The day after New Year's Eve, I realized I hadn't blogged for the longest time! That's not because there hasn't been anything happening since Thanksgiving, but more because there has been a lot going on. As I had promised myself when I arrived in Chicago, I traveled within the US as much as possible. In order to keep things concise, I'll give a quick overview of the past month.
1st off, there was San Francisco...
And such a beautiful and intoxicating city it is! My sister and I had great French food at Cafe Claude, the city's best cafe au lait at Cafe de la Presse, good times on the old but still cool trams, had some dungeness crab and visited Alcatraz. Feel free to check out the pics!
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/SanFranciscoNov2007
Then, it was back to the Big Apple...
Gozde, Salvo and I made a dash to the Big Apple for a fabulous weekend. Visited most of the touristy stuff so we could show Salvo as much of NYC as possible in two days. We even managed to squeeze in some ice-skating, which I had never done in my life before. Just so you know, I suck at it! So, don't try and take me ice-skating... ever! Check out the pics!
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/NYCDec2007
Who said skiing in Vail was only for the famous...?
Seriously! The snow was fluffy, the weather was gorgeous, the company was fun, the food absolutely home-made and delicious-every single night. Our amazing organizer, Gozde, pulled it all together and we had a condo in Vail with a hot tub, swimming pool and sauna, which was about 5 min walking distance from the slopes. I had a half-day skiing lesson and got addicted so I'll definitely be hitting the slopes again sometime soon. Ice-skating I may suck at, but skiing comes naturally. ;) Pics, as always, are available:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/SkiingInVailCODec2007
A little stint in Toronto proved why Canada is called Canadia...
Toronto was, in one word, boring. The city had no spirit, wasn't interesting and had no charm whatsoever. Even the people living there looked a bit...umm...weird and suspicious in some way I can't explain. The only good thing that came out of it was my parents visiting their old friends who had emigrated here long ago and taking a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls. Feel free to pass up on Toronto and head to Quebec if you're ever in Canada.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/TorontoNiagaraFallsCanadaDec2007
Discover why Montreal and Quebec City rock...
These two cities are incredible... I was absolutely speechless when I saw the European grandeur in these two North American cities. Mind you, Quebec City is the oldest city in North America, who celebrated its 400th anniversary this New Year's Eve. The French influence is very strong here and the people of Quebec have a real sense of identity that's clear and strong, which separates them from your average Canadian. I was highly impressed with the standard of living, the care, love and respect they show for their cities, and their hospitality. The Quebecoises bent over backwards to speak in English when I couldn't converse in French. I would definitely visit these cities again, despite the -20C temperatures I had to endure.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/MontrAlQuBecJan2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/QuBecCityQuBecJan2008
So, there's my December 07 in a nutshell. Happy New Year to all of you and I hope to see you all very soon!!!
Bonne Annee!
No comments:
Post a Comment