Dani California Reloaded

How fast time flies when you are enjoying yourself. Didn't Dani California just arrive in Los Angeles?? And now another 2 weeks have passed and I am waiting for my friend Melanie to arrive here tomorrow. Just 2 more "Beach Days" and we are ready to hit the nature path. Grand Canyon, Bryce, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Route 66, Nashville. And these are gonna be just a few of the stops along the way to Atlanta. Getting curious already? ;) More about all that in my next Blog. This one is about more than a few relaxing days in sunny California ...

Nina and I started off with a "doing the most you can in LA in just 2 days". First it was an afternoon full of shopping. Joyyyyyyyy :) The next day we headed into downtown LA and enjoyed a view up at Griffith Observatory. From there it was just "a few" steps down to the Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Where we met Cat Woman (I could smell her perfume on me for the rest of that day :)), Spiderman and some other crazy creatures (Nina, did you parents never tell you not to talk to strangers ;))). But after some time we had enough of the hustle and bustle of Hollywood and headed to Venice Beach. There it was exceptionally quiet. Maybe it was the season. Maybe it was the fresh air. But Venice Beach seemed to be a bit sleepy on this Wednesday afternoon. Shops closed. Not so many artists "producing" themselves. The muscle men at Muscle Beach must have been "on vacation" as well on this very day :) Still, Venice is always a place you should see. And the sunset was just amazing!!! Even though we were both freezing our a.... off :) But hey, what doesn't a photographer do to get a few good pictures :) And the last Good Bye came. After a French Toast for breakfast, which is actually breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one :), at the Yellow Vase (where I should return to again and again ...) it was time to say Good Bye to Nina and time for me to head to San Diego. Where I spent a few days with my sister's friend and her family. Astrid, Dave and their two boys Bryce and Nathan. The first shyness of Nate (the younger one) was gone soon and also Bryce gave me the long awaited smile in the end. I've spent a few cheery days in the city South of Los Angeles. Doing some sightseeing, pretty and colourful flower fields and a lighthouse (I looooove those!!!). Watching a soccer game of the 4 year old (and yay, he shot a goal). Singing christmas songs in spring (hey Rudy and oh jingelly Jingle Bells:)) and letter songs in the car. I still can't get Willie the walrus out of my head. But way too soon it was time to trade in the two boys for two girls who awaited me back in LA. And what a difference this is. I can tell you!!! No more running around playing soccer and baseball. No more Wrestling and so on. From now on it was shopping with THE 8 year old shopping fashionista Liana. I think you can quite possibly say that I've had a shopping overdose ;) Lots of Make Up. Pop Cakes and other sweet stuff in any shape and form. Gym Training of the State Champion of 2014 (Liana!!). Frozen and Frozen again. Which is a movie also the boys like a lot. Playing, singing and watching the cupsong. I believe Liana could watch that move Pitch Perfect every day. Seeing Mickey & Co at the happiest place on earth. Ice Cream. Beach and beach and beach. Family life to the fullest. Thank you again and over Teresa, Derek, Teri and Liana for always giving me a place to stay when I am here. I really do appreciate it!!! It's been a fun time. Reloaded fun time ;) And I await you guys in two years in Switerland :)

Dani California came. Dani California was. And maybe Dani California will be again someday. But for now, what I will remember is this ... the four year old wrestler who reminds me just a little bit of the boy back home that I miss so much. The bakery at the corner I could go to every day. An almost 9 year old who loves sweets and Make Up and shopping too. Her almost 14 year old sister who I had met for the first time, guess what, 14 years ago and who is now growing into a young woman. How time flies ... That here, in contrary to wild Patagonia in Chile / Argentina, you can find a Starbucks just about around every Corner. The places here that I used to roam in every day for 9 months ... That you can find the whole world (and chairs for the Cafe you plan to open) in just one store. You CAN eat cupkes e-v-e-r-y day :) You can also sing Christmas songs and have fun doing so even when it's 30 d C outside.

I am back in the US. Back for another 4 weeks. Some things have changed. Some things are still the same. The AC ist still as cold as ever. Everything here is supersized. You've got to get used to the different traffic system (yes, I can turn right, even when it's red :)). It's a certain that the check in the restaurant will be given to you before you have had your last bite. But I guess if you follow the advice from the ocean, you'll do just fine here in California :)

 

Advice from the Ocean:

 

Be Shore of Yourself.

Come Out of Your Shell.

Take Time to Coast.

Avoid Pier Pressure.

Sea Life's Beauty.

Don't Get Tide Down.

Make Waves!!


The dirty lifes of two princesses on a golden cruise

I remember writing the last Blog just a few weeks ago. Once again, that seems like a lifetime since … another world. Another season. Another time … But in reality just a little over 3 weeks lie inbetween. A night in a hotel room way down South in Argentina. A night alone again after 2 weeks of touring with a group through beautiful Patagonia. Somehow I was longing for those days in the Southern wild for quite some time after. I guess I still am … and it’s not that I am not looking back to all the other beautiful days and encounters that I have experienced since leaving home 3 months ago. Don’t ask me why. I can’t say why the longing for those days in particular is so big … but you cannot linger for too long, sometimes you have to move on. And so the bus took me back North. And after passing through Mendoza with a wink and a smile and a stop at Starbucks for a Caramel Frappuccino rather than a sip of wine, I returned to Santiago de Chile. It was time for some new adventures to begin …

On all the travels you do in your life, be it on foreign roads or just through familar grounds back home, you cross paths with strangers. Some you meet and greet, you spend some time together, you talk, you laugh. And then you go your separate ways. But then there are some that stay. Like Nina. We had met in summer 2011 on a tour through parts of Canada and Alaska. Then we met again for a short trip through the South of Sweden. I remember saying good bye at the train station of Copenhagen, Denmark on a day of early fall in 2012. And now, not even 2 years later it is time again for some roads to  travel. Another continent. Another city. Another season … Down at the funicular that brings  you up the Cerro San Cristóbal in Santiago de Chile was the starting point of  our time together.

The first few days were spent sightseeing, shopping (as I had not seen too many shops in the last few weeks out in the wild and Nina is always up for shopping ;)), eating delicious Chilean food and talking about all the traveling roads that each one of us had walked since the summer of 2012. After just two days we took the bus to Valparaíso. The colourful city just one hour from Santiago. We recided up in the hills in a charming Victorian-English-Breakfast-Witch House. In a teeny tiny room where we could barely fit all of our luggage (I mean, we onlyl had like 5 bags ... :)) and you had to watch out to not hit your head while taking a shower in the bathroom, that was actually almost as big as the room itself. The views up there were entchanting. The hills steep. The Cerros (the city is devided in several cerros) alegre (joyful). And Nina became a star. She was discovered up at Cerro Alegre for a short documentary about the city of Valparaíso. We will see, maybe in a few years she’ll be famous around the world :)

Then it was time to go aboard, and after just one night on the Golden Princess we had our first stop at La Serena, Chile. Which also marked the last day in Chile. Unfortunately the  guided tour organized by the ship was not so successful for us. Too many people in one group. The stops at the places too short. And too much time in the (oh yes, once again overly AC’d) bus. So we decided to cancel a few of the already booked tours and just get a guide ashore once getting there. This turned out to be the better choice. But still, I have to say, that for the future and for me, traveling through a country and not alongside it is the better choice as well. The stops are just too fleeting and unsatisfying for me. But that’s something everone has to decide for themselves …

Even though I wish I could have stayed in places like Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico a little while longer, it was still a fun and relaxing time aboard and ashore. I won’t forget the movies under the stars (and at the Lido Pool). The breathtaking and ever changing sunsets. The Piña Colada from the Pisco Distillery in Peru that we were allowed to take aboard, and the Dirty Bananas that were especially good when done by our very own bartender Narciso (see picture oft he day of March 27th). The colourful markets. The pretty horses in Peru. The seals at Islas Ballestas (especially the smell there) and all the other wildlife just passing by the ship. Like all the schools of dolphins playing alongside. Sea snakes. Turtles and so many more. And btw, our ship really does remind me of a hammerhead shark :) Then there was the crossing oft he Equator and kissing the fish. The tropical heat in Latin America. The volcano in Costa Rica we unfortunately did not see (it was just a white wall). Also the "pura vida" there. Lover’s Beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Where my lover unfortunately was not present and we had to find a Mexican lover (see picture of the day of March 30th). My first horseback ride at the beach with Apache. Going to sleep with the sound of the ocean as a constant partner, rocking you right to sleep. The singing people working on the ship. Our company at the dinner table. Doris, Detlef, Jo, Doreen and Christian. And who knows, maybe with one or the other the contact will remain …

The 16 days at sea and land have come to an end now. After two weeks of calm sea it has become a little rougher (memories of the cruise in January coming up, but just slightly …). The seats in the shadow at the Lido Pool have become empty. People are craving the space in the sun again. That means no more fighting for chairs, no more getting up early and reserving seats to actually get a chair at all. The hot and humid days have passed. Who would have thought that we would be chilly by the end of the cruise, when just a few days earlier we were complaining of the heat in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. But that’s how it is. The only constant is change. I have eperienced that a lot during the last 3 months. But isn’t that the exciting part about life? That nothing is the same. And that the things unplanned and surprising are the most wonderful!

I am back in Los Angeles, the "City of Angels", now. A familiar place to me. Having lived there for 9 months a few years back (or is it more than just a few years …). And having come back again in 2003, 2009 and 2011 to visit friends and places again. 3 weeks of hopefully sunny, relaxing days in SoCal lie ahead. I am looking forward to meet my sister’s friend and her family in San Diego. A few more people up in the LA area. And especially Liana, a girl that is not a child any longer, but has grown into a young and beautiful lady. And of course the rest of the Del Rosario bunch!

Dani California is back. I hope you are still traveling alongside :)

 

 

"Eat, drink and be merry, and tomorrow we diet."

 

- Goofy -