Tuesday, 29th of April: Carmel

The city of the beautifull and the rich has a quite a special atmosphere: Palms, hills, and, over and over again, a dreamlike vieuw of the Pacific. Here one can meet Richard Gere while shopping, because many Hollywood stars live here, undiscovered from paparazzi and fans. (Unfortunately, I have not met him). Here Grady had put his stamp on many houses, in exterior design as well as in interior design. Carmel and Pacific Grove are built, like San Francisco, on numerous hills and many properties have a dreamlike view of the pacific ocean. Many residential areas are „gated “, so guarded areas which one can enter only by a controlled entrance gate. Houses cost up to 10 million dollars on these gated community´s.

Grady led us into what he called a „Discovery shop “, a Second hand shop in which rich people deliver her worn clothes (predominantly good brands). They are sold here in favour of the American cancer foundation. One can get leather jackets here for 15 dollars. Salinas, about the same distance from Paul and Gradys house as Carmel, is the opposite of this glamour. Today Salinas in which John Steinbeck the famous writer was born shows a high crime rate. Here there is a lot of rivaling gangs that are up to a lot of bad things including murder.