Beautiful Niagara Falls

This weekend had one extra day, today was a national holiday in the US, Memorial Day. For that fact, we decided to get in the car and visit the Niagara Falls, which are like 5 hours from home. Long trip, but totally worth it, because when you arrive the beauty that surrounds you is just overwhelming.

Several people recommended us to go to the Canadian side, in the province of Ontario, since the views are more beautiful. For that, we had to cross the border, which takes some time due to the passport checks, inspections etc. We lost like an hour there. But when we arrived to the Niagara, we realized it was a good decision: since the falls are facing Canada, you get a much more general view from there as from where the falls actually are, in the US, more specifically, in the state of New York. This picture shows the US side of the Falls, as you were looking from Canada.

The day was sunny but it felt cold, nevertheless we decided that we wanted to get wet by doing the Maid of the Mist. It is a boat that takes you to the Horseshoe Falls, an spectacular experience. Once you are in the center surrounded by the falls, you can't even see the sky anymore, everything is covered by water. Here you see a couple of photos of the coldness :) and the boat.

After that, we went a little bit further down the river, to see the rapids. The water flows incredibly fast down there, it is wonderful just to look at them, kind of hypnotic.

After that station we went to the Niagara's Fury, it is a show that explains how and when the Falls were made. After that, they get you in a 4D 360 degree theater, where they recreate you falling off the falls, of course getting absolutely wet, everything moving and sounding very real. Outside this attraction, we saw this picture that impressed us a lot, showing the recession that the falls have made over the years.

We went outside to enjoy the last ray of sunlight and kept staring at them for a while. It was a nice combination of sun and water that brought us the beautiful rainbow that you can see in the photos.

Other than that, we were very surprised about the city. We didn't think that this was just the Canadian Vegas, it is an enormous congregation of Casinos, chain restaurants with big signs, and amusing attractions with countless light bulbs that attract you eyes like as you were a mosquito. Even the falls are illuminated at night, something very different to untouched nature, but seems to be how they like it here :)

We just stayed one night, then drove back home on Sunday. It was really a nice trip, and best of all, we had one more day in the weekend to rest, prepare for the week, etc. Tomorrow we have guests for our first BBQ. Andres is very happy with the Weber Grill that we bought, and although it is going to rain, we learned from the Germans and therefore we're going to grill anyways :) On Thursday this week we get visitors, Mimi, Andres' cousin, is traveling around the US with a friend and we are so lucky that they decided to come over here as well. We'll go to Toronto with them for the weekend, and who knows what else??

Lots of love

Lita&Andres

If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Last weekend was really one of a kind. We took an express trip to San Francisco, California. Such weekend trips can only be an idea of a couple of Europeans that have little time to visit a lot of things. In this case, Andres and Giuseppe, and Italian friend, were the responsible for planning this crazy trip that turned out to be an outstanding weekend. As you cans see in the map, both Detroit and San Francisco are located almost opposite to each other, so the trip was around 5 hours. 

The flight was long but pleasant (at least the first one, the way back was a little bit more uncomfortable, but I'll explain later). The good thing is that we flew Friday at 3 and arrive around 6, because of the 3 hour difference. And all the way, the landscape underneath us was spectacular

It was a little bit cold when we arrived, which we personally hadn't considered. I had checked the temperatures, and it was in Fahrenheit. Now, for me, everything about 50 is very hot (thinking in Celsius), so I didn't really understand that 60 degrees can mean cold (especially when the wind blows like in San Francisco). And I guess that the  stereotype that California has always good weather doesn't help either. Once we were there I remembered the quote "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco".

Anyway, in spite of coldness, the city was very nice, from the moment we got off the train we saw a city where people actually live :) Our hotel was in Japan Town, I can't say if the recreation of the Japanese culture was good, but I liked it anyway. That night we stayed in the same city area to have dinner, we enjoyed a very nice Shabu-Shabu, the Japanese Fondue. Really nice if it hadn't been by the loudness of the teenagers that we had next to us..

After that, we went to Polk Street to enjoy the night, but we didn't stay very long, we wanted to be fresh for the next day.

On Saturday, we had breakfast in a typical "Chinese-American Restaurant", and after that we started our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

These were the highlights of the first day:

The typical houses in San Francisco, with their creamy colors, all matching together.

 An amazing view of the pier and the Alcatraz Island, with the famous prison. Later that day we realized that the visit that we so much wanted to do to the island was not going to be possible, since the tickets had been sold out.

The only good views that we have of the Golden Gate.

Here again, the Golden Gate behind us. By the way, the two Italians are Giuseppe and Carlo, both very nice guys that unfortunately are finishing their assignments in Detroit in the next weeks/months.

Later that day we got closer to the bridge, but a huge cloud was covering it and so we could just see the lower platform.

After that, we went to the Fisherman's Wharf. You can tell by the photos that the weather in that part of the city was so much different. That is one of the things that amazed us about San Francisco. As it is surrounded by water, the weather is much influenced by cool currents from the Pacific Ocean. In consequence, the temperature can change from one minute to the next one. Also, there is a few microclimates within the same city.

Seafood is very famous in the city, it is amazing to see all these crabs together waiting for a hungry tourist.

The pier was very crowded, and it smelled delicious.

After having a marine lunch, we went to see the Sea Lion Colony, which is located near Pier 39. It is amazing to see them so near, without fences or any kind of protection. The city has done this as a project to protect the colony, and the result is a daily agglomeration of tourist taking photos of these huge animals.

Our next excursion was going up the hill, direction Chinatown. But before that, we had to see probably  the most famous street in San Francisco, known for the steepness and the Z-turns that the cars have to do to drive down, Lombard Street. By the way, the girl in the picture was not part of us, she was just one of the many tourist that were admiring the scene. 

And then in Chinatown, we saw a dramatic change in the city. It was like as turning around the corner we were also leaving the country, entering a new neighborhood where not only the streets looked different, but also the people.

That was mostly the first day, after that we had dinner in Mission District and ended up in what we pretty much considered a Gay Karaoke. By the way, San Francisco has the highest concentration of gays, lesbians, etc. of the whole country, and that fact makes the city very open and livable. The truth is that in the United States you can find very different extremes, from very conservative people to the open-mindness that you can find in SF. It never stops shocking us. 

The next day we did some sightseeing as well, but much more relaxed. On our way, we passed the City Hall.

We stopped in the SFMOMA, which looked very nice both from the outside and the inside. We just went to the museum shop, though. Not enough time to spend in there. We've read that it is very good, so next time we go, that's definitely one of our targets to visit.

At the entrance of the Museum of Contemporaty Art, we took a nice picture inspired by The Beatles :)

And the end of the day we spent in the Golden Gate Park, visiting the De Young Museum (again, only the museum hall, the shop and the tower, where you have amazing views of the city) and the California Academy of Science.

Unfortunately we couldn't see the whole garden, which is huge, but we stopped there to rest and enjoy the good weather.

After that, we took a taxi, got the bags from the hotel and went to have dinner. We chose a Korean BBQ, which we do not recommend if, like us, you have to take a flight right after that and can't get a shower before. We all learn from our mistakes :)

So we took the flight at 11 PM and got to Detroit at 7AM. We went home, had a shower (very much needed), and the week started with 7 hours less sleep. For that reason, this weekend we just felt lazy and didn't do a lot. .At least we got the energy for writing the blog :) and cutting the lawn. But we hope to have many amazing weekend trips like the one we described, it really filled us with energy!!

Lots of love

Lita&Andres

Spring has arrived!!

Hello again. It has been longer than usual since we last posted, no much news to update you. However today there is much to celebrate. The biggest change in our surroundings is the spring. Yes, it's been a little late, but is has arrived with energy. The lawns are bright green, plants and trees blossom beautifully, and the weather is not hurting anymore. We can even wear shorts sleeves and not feel cold, which we don't remember doing in Germany, by the way :) so yes, we are happy. And our garden is also happy. To prove that, Andres took a couple of pics of the magnolia in our front garden. The first one was beginning of the week, and the one with the open flower was only 2 days later! I also included one of the front house, that way you can also judge the beauty of it :)

With the good weather of course we start planning our weekends, try to visit nice places for the day etc. This weekend we went to Holland. It is a city about 2,30h from where we live, and like the country in Europe, it has a Tulip Festival. All the streets has tulips everywhere, it looks really nice.

Also to honor the name of the city, there was a lot of people on Holland's traditional outfits, even the typical wooden clogs, which I imagine make walking really challenging. 

They even have a windmill island, which is kind of a traditional Dutch village. It looks pretty nice, they have different shops and entertaining. Something that called our attention is that they recreate some of the lifestyles of the old times, where young and old people are dressed up with traditional clothing. 

And of course, they have a windmill, for which all this is really about.  It is kind of funny that you have to pay 7,50 $ to get to see just this only mill, mostly because in Europe you can see lots of them for free. But I guess it is interesting mostly for the little children, so that they can get to see people lived and worked before. 

All in all, it was a good start in the spring, full with colors, music, smells and warmth, what else can we ask for?

 Today is also being a very nice day. First of all, it's our first anniversary! One year together as a married couple! So we are just glad that it didn't rain like it did in Sevilla at our wedding, one year ago. And second, it is Sunday, that means we are still free for a couple of hours :) So, I'm going to end this post right now and enjoy the afternoon.

Lots of love!!

Lita & Andres