Northern America 2024

18.7 - $5 in my pocket, a plane ticket and an exit stamp from the EU... SF here we come! Couldn't have wished for a warmer welcome by my friend. A personal chauffeur from the airport to home, a beer and charcuterie board and a trip to the store... Super lovely! Perverse food no.1: peanutbutter pretzels, as a peanutbutter aficionado my heart is again warming up for the US and its shared peanutbutter craze

19.7 - Exploring the SF Sunset district... Started the day with a Large Mocha and Hazulnut Chocolate Croissant, because sugar free is not the theme for the upcoming days. Afterwards I visited the beautiful windmills in the Golden Gate park and had a nice afternoon drink at the Sunset Reservoir Brewing Company, great beers and a great playlist 🕺 Afterwards we drove to David Lynch's Twin Peaks for s great view over the city, with not so great pictures 😅

20.7 - The quest for best bre burrito has started, first stop: some small Mexican place (why remember this when writing about it 😅). Tender eggs, juicy sausage and decent hot sauce; 8/10 Afterwards we're cruising down Highway 1, epic views of the ocean guaranteed, final destination: Santa Cruz! We cruised further and got an immediate case of Enochlophobia after seeing the parking queue and masses on the beach. The reward: an illegal beach beer and peanut butter covered ice cream 🤤

Cruisin' down the Highway 1 and drinking into that California sunset!

21.7 - The burrito quest continues, an out of focus one 🫣. A solid 9.5/10, amazing eggs, tasty bacon, juicy meat, delicious hot sauce... and a lasting food coma. We explored downtown SF, a quick detour into Chinatown gave a true sense of the massive mix of cultures. Unfortunately no space to try out exotic foreign food, the burrito was still settling in like a big baby. A visit to the Golden Gate bridge showcases the typical fogginess that often lurks in the San Franciscan skies.

22/23.7 - Delayes by two hours, Amtrak is inspired by Deutsch Bahn 🫣, we set off from SF to Portland. 18 hours through (epic) nature in a machine build from sheer American steel. The night in a coach seat was pretty rough due to a fumbling neighbor who couldn't find their turn while sleeping. The day was accompanied by cheap train coffee and weird american snacks. The amazing views though made me forget about all the nasty things and the journey went by faster than I could imagine.

24.7 - A day in Portland, the city young people retire in and I proclaim "hippest of hips". Staying in Nob Hill (Westside) it feels like every 10 minutes there is a hip coffee place and a craft beer bar. There are over 70 craft beer breweries in just Portland. I didn't try all the beers, verdict so far: Americans don't like strong tasting beers. The organized walking tour took is through Nob Hill, Pearl District and Downtown. Just a drop of ink on the map, but enough for now.

25/29.7 - Only though I've caught a glimpse of Toronto, I see many parallels to Berlin. Extreme diversity, lots of great places for food, decent public transport and legalized kannabis. Perhaps the hipster bakery with Turkish iced tea and simic with bagel-like toppings is something Berlin doesn't offer... yet 🤔 Staying on the border of little Ethiopia and Greektown was the best. Most time was spent around my friends wedding, which was awesome and the location offered amazing views (see 1).

28.7 - The only tourist goal I had for Toronto, seeing the Niagara Falls! After two broken trains, I see again inspiration from Deutsche Bahn, I arrived at the majestic falls. Even though the falls are in the US the best views are from the Canadian side, yay for me! I took the Hornblower experience, basically you get on a boat, everyone wears a red poncho, and collectively get wet with the mist of the main falls. Pretty awesome! 😍

30.7 - A 24hr layover allowed me to explore Montreal in just a little more then half a day. Spending some time in the Old Town, the European and French influences are very visible in the architecture. A brief visit to the Notre Dame could not be missed, its quite pretty on the inside. After that I headed to Le Plateau, a more pleasant neighborhood than Downtown, regular townhouses and many cafes and restaurants. The obligatory and heart-attack inducing Poutine from La Banquise was not skipped.

1.8 - A visit to the small, but cute Museo de Chocolate. It gives insights to the process of producing cacao and its value, often used as payments for trades and containing enough nourishments to drive armies. The first image shows the cocoa beans and the name of the cocoa plant in Nahuatl (the aztek language). The second shows a cocoa immersion room, all walls and the ceiling are covered in cocoa and the smell is intense, but good.