Ah, the first day in Savannah!  I don't know how to properly describe my love for this city.  It is warm, beautiful, historical, comfortable, quirky... One of my favourite cities in the world.  I could easily see myself living here, if it wasn't for all of the GHOSTS!  (I had a run in with a ghost cat! OMG!)

In the morning my brother and I went out to get on a touristy-type bus, which drives you around in a loop pointing out all of the wonderful landmarks.  You wouldn't believe the history here, and the pains residents have taken to preserve it.  The architecture is stunning, all brick work and wrought iron.

The set up of the historical district is lovely, it is a grid around all of these quaint little squares that goes right down to the river  I don't think I put the camera away the entire time - everything in Savannah is a photo opportunity!

If you're unfamiliar with Savannah, this is where a lot of Forrest Gump was filmed so we visited the square where the bench was and I geeked out a little (it's one of my fave movies! I know, such a nerd...).

The bench is no longer there, so a trip to the history museum was in order, of course!  This museum was amazing, with a lot of civil war memorabilia. Very interesting. (NERD.)

The hours seemed to float by quickly in Savannah, perhaps something to do with the heat.  Soon it was dark, but that wasn't the end of the touring...

Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in America and although I am CRAZY SCARED of ghosts I had to take in a tour!  We were on a bus, which was not so scary, but the stories were very creep.  Then, the bus stopped and we were taken down into a creepy haunted morgue in an abandoned hospital!  I'm going to pretend that I didn't totally freak out and that I was cool as the proverbial cucumber... right....

Back at the hotel, I totally swear that I felt something touch my leg while I was in bed... yikers.

Day Eight:

Did I mention how much I love this city?  I could have just wandered around for days, looking at all the old buildings and pretending not to be scared of the ghosts.  We went back out to the historical district, just looking at all the squares and big old mansions.  We took a tour of a completely restored mansion which was beautiful, and bought salt water taffy down by the river.

At night, what else was there to do but take another ghost tour? Because I am a glutton for punishement, obviously!  This one was a walking tour and was a lot of fun. Running around the city after dark looking for ghosts is a riot!  Check out the creepy graveyard at night:

Now, back at the hotel I was having problems sleeping, because we all know I have an incredibly over-active imagination.  And ghosts are pretty much my biggest fear.  So, I was lying in bed and I had calmed myself enough to think I might even be able to sleep that night, when I swear I felt a huge scratch on my leg. Just like a cat!  Savannah has a population of ghost cats (I'm not kidding, there's books about it and everything!) so that was kind of freaky. Perhaps just in my mind, but I'm a believer!

Next post, Days 9 and 10, and getting close to the end of the trip!

Now, back to the USA trip!

Day Five:

Tin dinosaur at the Ripley's Museum

Today I decided to take a break from research and my brother and I went all touristy - we hit Fisherman's wharf for the day.  In my opinion it's not really authentic San Fran - there's no culture to it, it's just a tourist mecca, but it was fun!  In one hitch, we sat in a restaurant for about 20 minutes without anyone even acknowledging us or taking our order, so I had to walk out and leave my brother to nurse his craving for crab meat!  (The fast food fish-and-chip store downstairs was much faster! I have to wonder if the snobbery was to do with my tattoos, though it was busy-ish there).

I OD'd at a chocolate shop, we bought souveneirs, and then we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, which was a heck of a lot of fun. My brother and I share similar taste in the weird and wonderful so we both enjoyed that one! We also went to the Aquarium, which I was a little more apprehensive about. Though, I don't think the the elevator attendant quite got the joke when I asked how often the sharks break through the glass and eat the visitors. Darn my lame humour!

Madame Toussads was a bit of a let down, since unlike the New York and Vegas versions the statues are off limits and you can't get your photos taken with them. 

Thus ended the last day of leg 1 of the trip.  We went back to the hotel and then straight to the airport to get on our flight to Savannah, Georgia!

Day Six:

Unfortunately, due to the lateness of the flight and the time zone change, Day 6 was a bit of a write-off. I grabbed a bit of dinner, but mostly we just chilled at the hotel, getting ready for the fun of Day 7!

Next post: Days 7 and 8!

Day Three:

Entrance to Buena Vista Pak

On day 3 I took a crazy bus ride out to Haight-Ashbury.  You wouldn't think a simple bus ride would be any different from back home, but it was... crazy!  People just ram into you and yell at you for not moving, nothing like home, where we manage to move on and off transport in a relatively orderly fashion.  Not saying I didn't enjoy it, though!  It was just... yep, crazy!!

So, Haight-Ashbury - groovy man...  I got off the bus down in lower Haight thinking that my brother and I would just walk up to Haight-Ashbury.  Of course, I forgot about those insane hills. Ooops!  We made it, eventually.  Stopped off at an anarchist bookstore on the way where I picked up some new non-fictions (this would grow to be a problem - I bought so many books I couldn't pack my suitcase anymore!).

Haight-Ashbury is quite a strange place these days.  You can imagine what the old atmosphere used to be, and there are still a few hippie-types around.  But, like with most counter-cultures, the mainstream picked up on the ideas and the area and the magic was kind of bastardised out of it.

Thankfully I wear sunglasses everywhere I go, because I have a habit of squinting and trying to pretend it's the 60s and everyone's walking around handing out flowers...

San Francisco Tip:  we ate lunch at a great restaurant called Cha Cha Cha.  The decor alone is worth the visit - you wouldn't think they could cram anything else onto the walls than what's there!  The food was beautiful too.

Day Four:

One of the many beautiful streets in North Beach.

Today I made the much smaller trek up to North Beach.  Another bus ride, but much less crazy!  If you don't know, North Beach was THE hang out for the Beats in the late 50s. 

I started off at the Beat Museum on Broadway, which has a very enviable collection of memorabilia and knowledge (and a damned good bookstore, where I had to spend up big!).

Through the museum I took a 90-minute walking tour around the area.  The tour guide pointed out all the awesome sites - I basically got to walk in Ginsberg's, Kerouac's and Cassady's footsteps, which is amazing if you know a lot about the history of these men.  I had to be such a typical tourist here - "ooh, some steps where Jack Kerouac might have sat!" *snaps camera*

Again, the atmosphere is a little off - you can kind of imagine how it used to be, but there's nothing there that would give you a clue as to what used to go on there, if you didn't already know.  I think North Beach is way further gone than Haight-Ashbury.  At least with H-A you can sort of see how it used to be - NB is just.... gone.  But still fun to visit!

I have to give big props here to the San Francisco Library History Center, which was back near our hotel on 7th Street.  I went there a fair few times after sight seeing to go through some of their resource material.  The staff were incredibly helpful, and very knowledgeable.  It was a nice, cool place to go after a hot day in the sun and get some research done.  And there's certainly some characters who hang out there!

Next entry - Days 5 & 6!

Fast forward 19 hours.... I arrive in San Francisco!

Day One:

The Bay Bridge

What a city.  You can feel the atmosphere as soon as you arrive - it's different from other American cities.  It feels less self-conscious, more uninhibited.  I walk from our hotel on 7th Street all the way down Market Street to the Bay, soaking up the sights and sounds that make this city unique.  Unfortunately it doesn't take long for jetlag to win out and I go back to the hotel to sleep.

Day Two:

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz

What is a trip to San Francisco without the obligatory Alcatraz tour?

What a creepy, creepy place.  The crazy, negative, painful energy seeps out of the walls, even all these years later.  I started with a walking tour with a very fun and charismatic ranger who gave a talk on all of the escape attempts over the years.  I'd watched a couple of History Channel docos on this, but it was great to hear it in a lot of details.

Then, the prison tour.  Even with a lot of people around, in the middle of the day, the place freaked me right out.  I went into a solitary confinement cell and I had to run right back out again!  All of the cells are tiny, the place is very depressing.  You begin to understand how people in prison grow so desperate while they're there.  It's a nasty state of affairs.

Lots of walking today, lots of blisters and some pretty bad sunburn!  But, even that wouldn't stop me from enjoying myself!

Alcatraz Rec Yard

Next Post - Days 3 & 4

So I arrived home today after a wonderful and whirlwind trip to the States!  A great time was had, much research was done, much grits and fried chicken was eaten, many blisters were suffered.

This was, as mentioned previously, primarily a research trip for my book.  It was incredibly successful, allowing me to garner a real sense of place of two of the settings of my story.  Now, I shall settle down into the next editing pass of said book, before returning it to my beta reader for a last critique (and then submission... eeep!).

So sit back, dear readers, while I regale you with amusing, interesting, boring, stupid and spooky tales of my trip to America!  (Starting tomorrow, after I get rid of this pesky jetlag!)

For now, here's a pic to make you giggle...

Well, it's kind of North East...

Yep, I'm on my way to the US of A very very soon!  Tickets are booked, overpriced accommodation is reserved, ghost tour spots are secured!

This is a research trip, first and foremost, for my book.  I expect to get a heck of a lot done while I'm there (and let's not forget those fun 15 hour flights - prime writing time!).  But I also expect to have a rollicking good time, as I've always done when I've gone to the States.  This will be my fourth trip over, and I'm not done yet!  I still REALLY want to do the classic coast-to-coast American road trip - but I have to wait to find someone to come with me who can do the driving (they don't call the Queen of Crash for nothing... actually, they don't call me that.  I just made it up).

I'm heading over to San Francisco and Savannah with my little bro, which is also exciting because he lives so far away from me and I never get to see him!  I made sure to book hotels with wireless Internet, of course, so I'll update with stories and photos along the way!

Specifically, "that" "was" and "has".  These little critters have infested my work and I'm slaying them as quickly and brutally as I can!

Also, THIS JUST IN!

There is a big fat rumour that I might be heading to the States on a bona fide research trip for my book.  Stay tuned!