Much, much, later...
There’s not a lot to report on the final few hours of the flight. We both closed our eyes and tried to block out the world, but would hardly call it sleeping. As wide and comfy as the PE seats may be, they ain’t no Upper Class bed! Having said that, I don;t recall much clock watching so the time must have passed quickly enough.
The 10hr 05min flight ended up nearer ten-and-a-half hours as we were stacked, circling Reading several times. As spotted by Carl....
Ground formalities at Heathrow were done in a breeze and the bags soon appeared meaning we were kerbside within half an hour. I left Kay basking in the unseasonably warm sunshine we’d returned to and went to the bus station to collect the car. Everything at the hotel was in order, so half an hour later we were on the M4 on our way out of the airport.
First stop for coffee and to gather our wits was at Beaconsfield services on the M40 where there just happens to be a 24 hour SBs! From there we plodded north with a further stop at Leicester Forest East where I decided it’d be very unwise to try and get any further without a cat nap. The opportunity was taken to refuel ourselves with a snack from Burger King, and our respective fridges with milk etc. from Waitrose.
No major disasters befallen either of our abodes - though in both cases half a rain forest had been deposited through the letterbox.
Final Thoughts
I have been asked several times since I’ve got back whether I’ll be going to San Francisco again. The short answer is ‘yes’, but it’s no longer top of my list of US cities to visit. That’s no reflection on the city or its area, simply I see it as an itch that’s been scratched for now. The Pacific coast remains a strong attraction based on our time in Half Moon Bay and its environs - so a Pacific Coast Highway road trip may be on the cards some time... Seattle anyone!?
Residents of San Francisco, and what we saw of northern California, struck me as naturally very friendly and helpful - most often totally unsolicited and without the expectation of anything in return. I suspect some of the manufactured “have-a-nice-day” boloney that is inflicted upon the world originates from California based organisations but gets dilutes somewhat in its sincerity along the way.
I was struck by the leisurely pace of driving, even on the few freeways we used - though again this may be function of the time of day etc. We didn’t do much rush hour driving. I think the ubiquitous Stop sign may be partly responsible for this. I’ve spoke against the US obsession with this traffic management tool in the past and remain of the view that if poorly sighted are more of a liability than an aid. However, once the concept of first-come-first-served of a four-way Stop is grasped, they do lead to a kind of resignation that translates to simply not bothering to try and rush anywhere.
Best meal: Tarantino’s in Fisherman’s Wharf, simply for the view, with The Counter burger a close-run second.
Most memorable experience: First close up experience of the Pacific from Francis Beach in Half Moon Bay - made all the more special by the company, of course. Visiting the Apple Company Store gets an honourable mention in this category.
Things I’d have done differently: Stopped the rain - though that’s probably setting the bar a little high. Realistically, and partly because of the weather, I think if we’d picked the car up on the Saturday and moved out of San Francisco a day earlier we’d have had a better weekend. Oh well.
San Francisco is highly recommended, as is the Argonaut Hotel (thanks Bernie, Sue & Jim for the tip).
We're on our way home
A combination of two large bottles of beer from the convenience store last night (could you tell with the writing?) and general disorganisation with the diary etc. meant it was gone 01:00 before I turned in. That meant Kay was up and ready a fair while before me this morning. Even so, we’d packed and were ready to roll by 08:00. It was a beautiful sunny morning, though the doom & gloom on the tv wasn’t far away as apparently tomorrow is going to be another stormy day. Oh dear.
Having dumped the cases in the car - another huge advantage of our own transport - we strolled along Main Street and over San Mateo County’s first ever concrete bridge dating from 1900 - facts proudly recorded on a plaque. On the other side of the bridge is the Half Moon Bay Coffee Company.
This establishment kindly provided us with an excellent breakfast which, by the time we’d done swapping stuff we liked/disliked between us, amounted to an egg & bacon bagel for Kay and hash browns, bacon and toast for me. Washed down by coffee, of course, given the name of the establishment.
Back to the car, having witnessed a bit of a traffic jam in Main Street caused by a Budweiser delivery to the ‘Emporium”. I comment on this as Half Moon Bay, even on a Tuesday morning, gives such an impression of laconic peacefulness that two cars waiting amounts to a traffic jam!
We set off north along Highway 1 - the Pacific Coast Highway. First stop was HMB’s twin settlement just up the coast where there is a cluster of hotels, a marina, the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company (shame it was too far to walk!) and an airport. The ocean views here, despite spawning an hotel of that monicker, are not brilliant as the Pacific is tamed somewhat by the marina. Not a shabby corner of the world though.
Still onwards toward Pacifica with a further photo stop at a State Beach [with no internet as I type this, I can’t look up names - see the map on Flickr of the photos when they’re uploaded]. This was just as stunningly beautiful as every other location we’ve chosen to watch and listen to the ocean. There were very few people about, despite the free car park being right next to a major highway.
A little further north there is a huge building project going on to tunnel through the headland as, quite clearly, they are expecting the ocean to claim the highway sometime in the future. Lots of shoring up work has evidently gone on (and continues) but sooner or later it is clear there’s only so much humanity can do to stop nature.
Pacifica is a bit of a dump. We went down to the sea front mainly as somewhere to stop and consult the map. The most striking thing about Pacifica Pier is it appears to be a pick up point for casual labourers meaning there were a lot of gruff looking men hanging around.
We decided that we were as far north as we wanted/needed to be, so set a course in the SatNav to take us to the Hillsdale Shopping Center at San Mateo, where we were on Sunday. Kay has something she wishes to return to Old Navy for exchange - and that’s as much excuse I need to visit a mall with Barens & Noble, SBs and an Apple Store! This was the only time on the trip I’d bothered with the SatNav for anything other than its ‘moving map’ capabilities. I have to be honest and say I’d have never managed the twisty route over hill to the Bay side of the Peninsular without it.
Kay’s mission in Old Navy was accomplished while I mooched in B&N, so we wandered the length of the mall looking at bits we missed on Sunday. SBs looked full and we were both still coffeed-up from breakfast, so we passed it by. Shock! Instead we decided to look in Sears as this was one of the big brands which hadn’t received our attention this trip. As our bags were packed (albeit with a bit of spare capacity in my case) I certainly wasn’t intent on buying. Kay’s philosophy is if it’s a bargain then damn the logisitics, so she was on her marks as we entered. I wandered into the men’s department and was quite taken by the prices. So when I saw a rail of coats, despite not being in the market for one, I had a cursory look. One in particular looked up my street, a microfibre Covington bomber style jacket with pockets in all the right places and it fitted perfectly (long arms and all). When I saw it was marked down from $100 to $19.99, it had to be mine!
The irony of having survived the rainy days in nowt but a fleece and/or a lightweight jacket and then buying a bloody good coat on the last day (which was sunny) was not lost on me.,
Kay got as far as queueing at the checkout for something, but decided against it in the end, so it was only me who contributed to Sears’ turnover today. Back along the mall, resisting to visit the Apple store as I’m wearing a polo shirt bought in the Company Store yesterday, and that would be just too nerdy even for me.
Back at the annex to Hillsdale where we’d parked, there is a place called The Counter . This is a “custom burger” restaurant. On entering we were given small clipboards on which a pad of forms is mounted. The idea is you go through the form, ticking the meat for the burger, the size, the method of cooking, the bread, the toppings, the relishes. etc. The entire thing is custom made to order. There’s a conventional menu on the back of the clipboards too, but I thought it was a really good idea. This, of course, is from the world’s faddiest eater and the opportunity to keep things plain and simple whilst adding the things I like was excellent. [It lead me to think how this ought to be extended to an iPhone App - and how it could include payment and ordering of all food & drink. I’m very sure Mr. Jobs is way ahead of me on this one and I expect to see this sort of ordering appearing very soon]. This was a good start, however.
The burger when it arrived was to die for. Kay was slightly less adventurous having a cheese and ham sandwich, but that is probably due to a decent breakfast just a few hours before and less of a gluttonous nature than me. It seemed to go down well though. We’d ended up skipping the idea of a last night steak, by the way, so this was my substitute!
Then it was all over. Time to retrace our steps onto Hwy101 and turn in the car. When we left it we’d managed the grand total of 189 miles. Check in was quick and easy. I’d tried Online Check In both last night and this morning but the system wouldn’t let me. The desk agent told us that was because the flight is full. In any event, we were allocated bulkhead seats - 18H & K, so as well as wide seat we’ve ample leg room too. Premium Economy resulted in us getting access to the Priority line at security, but as it happened, it wasn’t busy and we had plenty of time, so it counted for nothing. The screening at SFO is the new all body scanners, with an option of a pat-down if you’re queasy about the security staff seeing your bits! Seems a bit of a slow and cumbersome process, but I guess it’s effective in the end?
Things took a slightly sour turn at this point as we decided to spend our remaining currency in the news/gift shop. Turned out we were a dollar short of what we’d selected. Not a problem, just take off the packet of sweets, I suggested. Oh no, the clerk said in a barely comprehensible accent, once it’s scanned only a manager can take it off, we would have to pay on a card! I invited him to call a manager then, and when he declined I suggested in my own way he could keep the lot and went to walk out. Kay was more diplomatic and fished in her purse for shrapnel, ending up paying the balance in what looked like a handful of dimes! The queue building behind us was not happy, I wasn’t happy and the clerk couldn’t give a shit. Rules is Rules. Regular readers may recall I had a bit of a strop with airport retail flunkies at JFK last time. I leave room for the possibility it is me, but this was the first even remotely awkward episode in the trip. I suspect it is the airport culture of slavish adherence to procedures which is at least partially to blame.
The rest of the time waiting for the flight passed by. We were waiting at a gate shared with Virgin America whose gate staff are certainly characters. A PA call for some missing passengers on a flight for Dallas described them as “awesome customers and we’d really hate to leave with out you. Please, please, please hurry up as the gate is closing in exactly one minute”. The LA flight was leaving from the next gate and it was interesting to watch and listen to how they were cajoling, then bribing, then “mandoing” the passengers to check their larger rollalongs, “because we’re really really full today”.
Our flight boarded at 18:00, pushed back at 18:40 and was wheels up at 19:00, heading along the Bayside and over some of the ground we’d covered yesterday before getting up into the cloud. About half an hour in, Kay pointed out the window to the snow on the ground - my camera’s GPS was still on and it revealed this to be Reno, Nevada. By then it was getting dark and that was about it for the view.
The meal was served pretty quickly to allow folk to get their heads down and was half decent. Served on real crockery and with real cutlery is the main distinction of Premium Economy - with a greater amount of attentiveness as well. Baileys or Brandy after dinner is something that doesn’t happen a the back, either!
Time to try and get some sleep now, I think..
A Day of Varieties
We set off southwards along the Pacific coast via Rt.1. The Pacific Coast Highway is called the Cabrillo Highway in these parts and is clearly a road which has the potential to be the “drive of a lifetime”. The ten miles or so we did today were scenic even in the greyness of a heavy drizzle. Those miles took us to the San Gregorio State Beach where we pulled into the car park for a look at the wild Pacific. From there we headed inland along Rt84, up the hillside toward La Honda.
Much of this road is lined by forest or woodland, and though there is a community up here on the very twisty roadway, it is virtually invisible in the trees. This makes it quite spooky as it is evident there are people living here but they are largely invisible to the passer by.
At the top of the ridge that runs along the San Francisco Peninsular we turned right onto Rt. 35, the Skyline Boulevard. Though out of the tree line, we were still enveloped in cloud so the views up there were limited. The GPS on my camera reported our location as San Meteo County Jail, which kind of added to the melodrama.
Our route took us south along the ridge, then down into Saratoga via Rt. 9. It was bizarre that almost as soon as we hit civilisation in the form of Saratoga Village that the grey dampness gave way to brighter weather. The reality is this is unlikely to be a coincidence - the forefathers of today’s Americans weren’t daft and knew full well where to build and where not to!
From here we were in high density urban sprawl - part of San Jose. I confess my map reading and the “helpfulness” of the SatNav failed to gel and we spent some time exploring western San Jose that wasn’t planned. No drama, however, and before long we were entering Cupertino.
Though by now my planned route and the map were coinciding, I was in the left-most of three lanes as we passed Infinite Loop on the right, so a U Turn was required. To several people’s consternation, including both mine and Kay’s, my initial attempt at this involved a freeway access not intended for such purposes. I realised my error immediately and recovered from the faux pax before any harm was done or horns sounded.
I had no real idea what to expect of Apple Corporate Headquarters. I’d heard tell of The Company Store and that it was accessible to the public, but it seemed too good to be true that mere mortals such as us could wander un-announced into the hallowed precincts of One Infinite Loop. Turns out, sure we can. There’s a visitors car park (full, but a party of Japanese tourists soon left to make way for us). Thereafter, Tom, Dick, Harry, Dave or Kay can happily wander into The Company Store and browse to their heart’s content - and pose for photos into the bargain. We resisted presenting ourselves at reception and asking to see Jonny Ive, but I suspect we wouldn’t have been the first if we had!?
Other than in limited numbers when Apple stores first open, when they give them out for free, Apple stores don’t sell T shirts. (I have a Bull Ring T shirt, having queued for that particular store’s opening). The Company Store, therefore, is the only one in the world where Apple T shirts or mementoes can be bought. They come in a multitude of designs, but the coolest is the simple message “I visited the Apple campus. But that’s all I can tell you” with the logo on the back. To confirm my self-declared status of a FanBoi I spent over $100 here - though I spread my obsession among various friends/relatives! The thing is that whilst we were far from alone, given that this is effectively a fully functional Apple store, it wasn’t exactly packed. Nor does it appear unusual for such a “pilgrimage” to be made.
As we headed northward we came to the community of Sunnyvale. First stop here was a plaza that not only hosted a Starbucks, but had a Borders which was not closing (big wow!). We frequented both in our time here. Borders has a coffee shop - “Seattle’s Best Coffee”, which is a subsidiary of Starbucks, and both establishments provide free WiFi. Borders was almost empty while the SBs was packed, so we had to wait a while with our drinks before we got a table. The majority of people filling the ‘real’ SBs, however, were very clearly using it as their office, leeching the free WiFi and rarely buying anything. This is a longterm dilemma for retailers in this sector - how to provide a service for their customer without being used by parasites like those occupying 90% of the seats in this particular branch.
Still in Sunnyvale we followed the signs to “Downtown Sunnyvale (Open for Business)”, mainly as this was the location of a HUGE Target store and Kay wanted a return visit after seeing the one at The Shops at Tanforan. This held Kay’s attention for half an hour, but mine for fifteen minutes - the balance being spent exploring the rest of Downtown Sunnyval.e. Turns out that other than a Macy’s (which I didn’t actually find) the rest of Downtown Sunnyvale comprises of blocks of condos and the large steel skeletons of only partially built shops - victims, no doubt, of the recession.
Continuing northwards brought a reunion with Rt 82 - El Camino Real which I mentioned earlier in the trip. Quite a long drive through various communities - including Mountain View. Our audio accompaniment for the journey had been KFOX, a classic rock station serving both San Francisco and San Jose and it barely put a musical foot wrong all day. I mention this as the DJ was talking of a sponsored bike ride at this point which was being held at the Google campus, pretty much as we were at our nearest to it. Not inspired to visit though!
Our route took us past Sanford University close to which was a mall which caught our eye. This, it seems, is where the well heeled and well to do of academia spend their money. As well as high grade ‘anchor’ stores of Macys, Bloomingdales and Nieman Marcus, the mall hosts Cartier and countless other top dollar brands (including Apple, of course!). It is an outdoor strip mall with many floral displays and water features - perhaps the most elaborate and well presented mall I’ve ever encountered.
Still onwards and by now in search of lunch, we found a Wendy’s by accident as I missed the turn for Rt. 84 in Redwood City. We both had a “Baconator combo” (bacon cheese burger) which was surprisingly tasty and really filled the spot. From there I found Rt.84, the junction being cunningly hidden from the south and not exactly easy to get at from the north either. Once on Rt.84, it promptly disappeared, being signed by its various road names, until west of the I-280. Beyond there it climbs quickly and is incredibly twisty, continuing to do so as it reaches Skyline Blvd (Rt.35) where we turned right.
As the name might suggest, this route has several “Scenic Vistas”, though mainly due to trees, none of these are brilliant. That said, for the most part the trees themselves ‘make’ the scenery.
This route took us back to Half Moon Bay (which I’m going to follow local convention and abbreviate as HMB from here on in). The last few miles into town along Rt.92 were nose-to-tail with traffic for some reason - being 17:00 and rush hour may have been part if it? When we eventually reached HMB, instead of turning left into Downtown, we went north along Rt.1 a little way. We turned off at eh Venice Blvd beech turn where the sunshine and slightly abated wind made it a pleasant few minutes of photography. The Frenchman’s Creek river meeting the ocean added to the drama of the backdrop.
After that we decided our caffeine levels had dropped so returned to HMB and explored the Strawflower Village collection of shops. The Bay Book Store was a draw for several reasons - not least as it is to play host to a book signing on Thursday by Ian Rankin (“Rebus” etc.) - the only appearance he is doing in the SF area, it seems. I repaid the favour of browsing time therein by buying a $10 on the history of HMB - which I found interesting on leafing through.
From there we spent half an hour or so in the HMB Starbucks, which allowed me to wipe the iPad floor with Miss T at Scrabble. Our use of the iPad attracted the attention of a senior gentleman (who resembled Ernest Borgnine) whom had recently acquired an iPad2 which he brandished for us. His question to us related to covers - which I tried to answer but it seems he’d been fobbed off by being told what he wanted was simply out of stock.
By now it was close to sunset, so we drove to Francis Beach - where we’d first encountered the Pacific yesterday afternoon. Though not quite as bad as yesterday, cloud again served to limit the effect of the sunset.
Back to the room via various establishments for chat, beer, iPad games and tv, including ‘All New” Hawaii Five-O.
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Guess what: It’s raining hard - again :-(
Pacific Coast
We got ourselves sorted & packed and were checked out by around 10:00. I had toyed with the idea of leaving Kay to guard the bags somewhere in Fisherman’s Wharf while I went and got the car. In the end I decided against that plan on the grounds that an event called Sunday Streets would see the Embarcadero closed all day. This event, apparently modelled on something that happens every Sunday in Bogota, Columbia, will see this main road given over entirely to pedestrians. The practical impact of this scheme would be to make access to Fisherman’s Wharf quite challenging for a novice to navigating San Francisco.
Even Plan B would have been difficult had we left it much later as the F-line street cars were also to be suspended with Muni buses substituted. To me, that made what was on the face of it a reasonable idea completely stupid - to stop (or at least severely disrupt) the main artery of a tourist area is madness. But, hey-ho... At least the street cars were still running when we needed them.
The trip to the airport was smooth and painless, if fairly slow due to the limited frequency of Sunday public transport. Eventually we made it to the Dollar rental desk at SFO and completed the formalities. We have a Chevrolet Malibu with 17.049 miles on the clock, CA license 6LUC342. Kay was duly briefed on her duty to constantly remind me to drive on the right and to assist in working out what the speed limit might be at any given point.
Having found out what (most of) the buttons and dials did, we tentatively hit the road. It was as I joined a relatively empty Hwy 101(Bayshore Freeway) that I thanked myself for the foresight of arranging to do this on a Sunday morning! Any other time this would be a baptism of fire, but as it was it allowed me to get back into the swing of things once more. Another thought which was crossing my mind at this point was that it was nearly Noon and we’d not even had breakfast...
Rather than follow Kay’s navigation toward Half Moon Bay (I’d foolishly agreed to hire a SatNav with the car but it was off at this stage on the grounds it was already annoying me!) I chose to divert off our route onto El Camino Real (Rt 82). This is the San Francisco peninsular’s central street and is mainly lined by commercial premises. As if by magic, this took us to Hillsdale Shopping Center at SanMateo. The fact that I’d noticed a few days ago when looking at the lie of the land that there was an Apple Store here is entirely coincidental!
First stop was the food court and after a restroom call it was time for lunch. We both had a Philly Cheesesteak from the Real Steak & Potato Company - though I went for the foot long version compared with Kay’s more refined 7”. Very pleasant they were too! Apparently our choice made a lady at the next table hungry as she explained whilst engaging us in conversation as her children finished off the corn dogs they’d been treated to.. I mention this only as it typically illustrated a distinct character trait we’ve identified in San Francisco locals of engaging total strangers in conversation - something which is a rarity in other urban areas?
There was some Lego sponsored event going on which perhaps explained why at one point as we walked through the mall we were being followed by a Jedi Knight. The Apple store had a notice prominently displayed explaining they had no iPad2 stock, but there was no line here. Otherwise it was a typical medium size mall Apple store.
In an annex to the mall there is a Barnes and Noble next door to Old Navy. Inevitably this led to a separation of our ways at this point. I stocked up with magazines and Kay stocked up with clothes. Together we did our bit for the Bay Area economy. We regrouped in the in-store Starbucks at Barnes and Noble and compared purchases. Oh, and Kay has discovered how good the iPad for is for playing games on!
Back on the road and rather than return to the freeway straightaway, I decided to leave the by now extremely busy Hillsdale Shopping Center by the back route, along a residential street, spookily, called Hillsdale Blvd. As it climbed the hillside of its name, the houses got more expensive as the view across to the bay became more impressive.
After an interminable number of four-way stop crossroads, we returned to Hwy 92 for the very twisty journey over the hills to Half Moon Bay. At the top of the ridge there is a turn off to the Skyline Blvd, which may see us tomorrow. On this occasion we did stop at the overlook at the junction to take some snaps looking back over San Mateo.
Almost immediately on resuming our journey we had our first glimpse of the Pacific. I should mention that by now it was a beautiful sunny day, the rain had stopped almost the same moment we began our journey out of San Francisco - is that a message we should take notice of? The effect of this meteorologic transformation was that the sun was shimmering off the ocean.
The descent into Half Moon Bay is equally as twisty as leaving San Mateo, but the road is lined by countless Christmas tree farms and the air is thick with a pine sap aroma. Before we knew it we were in the City of Half Moon Bay. (Like most American “Cities” it is of course little more than an overgrown village, but who are we to deny them their civi pride.)
While waiting for Kay in Barnes and Noble, I’d been busy on their free WiFi with TripAdvisor. As of this point we hadn’t booked anything for the last two nights and I suppose at the back of my mind was the nagging worry of everywhere being full! Anyway, having first filtered out any of the national chains, the top scoring establishment on Trip Advisor was the eponymously named Half Moon Bay Inn on Main Street, so that is where we went.
Having woken the receptionist from her afternoon siesta to enquire about rates and availablity, it would have been rude not to have stayed! As it was we both instantly agreed we’d made a fist class decision. The hotel has a dozen or so rooms and is right in the centre of town (yes, “Town”! There I said it!). It has the ambiance of a bed and breakfast whilst still having the independence of being a hotel. The room we chose is a ‘queen’ size and, like the hotel, has a Mediterranean theme to it. It is luxuriously appointed (i.e. lots of really posh smellies for Kay, with good cable & free WiFi for me!). A really nice touch is a visitor’s book in the room which Kay set to reading. As well as many compliments about the room & the hotel, this contains several really useful tips, including the use of a hand towel behind the headboard to stop it knocking against the wall... and we quickly discovered the practicality this tip has nothing to do with, er, mature themes!
Once we were settled into the room we went for a walk along Main Street and out toward the beach. Half Moon Bay is the epitome of “Small Town, America”. Everybody seems to know everybody else. The cops wave to people. The place is spotless and has every conceivable amenity (City Hall, High School, Funeral Home, Farmer’s Market, Launderette - all within a block of each other). Being Sunday, it was quiet, but most of the shops were open.
We walked the mile or so to the beach taking in the neighbourhood as we did so. It was an eventful walk as a starling which was part of a group roosting on overhead wires chose to dump on Kay - good luck apparently, but that is hard to see when you’re the victim of such an atrocity. Then there was a slight miscalculation on my part which took us through a swamp - to the barely concealed amusement of two rangers watching us and our embarrassment as a consequence. Such set-backs aside, once we reached the Pacific our breath was truly taken away. The sound of the surf was audible a quarter of a mile away and when we saw it the sight was amazing. Half Moon Bay itself, as a coastal feature, is aptly named and we could see it curving around for about three miles northwards, with expanses of golden sand and huge white surf in both directions. The place wasn’t exactly deserted, but I doubt we saw more than 30 people the whole time - and that includes the distant specks on the beach.
Wow.
Eventually we tore ourselves away from the spectacle and retraced our steps. The street we walked along to get to the beach was fascinating with the range of housing and the uses the front “yards” were being put to - artists and artisans obviously live cheek-by-jowl here. One house about quarter of a mile from the beach was for sale with a flyer helpfully telling us they wanted $465,000 for it. The single story building wasn’t anything to look at, but this really is Location, Location, Location.
We’d reached a consensus that tonight would be a “room picnic” night and we’d likely have a last night blowout tomorrow. The plan went from picking something up from a gas station we’d passed, to getting the car and visiting a 7-Eleven we’d passed, to the eventual realisation of the plan by visiting the ‘Farmer’s Market’ deli/convenience/supermarket on Main Street we’d passed. I had a beef sandwich which was made up in front of me to my specification (this was 18:30 on a Sunday evening) and Kay had a ready made sandwich, We stocked up on treats and drinks and I bought three pint sized bottles of beer -more about this later!
Kay had read in the visitors book in the room that the Ritz Carlton hotel along the coast provided free public parking for the beach and that this was the perfect place to watch the sunset over the ocean. That’s a plan then. We collected the car and took our picnic. The bit about the free car parking at the Ritz Carlton turned out to be absolutely true, but it was in their garage and, although free, involved getting tickets validated in the hotel and all sort of potential bureaucracy. Instead we found a pull-in (still within the Ritz Carlton grounds) that we could legitimately occupy until sunset.
As it happened, some cloud on the horizon put paid to a spectacular sunset, but the cliff top views on which the R-C’s golf course is situated (again with public access) were stunning. We enjoyed our picnic and I snapped loads of views of the ocean - several of which I am quite pleased with! - before driving back to the parking lot in which we can leave our rental overnight, across the road from the hotel.
At this point my own personal bird-shit-on-the-head moment happened as the handle of the paper bag containing my beer gave way - with a sickening crack followed by glug-glug, the result. I lost a beer, the name of which I can’t now recall, but I can say it was hand picked and was to be fondly savoured. Kay, to her credit, didn’t laugh (like I didn’t laugh about the starling incident).
Back in the room I did enjoy the survivors: Big Daddy IPA from Speakeasy, San Francisco and Stone Smoked Porter from the North Country Brewery of San Diego. Sad to report also that at least two of the cookies I bought got beer soaked.
All of this was set to a backdrop of television, the highlight of which was probably an “All New Episode” of The Simpsons.
Last full day tomorrow and the car has a full tank of gas which needs using up! Is that the Mothership I hear calling?
What a washout (again)
As I mentioned in the postscript to yesterday’s blog, the weather was turning downright inclement around the Bay Area. If there was a saving grace it seems that the worse of it was A: Not immediately in our zip code and, B: Happening overnight. Today, those graces deserted us.
When we hit the kerb it was immediately apparent it was not going to be a good day. It wasn’t. Within two minutes Kay had invested $4.99 in an umbrella from a souvenir shop over the road while I went back to the room to retrieve the Kimpton branded umbrella that they thoughtfully provide in each room (which we can keep for $25 if we care to!).
First call was the Hyde Street pier, also opposite the hotel and the corner on which the aforementioned souvenir shop was located. This is part of the San Francisco Historic Maritime Area, which is a National Park. Several historic ships are moored here, including a ferry boat which once plied its trade from this very pier as part of US Highway 101 before the Golden Gate was opened in1936. Also here is a Tyne steam tug from Newcastle, which apparently arrived here under its own steam (literally) when it was retired in 1968. Another really interesting craft was a hi-tech rowing boat which Britons Chris Martin and Mick Dawson rowed across the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco in 2009.
Also there were a lot of puddles.
We followed the coastline in the general direction of the Golden Gate with the initial intention of visiting the Exploratorium and Museum of Fine arts which is located along Marina Drive. We knew this involved both a bit of a climb over the Fort Mason bluff, and a bit of a walk. The climb, which was after we’d walked past the Maritime Museum and the “beach” wasn’t too bad. However, once we were over it, we were really in the teeth of what can only be described as a gale. The high ground also gave us a view of our intended destination - and it looked a long way away!
Unashamed, we turned on our heels and retraced our steps! Our Plan B was Lou’s Diner in Ghiardelli Square as it was perilously close to lunchtime by then. We were lucky this time (it was closing as we tried this place on Wednesday night) and they had a table for us. Nature played her trickery on us by choosing this moment to stop raining and brighten up. I enjoyed a club sandwich and Kay enjoyed her “super surf” (cheese & tuna sandwich). Our neighbours at the next table were a chatty couple from Iowa (well, she was chatty, he nodded) who told us they were in town for a wedding on Thursday and that it was 60 degrees and sunny at home and it was a seven hour flight out here and Alcatraz has new things since they were last here and....
Of course by the time we finished our lunch it was raining again. The rain, less-than-ideal clothing, and the abortive walk earlier had all taken their toll and the prospect of walking too much further wasn’t attractive. As we were discussion our options we found ourselves at a No.30 Muni bus stop which was headed toward Downtown along Columbus Ave. and Stutter Ave. As a bus turned up at the right moment we hopped on it. As we were rolling down Columbus, it occurred to me it would pass the City Lights Bookstore (see Things to Do in San Francisco When It’s Raining mentioned yesterday), so we got off at Broadway and found it.
If you like Jack Kerouac and “On The Road”, you’d love City Lights (Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg hung out here). I’ve read On The Road - well, about two thirds of it, before I gave it up as self-indulgent nonsense (not unlike this blog!). City Lights wasn’t for me and judging by the fact I found her outside waiting for me, Kay neither!
In order to answer an urgent call of nature we headed quickly for the nearest coffee establishment, which happened to be French - the Brioche Bakery. The coffee was ok until I took a swig and ended up with a mouthful of coffee grounds! Ugh. Well, it made Kay laugh!
Now we had another decision to make... Which way now? We put it to a vote and I cast mine in favour of the Cable Car Museum which was only five blocks away across Chinatown. Kay abstained so the motion carried. I suspect had she known all five blocks were uphill she would have voted against. In fact I’m very sure she would, and I fear the Cable Car museum won’t figure in Kay’s most fondly remembered moments of the holiday.
Though feeling bad for inflicting the experience on her, I did enjoy the place. I won’t bore you, dear reader, with the details, except to say the museum is built around the depot for the cars (they call it the “cable car barn”) and the winding drums for the cables (which they call “skeeves”). It explains the history of the system and how it works. I erroneously described the guy in charge of the driving as a “brakesman” yesterday. Actually, they’re called the Gripman as the lever they pull on controls the mechanism that grips the cable that is moving at a constant 9.5mph. I know, I promised not to bore you - let’s call that a broken promise. I’ll stop there, then. I could go on...
When I was done I found Kay reading her book (yes, it was that bad!) and made a solemn promise there would be only downhill walking from that point on. I made that promise having plotted a route via the cable car itself that would allow us to walk down the zig-zag bit of Lombard Street.
We walked (downhill) one block to await a Powell-Hyde car. The first one arrived almost instantly but we decided to let it go by so we could judge how full they would be and how we’d manage to get in/on as it is not as simple as boarding a bus. We (or rather, I) made that decision in the certain knowledge they’d be passing at about five minute intervals. Twenty minutes later we were still waiting. We decided to walk off in search of the No.30 bus again when a Gripman waiting on the opposite corner urged us to stay. He said there’d been a demonstration Downtown (“About the war in Libya, or Some’ting”) that was causing delays, but he’d just heard from the crew he was relieving that they were on their way now and, even better, this particular car was coming up empty so we’d have no trouble getting on. It would have been rude to walk off after that and, sure enough, within a few minutes a car appeared. It was far from empty, though, in fact the conductor refused us saying it was full. No longer considering walking off to be rude we walked off (down hill, of course).
Another car passed us as we walked down the block and it had room on it., so at the next corner when a third car appeared and had room, we decided to get on. We got a bollocking from the conductor as we weren’t at an official stop, but we were on. The car remained stationary. We could hear a radio and a cable car Gripman saying he’d “had to drop the rope ‘cos a car came through when his light was green”. Turns out this was the car immediately in front of us and as he’d taken this emergency action on the hill, he was stuck. Luckily the cable car barn was close by and the tow truck only took ten minutes to get to the stricken vehicle. Even so, chaos was building as not only was that car blocking his intersection, so too was ours as it was waiting in the flat intersection before tackling the hill up the block. Lots of horns were sounding.
Eventually, we got going. Having reached the top of the hill, back to where we started, the Gripman from earlier spotted us and had a bit of a laugh. From then on things got back to normal, including mother nature as it had been relatively rain free since the City Lights episode. As we approached the top of Lombard Street the heavens opened - again. I was sitting with my legs facing the open side of the car and the rain was pouring out of the gutter because of the gradient... straight onto my legs! Though I could hardly have got wetter at that point (at least not my legs), Kay was relatively dry and I couldn’t face asking her to walk down the zig-zag in a cloudburst, so we let Lombard Street wait for us another time.
Back down at Fisherman’s Wharf we considered again the question of what to do on a rainy day in San Francisco. Turns out our next answer was a popular one as lots of other people were doing the same - drink coffee! Both the SBs in the area were heaving, but we went to the larger of the two at Jackson Street. After a bit of patience and furniture moving we got to sit down and did what we do best... people watched.
That passed the remainder of the afternoon on quite nicely, thank you and before long it was time to return to the room and dry off.
The first choice for dinner was Jack’s Bar. This had several attractions, not least its proximity to the hotel. An exceptional range of beer, that I think I’ve mentioned before, was also a factor. We walked in the place and a guy was playing a rather loud electric guitar and singing rock covers to a largely empty place. Almost every seat at the bar was occupied, however, and that was keeping the barman occupied. We sat down at a table expecting the waitress to bring us a menu, but sadly our expectation wasn’t fulfilled. Ultimately it was probably me that wasn’t doing something right, but somehow I felt completely out of place. There were people eating, but it was quite evident that it was a beer place foremost, and as Kay wasn’t in the market for an alcoholic drink we decided to cut our losses and left.
We did look at an Italian place over the road, but even though I’d have found something on the menu I’d have eaten, pasta/pizza wan’t really up my street. At Kay’s suggestion we ended up at In-N-Out - the second night running for me, but of course, Kay’s first experience of the place. We both had a double-double for which we had a not-unreasonable ten minute wait. When the food was ready we went to sit down but the one spare table we headed for was occupied in front of us by a couple who hadn’t yet ordered their food.... fume! fume! After standing and glaring for a short while, a guy who’d seen what had happened called us over to say they were just going and rushed his family to clear up and let us sit down. That’s how it should work! [This explanation of what happened doesn’t quite work when I read it back, but I’m going to leave it in as I know what I mean! A case of ‘you had to be there’?].
While Kay dodged the rain back to the room I went round the block to the liquor store for a six pack. The very helpful clerk said it was fine for me to split cases so I was able to have a choice. I came away with pairs of Sam Adams Boston Lager (an old favourite), Obsidian Stout by the Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon and Black Dog Ale (“An English Style Amber Ale”) from the Spanish Peaks Brewing Co. of Bozeman, Montana.
A quick word about the television which has been on while I’ve been typing: Harry’s Law starring Kathy Bates and Nathan Corddry (Tom Jeeter in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). Written by David E Kelly, meaning it is inevitably about lawyers, it is passingly entertaining - look out for it in the UK.
Rain, Rain, go away...
The television set the tone for the day with a caption which read “Storm Watch”. Apparently a deep depression is swinging-in from the Pacific, and whilst the Bay Area is set to be hit by only the southern end, it is slow moving and carrying a lot of moisture. Further to the north there’s talk of “feet” of snow from it. The other thing that a weather forecaster said, which turned out to be quite prophetic, was that it would be a “wait-five-minutes” sort of day: If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it’ll change...
With that in mind, and the rain pelting on the window, we really didn’t rush this morning. In fact, it was gone 10 before we braved the elements. Keeping as close as we could to the buildings and awnings to dodge the wind and rain, we walked the block and a half to the terminus of the F line streetcar. The vintage Milan car was waiting and we were soon trundling along the Embarcadero toward Downtown. We passed a LOT of umbrellas on the way, with a particular concentration of them at the queue for the Alcatraz ferry. Boy, did we pick our day.
Once on Market Street in the centre of the city we almost literally fell off the tram and into a conveniently located Starbucks. We settled into a couple of seats in the window to play Scrabble and enjoy our coffee, but mostly to watch San Francisco play out its story in front of us. [Kay won the Scrabble thanks to the ‘best word’ button which gave her “Kumquat” for 88 points. Not that I’m bitter!]
Game over and cups empty, we dived down the subway outside the SBs and came out on the other side in Westfield’s food court - which was convenient as it lunchtime and breakfast had consisted only of cookies! This is a food court to rival any I’ve ever seen - a bewildering range of different foods. Given the weather, its location, and the time, it was no surprise that it was heaving with people. Actually, we both ended up getting our food from Bristol Farms; a huge deli adjacent to the food court. I had a fairly tame turkey sandwich but Kay pushed the boat out with a pick-your-own box of chinese food (amusingly described as “comfort food buffet” on the receipt).
Suitably filled (and some, in Kay’s case!) we explored the mall again. This time we wandered around the department stores; Bloomingdales then Nordstrom. The latter is on four floors above the rest of the mall and the view from the top of the escalators is the ultimate kill or cure for vertigo...
Outside, we split up for a while to exercise our personal vices. Kay gave Old Navy some of her special attention while I went over the road to the Apple store for a better look around than yesterday. The same group of Koreans were camped out again, so I guess that’s all part of a business venture to export iPad2’s to the east.
All that retailing meant that we needed more coffee (well, a smoothie in Kay’s case). Rather than return to the same Starbucks, we visited a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf across the road. There was no room for us inside so we went al-fresco and sat outside under heaters! Although still raining, there was the first signs of brightness in the sky, which was quickly followed by another brief deluge!
So it was back down into the subway and onto the BART to take us to Berkeley on the east side of the bay. Once we were back above ground the rain was just about giving up, but I don’t think for a second we saw Berkeley at its best. The town (sorry, ‘city’) is best known for a campus of the University of California, and there were certainly plenty of students kicking about.
We didn’t wander too far, but did find Half Price Books - a shop whose name kind of speaks for itself. We made the first major purchases of the trip with some secondhand books and DVD box sets (NCIS) coming home with us.
Following the pattern of the day, this took us to coffee time once again. We returned to the first shop we’d seen on coming up to street level; Tully’s Coffee. Clearly part of a local chain, there isn’t really much other than the branding to differentiate this place from SBs (or Costa etc.). Personally, I wasn’t too keen on their brew - a bit too strong for my taste.
Once we returned onto the BART it was the evening rush hour, so everything was busy but not unbearably packed. The journey each way was about 20 minutes, with all the San Francisco side being underground. On the east side of the Bay, however, a fair bit is in the open. The journey through Oakland is not the prettiest part of the United States, and between Oakland and the tunnel under the Bay the line passes through a huge railway yard where thousands of shipping containers are stacked and sorted... with lines of Union Pacific locomotives ready to take the containers around the country.
Back in San Francisco it was back to Old Navy as Kay decided one of her purchases needed to go back already (wrong colour or something - I was paying attention, honest!). That done, it was 18.30 so we got back on the streetcar and returned to Fisherman’s Wharf. (Up to now I’ve been calling it FishermeEn’s Wharf, which sounds more logical to me, but I noticed today I have been wrong). By now it had not only stopped raining, but everywhere seemed to have pretty much dried out in the interim.
Having got back to the hotel and taken the weight off our feet, it was very hard to get going again. Too hard, as it turned out, for Kay. The large lunch she had partaken of meant that dinner wasn’t part of her plan, either. I ventured out alone, therefore, and had a “No.2 without” at In-N-Out Burger. If I’m telling the truth, I’d have to say I was underwhelmed after the anticipation of my first In-N-Out since 2005. The Pepperidge Farm “Captiva” cookies from Walgreens for pudding get my vote, however.
The weather is the governing factor for our plans for tomorrow. The weather system I mentioned earlier is supposedly set for the weekend, though Sunday is forecast as the grottiest day. My point being that if it is precipitating it down tomorrow, Bike-The-Bridge-Day may get postponed to a Date-To-Be-Fixed...
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23:10...
As a postscript about the weather: I’m watching the local late news. In addition to a 40 vehicle fatal pile up on I-80 (including a hydrogen tanker and a propane truck!) caused by the snow up in the mountains of eastern California, further south from here in Santa Maria, a tornado touched-down in a built-up area causing damage but no injuries. This evening a hail storm over Berkeley also made the news.
On the brighter side, I see it is currently -4C in Derby! Oh, and I should be on Nights!
A Communique from Miss Kay Tidey
Kay writes:
Beginning with the flight which was soooo long, I did manage to cope OK until roughy the last two hours. Films were good, I watched True Grit - very good version of the original, John Wayne would be proud.
Also watched Jackass 3 which is not for the fainthearted so be warned but it did make me laugh, and then switched into child mode and watched an animation which you can guess for yourself which one.
Finally got here and each day has been spectacular so far, both Marriotts were impressive and staff excellent, the beds to die for. I have promised myself a full set of Egyptian cotton bedlinen for mine at home.
Alcatraz was a total eye opener, history lesson and practical rolled into one. Audio tour was excellent, so informative and of course souvenirs had to be bought. Books, as me and Dave are total bookworms, and I invested in a large brass replica key on a ring which is apparently a replica of the key used to open all the cell doors in the cell block.
The bus tour we took around San Francisco was another treat as it took 2 hours and took us through many parts of the city we would normally not see. Golden Gate bridge - wow, Pacific Heights, Chinatown, Little Italy and to see the “painted ladies”, which are the houses painted in more than 2 colours and of 3 storeys or more (Google it).
Starbucks virtually on every corner - yawn, but to give credit where credit is due, we have also tried other coffee places without having to resort to bribery, torture or severe pleading. Was looking so forward to a browse in good old Borders, but the shop in downtown San Fran was actually closing as we were in it (total sadness), books were marked down, coffee shop was empty, floor space, fixtures and fittings were marked up to be sold. We also found another Borders in another area which was in the same situation. I was totally surprised when speaking to the staff that they were unaware that there was none in UK and has not been for some time - curse E-readers etc.
So far totally awesome holiday. Came with an open mind so did not expect too much. Fantastic place with loads to see and do and a great guy to share it with. Thanks to Dave for knowing me enough to know I would love what the city has to offer. Here’s to the rest of the week, bring it on, totally loving it.
Kay xxx
Another busy day
Today we had an early deadline to get us up and about at a respectable time - with tickets for the first sailing of the Alcatraz ferry at 0910. Of course breakfast was the first priority, so once up and about we went round the corner to SBs in back of The Cannery (the same building our hotel is part of) for suitably nutritious victuals.
From there we walked along the Embarcadero to the Alcatraz ferry and arrived with minutes to spare. It’s another cracking day with blue skies and sunshine, though not quite T shirt weather early on. The ferry trip took about 15 minutes and provides some splendid views back to San Francisco and across to the ever-present Golden Gate bridge.
Once on the island we had a brief introductory talk by a Ranger (Alcatraz is part of the Golden Gate National Park) then a video outlining the history of the island and the prison. I have to say these preliminaries were well done and very helpful in setting the scene.
Then we walked up to the cell block itself and started the main part of the tour. This “led” by an audio commentary which is included in the price and, again, is extremely well produced. Early on, the place was relatively uncrowded, but as successive additional ferry-loads arrived, it became increasingly thronged.
Having enjoyed the tour with its historical input, the views of San Francisco across the bay, and the inevitable exit-through-the-giftshop, we went back to the ferry dock.
Among the passengers in the first boatload were a small group of women carrying a dress in a bag and flowers. Turned out they were on Alcatraz to do a wedding photo shoot (sans groom!?). Bizarrely, we bumped into this group much later in the day as they seem to be staying at the same hotel. I digress, however...
Back on dry land we turned left onto the Embarcadero and (in real T shirt weather by now) followed our noses toward Downtown. It was lunchtime and so we found ourselves in a Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery where we had a turkey (me) and hot steak (Kay) sandwich. Turns out the ‘hot’ in the case of Kay’s referred to the peppers it contained as much as the temperature it was served at.
The cafe was in the shadow of the TransAmerica Pyramid - a San Francisco icon - which demanded several photos of its unique architecture. On we walked following a zig-zag route, mainly in order to avoid any serious hill climbing - something which takes some avoiding in San Francisco. Eventually we found ourselves at Union Square, effectively the retail heart of the city, and the Apple store close by. This was my much-anticipated first opportunity to have hands-on with the new iPad2. Buying one wasn’t an option, even if I cared to - there were half-a-dozen folk in chairs outside evidently in line for the arrival of new stock, expected early tomorrow morning!
Kay immersed herself in some retail therapy thereafter, during which I people-watched in the sunshine of Market Street. Borders was a draw for both of us and we eventually found ourselves at the Union Square branch. Borders have struggled to compete with on-line retailers and closed all their UK stores about a year ago and recently also closed in Australia. They announced in February that many branches in the US were to close - including this one. The severely depleted stock (and fittings!) were being sold off, but despite reductions of at least 30% across the entire inventory, nothing grabbed us. It was quite a sad sight to see the near empty store.
Even worse, the Seattle’s Best Coffee shop within Borders was permanently closed, so our initial plan to collapse there had to be revised. Every other corner seems to be occupied by a SBs, however, so the revised plan didn’t need too much consideration! As we supped, we watched San Franciscan life outside: a spaced-out vagrant, an industrious but ultimately inefficient street cleaner, a far too perfectly blonde busker, many Irish for the day revellers and countless bit players all combined to amuse us,
Refreshed, we found ourselves in the Westfield Mall on Market Street. This is truly huge and so oddly shaped as to almost un-navigable. It lays claim to some of the world’s only circular escalators, which are certainly weird to use. There is another Border’s branch here and, unfortunately, the same fate has befallen it as the Union Square branch. Meanwhile, Kay had a successful foray into H&M, despite having some initial setbacks with the American system of sizing clothing.
With our feet and legs telling us that much more walking was not an option, we stood in line for the Hyde Street cable car, which conveniently terminates one block from our hotel. This is an incredible piece of engineering and the skill of the brakesman in controlling the thing is unspeakable. It is of course an icon of the city, with passengers generally to be seen hanging off the side of the car as it roller-coasters along the streets. It certainly isn’t a comfortable ride, even when seated inside. It’s a hell of an experience though!
Back at the hotel, briefly, to drop bags and freshen, then back out in search of dinner. We chose Tarantinos, fairly close to the hotel as Kay had a desire for seafood (Fishermen’s Wharf is a good place to look for such a thing!). Though stupidly expensive, it was worth it as the food was very good (I had steak, of course!), the view was pretty damn good with the Golden Gate as our background, and the company was very special (aaah!). All that and it was washed down with Anchor Steam Beer. The waitress helpfully wrote at the bottom of the bill that “17% gratuity is not included” and even more helpfully, a ready-reckoner was included to assist in calculating what the “tip” for any given sum should be. To quote a certain Irish broadcaster; Is it me?
After the excellent meal it was back through the throngs of Paddy’s Day revellers (including several groups of female naval ratings in full uniform!) via supplies for the room (more Anchor beer!) for tv, diary and blissfully welcome feet up!
So, this is San Francisco
At the Embarcadero station we went up to the mezzanine level and got tickets for the Muni. An engineer was working on an escalator near the machine and helpfully pointed out the way up to the stop for the F line streetcar. I reckon we'd have worked it out for ourselves, but it was just one example of several today of local folk going out of their way to be helpful.
Up at street level, Kay's initial reaction to San Francisco was pretty much the same as mine in the same situation in 2005 - one of Love at First Sight. The Embarcadero station is more in the Financial District than my first taste which, as memory serves, was Powell. However, the buzz and sheer majesty of the city centre is overpowering.
We stood and took it all in for a while before crossing to the F line platform. This service along the Embarcadero itself, hugging the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsular, past the various wharves, is operated by vintage streetcars collected from all over the US and beyond. The vehicle that arrived for us was from St Louis, but we saw examples during the day from places as disparate as Washington DC, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Milan, Italy.
The driver was exceptionally patient with the many passengers, like us, who didn't really know how to "work" the process of using the service. I guess that's part of it being on a tourist route. The relatively brief journey took us within 100 yards of the hotel, and although semi-deliberately getting off one stop too early, we were at the hotel within an hour of setting off on our transfer.
Luckily the receptionist was able to find a room that was ready, and despite it being only 10.30, we were able to check in. The room is something very special. Actually, it is one of the Argonaut's basic rooms, with no view to speak of but the decor and appointment is something else. From a DVD player, to cordless phone, to iPod dock, to Starbucks coffee in the room... Oh, and there's something about a nautical theme, but being a bloke I don't look at wallpaper!
First job, as is always the case these days was to check out what Internet connectivity there is (first job used to be check how many tv channels, but that is so 20th century!). There's in room WiFi which is free for Kimpton Hotels loyalty card holders. Given that it's free to become loyal it wasn't a hard decision to make, and kudos really to Kimpton for their marketing strategy. They have three boutique hotels in Boston, so who knows, maybe I'll become a Kimpton points whore!?
Bags dumped and a quick freshen up and we were out exploring Fishermen's Wharf. Attractions which caught our attention included a World War II submarine and Liberty ship (fascinating history but not quite enough to makes us take the tour), a museum of slot machines (everything from What The Butler Saw, to a 1930s baseball game, to a 1980s PacMan table), and the wretched sea lions. For the uninitiated, the earthquake here in 1989 did something to make herds of sea lions want to inhabit some pontoons near Pier 39. Luckily for all concerned, Pier 39 is a tourist attraction, so it was win/win. They've been here ever since and dispite being very noisy and very smelly, they draw the crowds and I have to grudgingly admit they are vaguely entertaining to watch (for a little while).
Pier 39 itself is mainly tacky gift shops, but it kept us occupied for a bit. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Cash-in has a branch here (how much longer can they wring dollars out of a fast-becoming forgotten film?). They didn't part us with any cash, but we did take a photo using their prop bench though.
Grey Line have a strategically placed booth at Pier 39 (among many others) and after a coffee (no conveniently placed SBs, so we went native) we bought tickets for the Skyline Tour. Good decision. Though billed as an open top double decker, the vehicle was a box on wheels described as a "motorised cable car". The driver was Ecuadorian and spoke ok English but with a VERY thick accent. He also chose to use his headset microphone hand-held, so while driving this made the commentary choppy and difficult to follow (not that he let concentrating on his driving interfere with gabbing inanely into the microphone).
The tour was extremely useful in orienting ourselves with the city - which was of course the point. Most of the places we'd read about were visited or at least pointed out from afar. We ended up at the southern viewpoint for the Golden Gate Bridge (i.e. we didn't cross it) and had half an hour's photo-op.
Here is as good a time as any to talk about the weather. The evidently heavy overnight rain had cleared as we were breakfasting and the tv weather forecast had predicted a half decent day. As it turned out we did much better with sunshine all day and a very acceptable T shirt temperature (though I did start to regret that particular decision during the times the tour bus picked up a bit of speed). The point being, however, that we got some really clear sunny views of the bridge and the city across the bay - something that I gather is a rarity.
The return leg of the journey was through the Presidio (see the film of that name starring Mark Harmon, though the army base has been decommissioned). Back at Fishermen's Wharf and a bit of tat shop shopping (you can NEVER have enough T shirts!) then back to the room.
It was gone 19:30 by then so we didn't linger, instead venturing back out in search of food. I should have said that lunch had been provided by Johnny Rockets and afternoon coffee by Messrs. Starbucks. In the latter establishment I read the comments of my brother and Mr. Allen in respect of In 'N Out Burger. I don't disagree and assure you both it will happen.... soon.
Our first attempt at an evening meal, however, was at a diner in Ghiardelli Square (we had a voucher!) but it was closing. Not far away we happened across a Denny's, and as it was open 24 hours were assured lightening wouldn't strike twice. I had the Country Style Steak (read: burger in breadcrumbs) and Kay had a club sandwich. It hit the spot in both cases.
Back to the hotel via more T shirt shops (Kay this time, not me, and much indecision in the process) for some tv, diary typing, Fat Tire supping, photo uploading, and bed!
Day One - the last bit
Right, the last bit of yesterday:
We landed at 15:40 local time and it was 16:20 by the time we were landside - a remarkable short taxi, but being at the back of th aircraft meant we were last off and last into immigration. That wasn't so bad as they were letting visitors use the US citizen's lanes. When we got to the head of the queue we went forward together but a snappy official asked what our relationship was and duly sent me sent me back to the queue as we weren't "family members". I got a much less officious agent and we were through quickly.
The bags were waiting for us (another function of being last off) and Some 'kind' soul had already taken mine off the carousel. Good job I looked at the pile of abandoned gas or I'd have been stood there forever!
Out to the hotel shuttle stop in the optimistic hope the van would turn up spontaneously. After 20 minutes (and the 'wrong' Courtyard van) it became clear it wasn't going to just turn up, so we rang and were told it would be ten to fifteen minutes... Which was about right.
The van was driven by a young woman who turned out to be one of the receptionists, so my assumption it would be doing a constant circuit was well off the mark. The drive was about 10 minutes and as we approached the hotel we spotted the "Shops at Tanforan" and, even better, noted the fact there were pavements between it and the hotel!
Having checked in and dropped bags, be decided to make the best of what was left of our energy and walk to the shops. It was drizzly but reasonably warm, so our light jackets were all we needed to keep the elements out. The walk was alongside the busy El Camino Real highway and under a freeway bridge, but it looked a decent neighbourhood for such wanderings.
At the mall we wandered around Barnes & Noble then into the mall itself. Nothing grabbed us, but to be fair we were already starting to wane at this stage. The food court was largely Asian (Korean, Japanese etc.) food, reflecting the local population by the look of things.
We found ourselves at a large Target supermarket and stocked up on supplies, including a 'room picnic' as that's all we fancied doing battle with by now. Of course a six pack of Fat Tire ale by the New Belgium Brewery founds its way into our carrier bags!
Retracing our steps in the slightly heavier rain and gathering dusk, we weren't sorry to get back to the room and collapse.
This morning our body clocks inevitably meant we were up before 0700 and have been littering about. Breakfast isn't included in the rate and what they have on offer is limited (nor cheap). I settled on a triple berry muffin and Kay has enjoyed a raisin berry cereal in a pot - all washed down by "proudly brewed" Starbucks coffee.
Plan now is to return to the airport on the hotel shuttle and then get the BART (San Francisco's underground rapid transit) to the Embarcado, then the F line street car to Fisherman's Wharf where our main hotel for the stay is located. now wonder we didn't attempt that last night - though if I wasn't so stingy we could have stumped-up for a shuttle van!
Sent from my iPad
Safe and Sound in SF
I'm typing this on my iPad because I think it will be easier than getting my laptop out given I'm in a cramped aircraft seat, but now I start I have my doubts. Oh well, here goes...
This morning went remarkably smoothy. After the checking in glitch, I was a tad concerned there may have been an issue with the bill, but - so far - it appears that all is well. I also wondered, after what I typed last night about the car parking, that when I registered my car with the concierge desk, as I'd been ask to do, they would want my keys so they could move it to a remote site. Not at all; all they wanted was my return date and a contact number. Added to which the car park was even emptier this morning.
We started the day well as I went next door to the Sheraton Skyline which has a SBs in the lobby and got a couple of take outs to drink in the room while Kay did what Kay does in a morning. Suitably caffeinated we braved the walk along the Bath Road and over to the bus stop to await the first red thing with Heathrow Central on the front. Turns out it wasn't red (i.e. not Transport for London or its franchisees) but was a company from Sussex with its 555 service which starts at Guildford. Whatever, it has lots of luggage room, not too many passengers and a driver who happily waved us on without so much as a mention of a fare (or tip!)
Arguably another reason against the cheap (read 'free') solution is that unlike the Hotel Hoppa which we later saw arriving right outside Terminal 3 Departures, we had a minor trek through the tunnels from the Central Bus Station... No great hardships towing cases weighing 12kg & 13kg respectively (mine is the heavier!)
As bragged about yesterday, most of the formalities were already completed and bag drop was a cinch with very short queues. Even the queues for security were shorter than half a dozen folk in front - though we made a tactical blunder in joining the one with a wheel chair user in front of us... Wheelchairs and metal detectors...?
A further slight miscalculation was to leave my iPad in my bag to be x-rayed. Though there is no problem with that, as such, it was evidently the final straw for the operator along with wires, cables and all sort of electronic gubbins, so it had to go round again sans iPad. No great drama and the operative doing the tray unloading was very chatty and cheerful... Quite a remarkable character trait for an airport security operative.
I have seen Terminal 3 Departure lounge a lot worse than it was today. Sure, duty free seems to have trebled in size and is still expanding, and eateries are getting less, but there wasn't quite the same mass of humanity squeezed in as there has been on past internments there.
First stop was TGIs fro breakfast. I had a full griddle breakfast and Kay had Eggs Benedict for the first time in her life. Both were declared a success and we found some seats to call home until the flight opened for boarding. We took it in turns to mooch; Kay checking out the designer clothes & bag shops for ideas, me Dixons and WHS for David stuff.
Almost without any hanging around at all it was time to head for the gate where we hit the first real queue. They were almost pleading for people to buy upgrades, including extra leg room and exit row seats "ask a gate agent about cost and availability". Even on the aircraft there was a PA about exit row seats for just £30 with an admonishment not to occupy one unless you'd paid once we were airborne. Sorry Virgin, but this is - and always has been - grubby profiteering.
Otherwise boarding was painless, we were in our seats at 1020, pushed back at 1055, and after a bit sitting around, were wheels up at 1120 for a 10hr 55min flight. We're right at the back of the aircraft, 65D&F, with 257 passengers aboard. There are a few empty seats dotted about, but in the first half hour they were occupied by various people for whom the In Flight Entertainment wasn't working in their allocated seats. Actually, I fib as it was well over half an hour before the seatbelt sign was turned off and the cabin crew got busy, which I thought was a bit longer than normal was we'd been levelled out a while. Oh well, what do I know sitting at the back!?
Our flight track - courtesy of Carl (well spotted Laddie!)
The meal service was entertaining to watch from the back. Kay got hers first as it was a special dietary requirement thing, which was a good service. Mine came a good while later (shepherds pie) and the American lady to my right in the block of three got hers about 20 minutes after me. To be fair, even by this stage in the service there was a full choice, including hot pot which wasn't in the choice I was given. Which is fine.
We are just under seven hours to go as I type this. I've watched Social Network. Given that it's an Aaron Sorkin screenplay, dialogue is crucial to following the plot, and this was not the best environment for that. On the other hand, I think I followed it enough to get the idea; Zuckerberg is a genius, that he is obnoxious to people isn't his fault, and that he's a zillionaire when those who were around him at the start are not is, hey, just-how-things-turned-out. Not sure I'll bother to sit through it again in the future.
Having had a leg stretch and a comfort break, I'll turn my attention to something else now...
Later...
We're about an hour out of SFO, which translates as 2140 UK and 1340 Pacific time. The cabin crew are doing their best to serve the afternoon tea meal of sandwiches in spite of some rocky turbulence caused by the Rockies below (do you see what I did there?)
Probably the longest flight I've ever been on (I forget how long it was to LAX in 2005, but logic dictates it was something similar), but I have to say the time has passed as tolerably as can be expected. My spine is twisted every which way and I swear I'll never be able to stand up straight ever again. Kay is suffering similarly, but is bearing it well.
I've dabbled with a bit of everything in terms of entertainment, and even tried to sleep a little. I eventually managed to rescue my earphones from my bag which made listening things a little better. As well as catching up on tv on my iPad and watching Toy Story 3 (again), I watched Big Bang Theory (again) and Cougar Town on the IFE. Kay thoroughly recommended True Grit, saying it compares well with original and was tittering away to Alpha & Omega.
Right, we're getting ready to start the descent.
Oh, and by the way, in the spirit of full disclosure - Kay beat me at Scrabble.
Day Zero
Kay was at work today, but I had taken the day off at the last minute, thanks to DP saying he was sure he’d cope without me! I’d had all day to pack and sort my life out before heading into Derby for a haircut and pick up Kay after work. Kay, on the other hand, had to rush around with last minute packing and sorting out the house. Meanwhile I got busy doing the Online Check In and printed our boarding passes, so all we have to do when we get to the airport is “bag drop” and get through security.
With a quick visit to Midland Road post office to pick up a package for Kay in case it got returned to sender in the week or so before we get back, and we were on the M1 toward the end of the rush hour. We stopped at a near-deserted Northampton services as neither of us had eaten. For motorway food, I have to say the bangers & mash I had, and the fish & chips Kay had were both reasonable value and edible. We did, however, seem to be interrupting the staff from doing nothing, to their evident irritation.
Back onto the A43 & M40 as Google maps suggested the M1 was congested around Luton, and non-stop to Heathrow. There was a worrying glitch when checking in as our reservation wasn’t on Marriott’s system. Luckily reception wasn’t busy as the helpful check-in clerk had to ring Holiday Extras (through whom we’d booked) and check what was wrong. Whatever it was, we got a room (and our parking) and Marriott will sort it out with Holiday Extras in due course. Considering this one night stay including up to 14 nights parking was very good value, I was surprised how relatively empty the hotel car park was. There’s a lot of rooms in the hotel, each one of which presumably needs a car parking space available, so I’d have thought having my car stood here for a week would be worth much more to Marriott than I’m actually paying?
Once settled into the room, I went and scouted the neighbourhood to work out where to get the bus in the morning. The attraction of staying here is access to the free buses serving the Heathrow area. It turns out it’s a fairly circuitous walk to the other side of Bath Road where the bus stop is. The alternative is the Hotel Hoppa which stops right outside reception - for a mere £4 each. We’ll see how fit we’re feeling (and what the weather is like) in the morning and decide which route we’re taking. I know what Carl would be saying!
I resisted the temptation to nip round the corner for a pint in the Pheasant, or indeed the hotel bar. The bar is part of the large atrium area of the hotel - several of the guest rooms overlook the atrium instead of having an outside window, though not ours. It is impressive to look at, but the large area seems to lack atmosphere. It would almost be like drinking in an aircraft hangar!
Right, let’s see what tomorrow brings...