USA trip 97



Tuesday July 1
Went to Stockholm by train. Left our bags in Johannes apartment. Ate at Mc Donald´s. Went to the Southside and drank some beer at the Pig & Whistle. Jocke and Pär went to a lake and had a swim
.

Wednesday July 2
Johannes didn´t have a passport. Got one at Arlanda. Flew to New York. Warm and humid. Took the subway to Manhattan, where we checked in at the Banana Bungalow ($22). Walked a bit on Manhattan.

Thursday July 3
Went sightseeing. Saw Empire State Building, UN-building and Central Park (among other things).
In Central Park it began to rain cats and dogs when we were resting on a parkbench. We all got up and ran for shelter at the exact same time. We found a tree under which we sheltered from the rain. Then suddenly a policeman on a trike appeared and he thought it was him we had been running from. He asked if we were OK.
Later that evening we had a few beers at the hostel. The air was so moist that we could apply the empty cans to our chests without them falling down. That was very amusing, we thought.
The firealarm went off at the hostel. Three large firetrucks arrived, but there was no fire.
We ended the evening at Bear Bar, where they charged $1 for a bottle of beer, and the bartendergirls weren´t 100% sober.

Friday July 4
ID4.
Went to Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Battery Park and World Trade Center.
Fireworks later that day. LOOONG and MUCH. A lot of people. Johannes, Emil and Jocke drank beer from bottles wrapped up in paperbags.

Saturday July 5
Emil bought a skateboard. Johannes rented inlines. The two of them went for a ride in Central Park. Jocke and Pär looked at people. Met a man who said he was James Bond. We weren´t fully convinced he was telling the truth. Ate at Mc Donald´s. Saw Men In Black at Times Square.

Sunday July 6
Checked out from Banana Bungalow.
Had a cup of Coffe at a Café. Fashion photoshoot outside the window. The models changed clothes.
Took the Greyhound to Buffalo. Darryl was driving. Fast, but not so comfortable.

Monday July 7
Had breakfast in Buffalo: Coffe and donut. Went to Niagara Falls, Canada. By the falls they were filming an Indian rockvideo. Got on the bus in the evening.
Changed buses in Cleveland in the middle of the night. Pär had to sit next to Grandpa. An old geezer who took a lot of space and talked the whole trip.

Tuesday July 8
Chicago. Had breakfast at a genuine american breakfast-joint. Johannes was adressed as "honey" by the waitress. The pancakes tasted like paper.
A park-policeman told Emil not to skate on the parkbenches.
Checked in at the New Jackson Hotel. Est. 1898. The floor sloped and there were bloodstains on the sheet. Antique TV-set.
Ate at Mc Donald´s
Had a few beers at a sportsbar. Johannes got free beers from the bartendergirl. Went home 9 pm.

Wednesday July 9
Went to Aquarium and Planetarium. In the evening we met Anso and her friend Nina. Hung out with them on Navy Pier. We went up in Sears Towers after nightfall. Breathtaking view. Called Robin from the top of the world.

Thursday July 10
Checked out from New Jackson. Ate at Mc Donald´s.
Took the subway to Belmont Ave. Found a Sci-Fi/Fantasy-bookstore where we bought books. Emil disappeared. Found him at the Greyhoundstation. Went towards Memphis.

Friday July 11
Got to Memphis. Stored our bags at the station and went roomhunting. Hot. After searching the entire city we finally found King´s Inn 100 metres from the station. A genuine american Motel with pool and everything. Ate at Pizza Hut. Went to Mud Island and saw Memphis Bell. Emil bought a Gibson Les Paul for $600. Bought a 12-pack beer and went to the Blues & Heritage-festival.

Saturday July 12
Johannes and Pär went for a walk to Sun Studios. Emil and Jocke went to Graceland but they didn´t go in due to a 2½-hour line.
Took the New Orleans-bus in the evening.

Sunday July 13
Went over the world´s longest bridge on our way to New Orleans. Checked in at The India House. They had alligators in a pond. Ate at Mc Donald´s.

Monday July 14
Spended the day in the pool. Bought beer and drank it at the hostel. Ate at Mc Donald´s. Went to Bourbon St. Drank beer. Emil and Jocke went home to their beds. Johannes and Pär went to different obscure clubs.

Tuesday July 15
Johannes had a hangover. Emil got a tattoo on his right shoulder. Jocke bought a discman after dealing with the store-guy.
A carload of ladies asked Pär to write an address at an envelope, they should pull a joke on a friend. For the trouble they offered him $2. But Pär, the goodhearted, declined.



Wednesday July 16
Hung out at the hostel. Hung out at the Greyhoundstation. Embarked the bus to Austin.

Thursday July 17
Arrived in Texas. Took a cab to the street where we thought there would be some hostels. There weren´t any... Ate at Conans Pizza. Walked around with our backpacks for quite some time before we found a dorm to crash in.
Went to 6th St. and drank some. At a bar a man approached Pär and started to talk about murder and the police. Pär said he didn´t know what he was talking about. The thing was that they were about to make a film about a murder that had taken place 1966 and Pär looked like the guy who´d been murdered. The man wanted Pär to go to an audition a few days later. But since the gang were off to Dallas the next day, Pär had to abandon his moviecareer.

Friday July 18
Went to Dallas. Sang the Dallas-theme. Continued towards El Paso.

Saturday July 19
El Paso. Got a room. Went on a trolley to Mexico. Looked around. The borderpolice got confused when he learned that we hadn´t bought any liqour.

Sunday July 20
Went to Flagstaff (7000 ft above sea level). Got there in the evening, chilly. Checked in at an Inn.

Monday July 21
Rented a Nissan ($85) and headed for Grand Canyon. Nice trip to get there, it looked almost as Sweden. Went round the canyon and looked at it from different angles. Amazing.
Returned car. Got on the LA-bus.

Tuesday July 22
LA. Checked in at Hostel California, located at Venice Beach. Walked on the boardwalk. Saw a crew from Pacific Blue. Realized that a crazy german lived at the hostel.

Wednesday July 23
Walked to the beach. Looked at g-strings, big guys at Muscle Beach and inlining girls. Pär, Jocke and Emil ate at Taco Bell in Santa Monica and got upset stomachs. To prevent accidents they had to increase the walkingpace back home.
Saw two videos in the evening: Ransom and Jerry McGuire.

Thursday July 24
Looked for an Internetcafé. Found an Internetcafé. Had a big cup of coffe.
LA downtown.

Friday July 25
Took the bus to Hollywood. Had a glimpse at the sign between the houses. Ate at Mc Donald´s. Were audiance at Keenan Late Night Show. Guests: an actress from Melrose Place and a basketplayer/actor. Interesting.
Saw the premiere of Air Force One. The americans went crazy every time Harrison said a patriotic line.

Saturday July 26
Made swedish pancakes for breakfast. Went to the beach.
BBQ in the evening. All you could eat and drink for $8. Exactly what four guys from Sweden did, with a venegance. The police came at 2 pm and said "If you don´t keep quiet, the neighbours are going to shoot you". We calmed ourselves down. After that Jocke stepped up to the policeman and began a discussion about the policemans gun. Emil and Pär found it very amusing. Johannes weren´t in the picture, he was sleeping.

Sunday July 27
Emil went to San Francisco after a breakfast at Mc Donald´s. Jocke had a hangover. Went to the beach. On the way home Johannes and Pär bought inlines. They later skated for a while.

Monday July 28
Had breakfast at Mc Donald´s (again).
Took the bus to Universal Studios. Rode (among other things) Jurassic Park - The Ride and got really wet.

Tuesday July 29
Went to Las Vegas. Got there in the evening. Found a good hostel. Pooled a while. Checked out the city.

Wednesday July 30
Slept long. Looked at the city in the daytime. HOT.
Went to the southern end of The Strip, where all the casinoes are. Went from casino to casino. One or two cheap beers were drunken. Got home 4am.

Thursday July 31
Purchased some CD´s. Took the lift to the top of Stratosphere (fourth tallest building in USA). Ate buffet. Johannes had five desserts and got all stuffed. Checked a few more casionos. Big shows outside of Treasure Island and Mirage to lure people in. Saw Siegfried & Roy´s white tiger.

Friday August 1
Hot (41
o C). Hung at Fremont St. Got on the bus to San Francisco.

Saturday August 2
Got to SF. Missed the train to our friend Henrik. Had to wait for two hours at the station. After a one-hour trainride we arrived in Mountain View. Said hi to Henrik and his sister Petra. Weren´t king of the hill that day, due to a non-sleep busride.

Sunday August 3
Ate at an italian restaurant where they had a pepper-boy "Wanta di pepper?". Went to SF. Looked at sealions. Saw Alcatraz from a distance. Walked around in the Palace Of Fine Arts. Nice.


Monday August 4
Borrowed Henrik´s car and went with Petra to Big Basin State Park and saw Redwoodtrees. Big devils.
Had Pizza with Deanna in the evening.

Tuesday August 5
Went to SF. Jocke and Johannes saw a submarine. Pär and Petra went shopping for souvenirs. Took the bus to The Golden Gate Bridge, but we didn´t see much since it was all covered in fog. Got a tip from a lady to go to Chestnut St., went there.

Wednesday August 6
Didn´t do much. Saw Contact at a giant cinema.

Thursday August 7
Bought a 12-pack of beer and played Crazy Eight. Got crazy.

Friday August 8
Went to SF for some shopping. Jocke bought a Tommy Hilfiger-shirt at Macy´s. Went to an irish pub in Mountain View. Jocke sang with the band and got a CD from a girl. Some girls at our table thought we were strange. We explained that we were swedish, and then it all made sense to them.

Saturday August 9
Drove a while in the Palo Alto-mountains. Henrik gave us a ride to the airport. Got on the plane.

Sunday August 10
Back in Sweden again.