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Monday, 14 October, the weather is beautiful today (again!) but before you go on an adventure, the first stop of the day is... breakfast! No buffet like the first morning, but breakfast like the European with croissant, toast, coffee and... watermelon ?!?

After filling the stomach, direction, without surprise, the bus! We pass next to the Golden Gate Bridge ... with the weather, the colors are bright and the bridge is put in value and... oh joy! A photo stop! Neither one nor two, I hop the bus and go for a photo in red, green and blue session:

I already had a little yesterday about this famous bridge. One could even say so many things but I doubt that the history of the construction of the bridge piece by piece interests many people. So, I'll just show you some pictures (including a cable suspension bridge... with a diameter of about 1m, totaling umpteen thousands of brown steel cable is impressive but... it must be to support all this mass of concrete and steel without even counting vehicles and the safety margin so that the bridge does not come loose in the first earthquake (because we are on a zone seismic risks).

After these 45 minutes we're back off the road. Our destination for the day: 17 miles drive along the Pacific coast and connects Carmel in Monterey. But for that, we need to get there and we have some way to go before it... To begin, we follow the ocean.

Back in the land with a stint in the Silicon Valley ( Silicon Valley (in relation to the micro-electronics and computer ) and not silicon valley as one might think ). This well known to be the largest in the world (whether the computer level as at the beginning or adding biotechnology, energy, micro-electronics, nano-technologies and much of advanced technology center where other technologies ). It was in 1971 that this place took the unusual name with a local journalist (Don Hoefler ) because of the high density computer company and manufacturing of micro-components ( processors, resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc...). However, this region is not no city has a mayor ( the honorific title and historical only): Robert Noyce ( inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel). After a slump ( like lamps ... empty ! (Who were the ancestors of the transistor )), Silicon Valley took a boost with the arrival of Web 2.0 companies as well as the arrival of those in the biotechnology and renewable energy. Today , Silicon Valley has a GDP equivalent to that of Chile and has over 2 million inhabitants and more than 6,000 companies. Among which , here are the best known : Adobe , AMD, Apple , Asus, Cisco Systems , Dolby , Ebay, Electronic Arts, Facebook , Google, Intel , Microsoft, Nvidia , SanDisk , Sony, Tesla Motors , Sun Microsystems or Yahoo!.
We can not stop (too bad) I will just take a photo on the fly of the Adobe building :

About 50 minutes from Carmel (our first stop), a strange cloud is visible on the horizon:

As we got closer to Carmel, we see that it is a fire, and soon takes a light orange tint while we are under the cloud of smoke. The latter extends gradually over tens or even hundreds of square kilometers. Some do not lead off the bus because the fire is very close to our place stop lunch. And helicopter firefighting dwarfed over the fire.

Once in Camrel, rain welcome us ... but not composed of water, no rain this one is made ​​of ash and I must admit that the atmosphere is unique and it gives slightly disturbing. To complete the picture, the orange light and a wildlife we welcome:

After showing us the restaurant where we eat at noon, Marc gives us a little time to stroll around. There, thanks to the lumièe fire, a fantastic atmosphere where colors, warmed by the light colors have a little Martian but especially perfect for this small city without oppresence the beginning:

Just before arriving at the restaurant, beautiful Disney figurines resin attract my eye in a shop window (Lilo & Stitch, Tinkerbell, and a mix of Fantasia)

Before eating, some info on Carmel (Carmel-by-the-Sea if you want to be fair) because this city deserves a little more attention than it seems at first:
Carmel is a small town of Monterey Peninsula (mapped by the Spanish in 1602) now boasts 3'722 inhabitants. This small town is known mainly for art. For as Pont-Aven in Britany, this city was home and still houses many paintings , photographs (mostly) and writers as well as theaters and exhibition halls in every corner . I must say that the place is cute and houses seem to most attractions dreams and medieval legends . But the charm of this city does not stop to it (which would be the already much) : Carmel is also a colony of Art ( Carmel Arts Colony ) where artists come to flourish, but we also count the music festival in Carmel, for 3 weeks each year since its inception in 1935 .
For the anecdote : it is forbidden ( in the law of Carmel ) to walk with heels more than 2 inches high ( 5.08cm ) and / or with a base of heel less than 1 square inch ( 2.54cm²).
It is also interesting to know that the city has to settle several known characters . Including: Roy Chapman Andrews (shiny paléontlogue and explorer who discovered fossils of Velociraptors and brooding eggs in dinosaurs carnivors during his expeditions to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia There fu also the first to discover dinosaur eggs . . ) Clint Eastwood ( a well known westerns (among others) actor and director of several films. He was also the mayor of Carmel from 1986 to 1988 ), George Sterling ( poet ) Robert Louis Stevenson ( writer ) and so many others...
Knowledge, it whets your appetite, here is the restaurant, with compounds of fish dishes (my only regret: that the plate is not larger):

After the meal, we have an hour for us still walk in Carmel before taking the road 17 miles drive. The sky has cleared and it seems that the fire was stopped go. Seeing a small store of stones and minerals, I decided to enter and... I find myself arguing with the seller, a nice older man. Discussion on the stones, but also on the fossils, and ultimately of France, where I come from, etc... I did it bought anything but visit was worth the shot. Then a short break with a couple a statue :

A car rangers of Carmel :

During this free discovery walk, Mark accompanied me a moment to show me the small exhibition galleries photos of Carmel. And there really has to every corner! I think we could summarize Carmel like this: 20% of homes, 20% of shops / restaurant / administration, 20% expo paint, 20% Photo Expo and 20% of literary expo. But hey, you have to understand, we do not live in a city like no find themselves quickly make art. A simple storefront or home, a small fountain or a hub and some could spend days on ...

It's time to get back on track on the 17 miles drive. At the entrance, I noticed that the trees have long corolla foam in the branches and around actually... This comes as the humidity is so high that the foam can push this way. it reminds me of the tree swamps in movies...

17 miles drive ... 27km road between the beach and the forests of cypress and pine trees. Moreover, little wink, the names of Monterey Cypress in French, it is the Cypress of Lambert (hello cousins​​!).
This route allows you to see seals and cormorants quite ready and beautiful properties (and renowned golf courses: Cypress Point golf courses, Spyglass Hill, Poppy Hills, Monterey peninsula dunes or Pebble beach golf links). Mark also tells us that the price per square meter of land here, is close to $ 500. Which explains why it is only the rich to be able to settle here.
They are however not so quiet it given the large number of visitors each year come to drive the 17 miles. I must say that the view is great and not too wild animals!

After a first stop on a small beach to see the seals , we took the road and arrive at the Lone Cypress . The Lone Cypress ( one of the famous Monterey cypress ) . It is aptly named , standing on a rock like that for about 250 years! Become the symbol of Pebble beach long ago , this is the most photographed north america ( which I thought it was the giant sequoias ... ) tree. It is so well known that when one must make a show on the surrounding coast is always here that the shooting took place . The tree was so well known that the authorities have decided drive 17 miles in 1990 , the tree was now under copyright and they forbade all trade use photo or video of the tree (whether in movies , TV series , documentaries , photos, etc ... ) and even paintings! It brought a lot of problems already for intellectual property of the artists that capture the tree but also for the visuals which had summers made ​​before the filing of copyright .
To date, the debate still rage goshawks rights on this tree. ''It's like ban to photograph the Grand Canyon'' ... Pebble Beach Company ( who owns the field 17 miles drive ) is paying almost $ 10 entry ( what is, seen landscapes available to us) but prohibits all commercial use for this visual tree under two excuses : 1) a photo / video / paint can not make the actual beauty of the site and that is to make an image-lie. And 2) an image of this tree can be confusing with their own logo tree. Imagine that Canon (or Nikon or Leica or other make of camera ) filed a copyright on the design of a camera. Can you imagine what it would be like situations? PLus person would be entitled to sell devices with even a very approximate shape of a camera or take pictures / movies / logo / paintings, etc ... We eventually have another form for cameras , but what mess it would be ...
In the meantime, here are my pictures of the place, it is found that , by the merest chance , a tree resting on a rock at the water's edge was there too , what a pity ... luckily it was not voluntary and that is in no way about me on the photos ... (not ... but I swear there are times neuronnes shots that get lost ... ) .

Nearby, there are also other cool things to see: mossy trees (swamps game Left4Dead example ... brrrrr, shoo zombies!) Or pine and Monterey cypress on the coast.

A quick stop at a dealer in California wines and then return to the hotel for a little rest before dinner and visit.

In fact resting, we make a kind of drink in the lobby of the hotel. Philippe and Marc had already prepared a small same event while we were in Vegas and they are at it again in the early evening. After this drinking-interlude (oops, shh!), tonight we'll eat in an old restaurant in san francisco to the sound of jazz. opposite, another restaurant offering jazz also with its neon signs. As we are by the sea, we will be entitled, without much surprise ... fish!

Once the meal is finished, two groups are formed: one who has free time and the other is ready for release. It is in the latter that I am and ... our vehicle is advanced: a Hummer limousine. 12m long, room for 12-15 people... the sound in background and lights everywhere. This vehicle is magic for entertaining or delirium ... but it costs an arm.

After a trip to the park blue (blue park) Treasure Island (Treasure Island), we take a glass of champagne before the California San Francisco Bay at night. This is a great moment of calm after the last 9 days to run around and I must say it is not unpleasant.

After that time on Treasure Island, we have a part of the city of San Francisco to visit at night again. and we go to the town hall illuminated in purple while the moon shines its roof.

Then it is time to return to the hotel, this is our last night in San Francisco but also in the USA. We take our little car and ...

...to bed ! Tomorrow morning we will be busy for a very short day and return to France.

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