15/8/01
Hawaii is great, and everybody seems to have cottoned on to the fact. The vast stretches of beach are a seething mass of bronzed bodies, and each wave is caped with surfers and boogie-borders and behind the beach Ralph Lauren and his trendy entourage have set up their stalls to relieve the Japanese tourist boom of its remaining Yen. From the luxury of our betelevisioned hotel room we made strategic sorties into the outside world, to the beach, shopping, and to Pearl Harbour. Though all the men lost in the attack are commemorated, the main memorial stands over the shallow sunken hull of the USS Arizona, and you can walk right over and look down on this, where 1177 men’s remains still lie. Quite a sombre experience. On a lighter note, food and drink were comparatively cheap, so we wined and dined like kings.
We arrived in LA on Tuesday and the only accommodation we could find is in a neighbourhood less reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet than of West Side Story. We bought ourselves string vests and bandannas to try and fit in but the accents were a give away and the many suspicious stares we attracted meant we abided by a self imposed curfew of 5 p.m. in Inglewood even the traffic wardens are armed to the teeth. Shopkeepers serve you from behind 3-inch thick bullet-proof glass, and police sirens seem to mark each hour on the hour in a nightly performance of Big Brother meets Big Ben. When we took a tour to Hollywood and Beverly Hills, our tour bus left Inglewood in an armed motorcade. Tinsel town was too crowded to appreciate fully. A thick nefos blanket hangs over the whole city and tourist congestion is a real problem. We took in the hand and footprints of the famous, walked the walk of fame, and we toured the luxury of Bel Air before returning to Inglewood and barricading ourselves in our room.
16/8/01
Now this is more like it. San Francisco, land of Steve McQueen and Nintendo Drives, Al Capone and Alcatraz, The Rock and the rock hard Mr. Connery, Trams and cable cars, burger and bagel bars. America seems to be the proud founder of Care in the Community and it seems we entered San Francisco on Mad Pride week. To walk to the nearest convenience store one must pass countless people shouting at their shadows or ranting at their reflections in diner windows. The contrast between rich and poor in San Francisco is astounding. Outside our hotel, prostitution and drug trafficking was rife, while a three block walk through pavements scattered with people drinking from brown paper bags will lead you to Nob Hill, or Pacific Heights, where the stretched limos outnumber the trams and any poverty is dimmed from view behind tinted windows.
We took a trip around San Francisco bay, and took in the Golden Gate Bridge (which ironically is eight times shorter, carries half as much traffic and yet is ten times more famous than the Oakland bridge not more than a mile and a half away), and of course Alcatraz, Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 (a fantastic array of rides, food stalls, tours and shopping malls). We shopped and shopped (window style) until our jaws had dropped. There is probably nothing you cannot buy here. From robots to car seats, clam chowder to sweet meats. We were eventually removed from the area for having wet nose prints on shop windows.
20/8/01
37,000 feet, 578 mph, -47°C and with a tail wind of 14mph we are now 1hr and 37 minutes from London Heathrow. Our tours here will include a meat feast with a tribe of Urokefales on the 25th, and some in-depth research into Channel 4s Neighbours documentaries.
See you soon.
Lots of Love,
Natalie & Jonathan
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