California

Antoine's view

From San Francisco Harbor, used to sail the tall ships, and tourists come and visit the most winding street in the world, Lombard Street. San Francisco has many picturesque houses.
It also boasts the famous Fisherman?s wharf where you can eat loads of crabs, as well as San Francisco?s Icon : the Golden Gate Bridge. One crosses it today to reach Sausalito and the natural park of Muir Woods, . Where the giant redwoods climb to the sky

Heading south, we have a literary appointment in the small harbor of Monterey, with the writer who made Cannery Row famous with the book by this title, Where he paints the life of endearing characters in the wake of the fishing industry. It?s John Steinbeck, the author of ?grapes of Wrath?; his effigy can be found everywhere in Monterey.

While these children have an appointment with the ocean I another ancient cannery has been buit the wonderful Monterey Aquarium. Where one can watch among other marine creatures those that could well become one day the sole inhabitants of our overfished, jellyfish. Led by scientists, one can also admire the immense forests of seaweed called kelp that thrives along the shores of Monterey Peninsula, especially at Punta Lobos, a nature reserve, home to seals and sea lions who come to bask in the .

Southern Monterey Peninsula's climate is very pleasant, and the small town of Carmel by the Sea has become a popular tourist destination, it has a beautiful beach, overhung with cypress.

Lovers of peace can find, in the streets of Carmel friendly "bed and breakfast" such as the Vagabond house Inn. It gathers, around a small patio planted with beautiful plants, comfortable rooms, each with its own fireplace. Nearby, san Carlos Borromeo Mission is one of the 21 missions built in the days when California belonged to Mexico.

The road that follows southward the pacific shores cross another park, the spectacular region of Big Sur, that enjoyed great favor among supporters of a return to nature and meditation in the seventies. Here also lives the memory of the great writer Henry Miller who has lived many years in Big Sur. The road along the shore of Big Sur reveals spectacular scenery. It is so steep that one must use many viaducts

The road takes us to Southern California, heralded by vast beds of California poppies. In San Luis Obispo, do not miss a place that I found by the merest chance a good thirty years ago; the extraordinary hotel called Madonna Inn. I do not think I ever saw in the world a hotel decorated in such an original way, a kind of temple to ?American good taste?. Madonna Inn washinh basins are shells of giant clams, and the urinals are a small waterfall. But most extraordinary are the rooms, all different: Prehistoric cave, Wild West, Exotism. Customers often book a year in advance their favorite room

Santa Barbara, where does your beauty come from ? Probably from the time when the Spaniards built there the magnificent "Queen of Missions". The earliest buildings date from 1786, but they were rebuilt after an earthquake. A very peaceful atmosphere reigns in the mission?s walled gardens.

Santa Barbara?s sea front is just as beautiful. A sculpture of Dolphins welcome visitors at the wharf, where one goes to dream of one day sailing to distant islands, or only to eat lobsters, and huge and delicious crabs.