Here we go again, California... so nice ! I really plan on going back there, and maybe spend some time (let's see how the pilot thing works, but a phd in Berkley should be great !)
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Speaking about Berkley, we went there on Monday. Boucbouc showed us the campus, and some of the buildings. It is now filled with summer students (they pay for summer courses, which are extremely expensive). The campus is... wonderful, there is a forest in which squirrels and students have some good time. We are 10 minutes walk from San Francisco bay, the buildings are impressive. And there are many parking slot reserved for Nobel awarded scientists !
We went to the centre were we just hang out, not so far from Chinatown. around 4 pm, we took the car and hit the road to Yosemite.
We stopped in a motel in Tracy. Tracy is the prototype of the small American city : it is next to the highway. you have a 4 lanes main street, with some shops and restaurants, standing behind huge parking slots. We went to a fast food, were the guys had never seen people from France.
The Motel 56 was full of truck drivers and Mexicans. We felt like in a movie.
On Tuesday, we arrived in the Yosemite, it is quite impressive to see the change of vegetation and landscapes from one valley to another. We were in a dessert, and suddenly, in a pine forest !
The Yosemite National park is beautiful, with its impressive cliffs, nice lakes and rivers. It is very well organized and it is possible to visit almost everything without walking more than 15 minutes. This is also frustrating, to be this assisted, you fell like visiting a museum, and not spending time in the nature.
On Wednesday, we went to sequoia park. This park was more quiet : less tourists, which makes the landscapes more enjoyable. I recommend this granite rock from which you can see most of the valley, beautiful. The sequoias were also impressive of course, I think, as a Baobab would be for someone which doesn't know what it is. Actually, those huge trees are spread in the pine forest, so that finally it is less impressive.
On Thursday, we crossed California, which is very dry (actually we can say that it really looks like a desert). We stopped in the entrance of the death valley, to visit it in the end of the day, when the air is cooler.
After fighting the girls worst fears of seeing us consumed by the merciless sun, we could enter the death valley, and... Wahooo ! Worlds are missing to describe the beauty of those incredible landscapes : The Sand dunes, the Salt seas, the colorful mountains. It was of course extremely hot : 47Degrees Celsius in the shade ! So that you would feel the air burning your arm if you would let it out of the car.
In the end of the day, we arrived in our Motel in Las Vegas, exhausted...
On Friday, we just laidout and rest in the Motel. Las Vegas is in the desert and there is not much to do during the day, because of the extreme temperatures. It is also a very artificial place, you can see amazing richness, and also depressing poverty. You can see a lot of gamblers, gambling for a very long time... I was quite disappointed by the fact that most of cash machines now work with lcd screens, and a credit system, goodbye the sound of coins flowing out of the machines, and the huge money cups.
On the evening we went out, looking at some of the huge casinos in Las Vegas Blvd (the Strip). We could see the Pirate show, during which 2 ships fight, and one actually sinks (one show every 30 minutes) ! We also went through the hotels, we could see the gambler playing, with strip girls dancing on the tables, the incredible sceneries..
On Saturday, we went to the factory outlets for the girls to shop a bit. I tried the electronic cigarettes... it is different... We went back to the strip with Pauline, and kept on seeing the incredible and amazing shows and casinos of Las Vegas.
The girls left on Sunday morning, and i went to a youth hostel, to wait for my plane. I was afraid I would feel lonely, but the hostel was full of young and very nice people. I spend the afternoon in the huge swimming pool... la good life. On the evening, I went out with some people from the Hostel, we could enjoy Las vegas underground, or how to get 2$ Heineken and unlimited cocktails, while watching comic superstars with those very very very rich people, in a private theatre. I then decided to play poker and I have been playing from 12 to 4:30am. You get all for free while you are playing : you just have to order it to your private waitress. I invested 40$ and left with 120$ which I am quite proud of !
I directly went back to the hostel, took my bags, and left for the airport !
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