food to take back to the hotel. Father in law ate instant noodles. He was really tired of burgers and pasta and fried chicken....
Our first day in Los Angeles (yesterday) was spent visiting Chinatown (at least driving past it and having breakfast and diner in the area), visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard and Universal Studio.
Portions here are big. The server indicated the size of a bowl of porridge and it turned out twice as big.
Dinner resulted in so much food that we barely ate 50% of it.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame had people in costumes walking along it. They would take a picture with tourist for a price. There were many...from Captain Jack Sparrow to Darth Vadar to Homer Simpson and even some Marvel Action Hero that I have no idea what were they called.
There was a Giordano in Hollywood Boulevard which suprised me. I had no idea Giordano was available in the US.
I didn't like Universal Studio that much...they seem to be gearing up for Halloween and there were loads of skeletons and cages and fake blood and fake monsters...no fun to take pictures with. Bah.
The attractions were nice though. Especially the Shrek 4D experience, Terminator 2 : 3D, The Legendary Studio Tour and Special Effects Stages.
Shrek is 4D is because that spray water in your face too. =____=
We bought a more expensive ticket that allowed us Gate A access to attractions.
This means we get priority and better seats. Cool yah?
We left the park at around 530pm and there was a special event for Halloween that will go on after the park closes. To take part in it was an additional USD 22 on top of the price we paid. Everything is about money. =___=
Today, it is off to Disneyland!
But before that...there was a wedding procession in our hotel.
I think they are American Vietnamese and they were off to pick up the bride? I'm not very sure...but the groom and almost every male in the party was in suits and the female in long dresses. I did see a roasted pig somewhere in there.
Erm...ok, to carry on, we went to Disneyland today. :D
When we stepped in, it was exactly like the one in Hong Kong.
First, the garden with the train station on top with side entrances to Main Street.
But this is one is much much bigger, with more Worlds!
And, coincidently, our last trip to Hong Kong's Disneyland was during the Halloween Season too.
I think the parents in law were tired of walking and they kept urging us to go explore while they remain seated.
My favourite world was Toontown. Eveything is so cute and cartoon looking. Next would probably be Fantasy Land.
As you can see, I like them cartoony and pretty. :p
Because today is a Saturday, the place was very very crowded. It was crazy...loads of kids, about one quarter of them dressed in some disney/halloween theme. Parents of the kids, and tour groups and groups of teenagers/friends.
I saw so many mini cinderallas, snow whites, tinkerbells. And even som mini draculas. Those kids were cute!
I bought quite a few things from Disneyland but compared to my previous trip to Hong Kong's Disneyland, it was way less. The presence of my parents in law really controlled me. I think.
Holiday is coming to an end. I will be catching the flight at 9pm tomorrow back to Singapore.
By the time I reach Singapore, it will be the early morning of 30th October.
How time flies....
San Francisco
Arrived in San Francisco last night after more than 10 hours of travelling on the road.
We left Las Vegas at almost 1pm and arrived at the Holiday Inn at 1030pm.
Google bluffed us...it's estimated time of travelling was eight and a half hours but we travelled at above the speed limit and still reached so late.
Father in law did most of the driving.
USA is left hand drive and I feel so weird seeing the people drive on the different side of the road.
Continuation on our stay in Las Vegas.
'O' was excellent! We enjoyed ourselves tremendously. :D
The artistes were really incredible, performing on a water stage.
The stage also changes seamlessly from one act to another and sometimes, you don't even realise that it has changed.
Can you imagine, doing acrobratics on a wet stage and props?
There's so many things happening on the stage that sometimes, you don't even know what to watch.
Although we spent USD 550 on the tickets for four, I feel that it's well worth it.
At first, the parents in law were aghast at the price of the tickets but they feel it's worth it too after the performance.
There's a storyline somewhere in the show but I could only figure out that it's probably about a normal person who gets a handkerchief from a beautiful "princess?" and gets transported into a different world where he tries to locate her.
Our last day in Vegas was spent visiting the Grand Canyon. It is really stark and beautiful but I feel that the Skywalk is a ripoff.
Our guide was nice and accomodating and we really enjoyed our experience with Pink Jeeps.
Yep, we travelled in a Pink Jeep.
Anyway, we spent the next day travelling but I was so happy to finally be able to taste the famous In-N-Out burger.
It is really good....mmmmm.
Today, we visited the Alcatraz and took a cable ride around the city and had dinner at Fisherman's Wharf.
Because the weather is so beautiful today, we were able to take great shots of the Alcatraz and also of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Can you imagine, no fog or mist at all!
When the sun went down, we could even see the city and bridge lights clearly.
We had crabs for dinner. It's so fresh and sweet!
There was a bit of a confusion when we were ordering. The restaurants in Fisherman's Wharf had 2 prices. One for standing at eating by the side, and a lot more expensive price for eating in the restaurant itself.
We wanted to choose our crabs and eat in the restaurant and somehow, the person giving us the crab could not comprehend why we would want to pay more. In the end, it was all sorted out when the manager came out.
One more day in San Francisco tomorrow and we will be on the road to Los Angeles the next day!
Sin City
Hello from the City of Sin!
Third day in US and my feet are about to give up on me.
Anyway, all I can say is that it's been fun and my pocket has suffered a big hole in 2 days.
Hahaha.
The flight here was long, about 16 hours to Los Angeles, with a 4 hour transit at the airport before the domestic flight to Las Vegas.
It's a lot of firsts for me on this trip also.
First time I'm picked up at the airport by a limo.
First time checking into the hotel at the VIP area.
First time I'm staying in a suite.
First time I'm staying in a hotel room that has 3 TVs in the room. And one of them is in the toilet.
First time I blew over a thousand US dollars at one shop. =_____=
It's only when we were in Vegas airport that we knew we were going to stay at The Venetian. This place is decadent.
The Venetian is currently the second largest hotel/casino in Vegas, the biggest being MGM. But according to our limo driver, The Venetian will be adding more suites and they will be opened on 20th December. Then Venetian will be the biggest hotel in Vegas.
Going with the theme of Venice, The Venetian does not disappoint. A "canal" in the shopping area, together with another "canal" outside the building, allows people to take gondola rides, complete with a singing gondolier (I hope I'm getting the terms right).
Shops in The Venetian also has the Venice theme, selling masks and glass art.
Another hotel, Treasure Island, is right opposite us. It has this big ship in a pool of water in front of the hotel and there are performances in the night on the ship. It's loud...I'm on the 19th floor with closed windows and I can hear the performance.
We reached The Venetian late, about 1030 pm on the first night.
The second day was spent walking up to Caesars Palace which is about next door. Except that the hotels in Vegas are so huge that next door is about 10-15 minutes walk away.
This is where I blew over a thousand US dollars. And the shop is Coach.
OK, I'll be honest, I only spent US$400. The rest wanted by colleagues back home.
But I did spend a few hundred in Sephora....
Today, we went to the Factory Outlet near the airport and I happily spent money again.
I think my happiest buys are $10 Keds and $15 Converse shoes. :D
Starr will be getting a lot of presents from us. We currently have 2 dresses, 2 jumpers, 1 backpack and 1 toy for her.
Anyway, having a break now and The Chosen One is watching baseball on TV. We're going to watch 'O' at the Bellagio tonight! I love Cirque du Soleil and I'm happy to finally be able to catch a show by them.
Busy Bee...I think
Ok, I admit, I've been slacking on the blogging lately.
So many things on my mind right now....
There's all the wedding preparations, all the nitty gritty details that have to be looked into, there's the upcoming trip next thursday, which I still have no idea what to pack....
And for some weird reason, I've been coming home late every weekday.
Sometimes it's because there's an appointment with someone, other times it's because The Chosen One has to work late and I decided to go hang out at some shopping mall until he comes and pick me up.
Thus, the lack of blogging.
Any free time on weekday nights are now filled with surfing Facebook or playing on my DS.
I don't even have time for the Wii! T__T
Weekends are not spared either.
Somehow, there's always places to go, friends to meet, errands to run, chores to do.
I think I should be rather free tomorrow.
Besides dinner/supper, I think my day is free!
Yippee!
Time to blow the dust off the Wii.
And on Sunday, my very first Japanese Language class!
I was a good girl a couple months back, learning to memorise all the japanese characters. But lack of time has forced me to stop and I should have forgotten everything now. *Sighs*
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Sunday, October 28, 2007