day #12

Nous quittons Sacramento tot le matin, direction Virginia City. La ville est nichée dans les montagnes, au fond d'un canyon. Ici, rien n'a changé depuis l'époque du far west, où chaque recoin de montagne a été fouillé pour son or et son argent. Une rue principale, bordée de vieux saloons et échoppes diverses, les trottoirs sont toujours en bois et nous croisons plusieurs cow-bys et sherrifs, habitants qui participent au folklore local. Il faudra savoir faire abstraction des marchands de souvenirs merdiques et autres casinos pour véritablement apprécier l'endroit (plus de photos à venir)
Sur le chemin de Sacramento, nous nous arrêtons au Lake Tahoe. Quelques minutes de répit sur la plage, le temps d'apprécier (de loin: la température de l'eau ne doit pas dépasser 15˚C!) les eaux turquoises du lac. Deux heures d'embouteillages plus tard, nous arriverons à Sacramento.
Je suis sous le charme de cette grande ville, paisible, douce, très verte. Le quartier historique donne là aussi un apercu de ce qu'était le far west.

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We left Reno early in the morning to visit Virginia City. This place has not changed since the 19th century, where all the area was being dug for its gold and silver. It's kind of cool to see the old saloons and wooden sidewalks! Of course, every single building is now a casino or a shop selling crappy souvenirs but it's still fun. I'll show you more pictures soon.
On our way to Sacramento, we stopped at Lake Tahoe, which was definitely a mistake: the place was over-crowded (day 12 was a sunday!), and it took us almost two hours to leave the lake area. It was nice though to stop for a while on a beach, rest a bit. The water over there is amazing, so clear and so blue; it really makes you want to put you bathing suit on and swim a bit... Which did not happen since the water was freezing and the wind was blowing. I did not even remove my sweater.
We arrived in Sacramento by the end of the day. The youth hostel where we stayed is probably the prettiest hostel ever. The building is an old victorian house. There are old ceramics, a gorgeous proch, a cool garden etc. I could go on and on for hours. Yes I did like the place very much :) The old Sacramento is really cool too. We walked for a while along the river, there are old boats, and old buildings. In some ways, I guess Sacramento reminds me of Savannah.