After spending the whole day at the bus station /welcome center of Merced I took the local bus up to the cabin mountain resort in Midpines (about 1 hour in the west of the np-entrance) in the evening. When I walked into the kitchen cabin I almost couldn't believe it: everybody but a woman from Hawaii and a guy from Wales was speaking german! Anyway, I didn't talk to them at all, but I remember that they thought me to be one of those crazy vegetarians because I was having two mangos for dinner. The next day I went to see those huge Sequoia- trees in the south of the Yosemite NP, and we hiked around for some hours, just accompanied by a raven and a bunch of deer, which were walking right next to us. Didn't see any bears or mountain lions- lucky me- I guess I would have mixed up all those nice advices they give you - how to behave if you encounter one of those animals: was it watch and slowly move away and lay down flat if attacked or make noise, throw stones and fight back ( how to fight back a mountain lion???) if attacked.....best way would be to have Katrin around and make her laugh every 5 minutes to frighten and warn all the animals which are somewhere around within 5 miles........I stayed one more day to see the Valley aswell, did a few smaller hikes around there as I was still struggling with a cold (it's always good to have an excuse), saw some waterfalls that were about to dry out. Probably 40 percent of the people passing by in the valley were speaking german, are there any germans left over there in germany?? Went on to San Francisco on Sunday- and finally made it to the ocean! The first day over there I just walked along the waterfront up to Pier 39, where all those restaurants are selling fresh seafood, and there are some candy & chocolate stores.....they all tried to torture me with those fantastic smells......kept on walking till I finally reached the Golden Gate Bridge- just in time- because the fog was coming in...I crossed the bridge and when I walked back many asian tourists were taking pictures of the fog were I had taken pictures of the bridge just an hour ago. Didn't take the cable car, but walked up and down all those hills instead and stayed till Wednesday to be able to go to Alcatraz aswell. Left San Francisco last evening and headed straight to L.A., took the bus down to Venice Beach...and here I am...wasn't allowed to check in yet because I arrived at 8 a.m. , so I just took off my shoes and walked down to the beach....well it's 1 p.m. now, maybe I should give it a try to check in now, before I fall asleep on this library seat. That's my last week over here, next thursday I'll be in New Zealand, maybe I should start to do some research about NZ!?!?