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Published: July 31st 2008
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San Francisco is a very nice town, similar, in a lot of ways, to Perth. Our hotel was just by the gate entrance to Chinatown. The weather was cool and the wind cutting to the extreme. Fran had kicked her toes on the foot that she’d had a broken toe on and she was hobbling somewhat, but soldiering on bravely. In addition to this handicap, she felt like she was coming down with the flu. The inevitable red bus tour took us around the sights of San Francisco, down by the Fisherman’s Wharf, past Alcatraz and then towards “THE BRIDGE”. The Golden Gate Bridge is massive and high. The tour guide said that conditions were fairly good on the bridge that day. Hmmm, we thought, with that cold wind. Well the wind started to strengthen as we approached the bridge rising to a crescendo as we started crossing. I was busy with the camera and Fran tried to get as rugged up best as possible with her thin wrap. The smog/mist prevented wide scale views during the crossing, but it was pretty good. Large container ships were entering the harbour beneath us with stacks of room to spare. I had read
in a paper the day before that a ship had hit one of the pylons on the Bay Bridge. Anyway, with the winds at gale force and the tour guide barely audible (still saying how pleasant the conditions were), we arrived at a viewing area on the Sausalito side for a 10 minute break before making the return journey. The side streets on the city side were a welcome break from the wind. That night we went to a restaurant from the book which was very pleasant. We tried a locally made Zinfandel wine which was a lot heavier red than I expected.
The next day Fran’s flu had deteriorated to the extent that she made the extreme (for her) measure of going to a doctor. Ten minutes and $300 lighter, we emerged with antibiotics, Ibuprofen and liquids and put Fran to bed. At her insistence, I took to the streetcars to go to Fisherman’s Wharf to do a bit of further sightseeing. Getting around via the trams was a very cheap option and the streetcars often. When I arrived back in the evening, Fran had perked up quite substantially, so we went out for dinner in the Italian
Cable Car
San Francisco Quarter. The Italian Quarter is small in comparison to Chinatown.
The next morning I went to the San Franciscan Airport by underground to pick up the hire car for the trip down the coastal Big Sur Highway, while Fran packed. We had a little difficulty sourcing a hire car. Finally managed to hire one on-line from Hertz even though they had told me when i visited, that they didn't have one. Must have been my ugly face. It's a Chrysler Seabring convertible. Like a big Saab. Our trusty GiPS was online again. We had not realised that he knew his way around America as well as Europe. It was a pleasant surprise as I was expecting to have to hire another GPS from Hertz. We departed the hotel at about 11am and made our way via SF South and through to Pacifica. Market Gardens were the order of the day until………….
STOP PRESS!!! I am writing this part of the blog at a shopping centre near the LA airport as our flight was missed due to inept service by American Airlines. We decided to go to a movie while we waited. Waiting outside the IMAX movie, we have
just experienced a fairly strong earthquake. We headed for a strong looking column and then vacated the centre in fairly quick order. On checking the internet, we found the quake was in the region of 5.4 magnitude. There was no panic except for some security staff checking the theatres.
Where was I? Oh yes, we reached Monterey about 3ish. Carmel-by-the-Sea, where we were staying the night was just a small distance away. Monterey is a very pretty fishing village also perhaps the place known for the rock concert after Woodstock. Correct me if I’m wrong. Just south of Monterey was our lodgings for the night at Crystal Terrace. On arrival, we were told there was cheese and bickies in the evening. This is the life…lol. We had a suitcase full of dirty laundry so we made for the Carmel (the emphasis is on the “mel”) Laundromat and set that going then headed down the main street towards the beach. CarMEL, if you might remember, had Clint Eastwood as their Mayor for a few years. Not now, tho’. I can understand why he chose to live there. A quainter little town you cannot imagine. The council obviously keeps a tight
ChinaTown
San Francisco. This was taken from outside our hotel. rein on new building to keep them in character with the existing dwellings. See pics. Then we drove down to the beach. White sand, for a start, would you believe! Then we walked onto the beach itself and looked to the right and there was Pebble Beach Golf Course in all its magnificence. Pebble Beach is consistently voted in the top ten as one of the best golf courses in the world. It looked great with its greens coming right down to the beach. The only thing deleterious to the whole thing was the weed that seems to pervade all along the coast. We went and started the drying cycle at the Laundromat and headed back to the Cheese & Bickies which turned out to be a lot more than that. Very nice indeedy-doo-dee! After picking up the washing, we picked up some take away Chinese from a place off the main street. You actually go to the back door and place your order there. T’was the best Chinese I’ve had for years. So good, we opened a bottle of French Bordeaux we had in reserve.
Next day on the drive south it was pretty spectacular along the coast
Alcatraz, San Francisco
This was the best picture I culd get. We didn't go there, but most of the pictures I took were just too misty. and through the forests which meet the sea especially at Big Sur National Park. There aren’t too many towns on that stretch of road, and the beach sand turns to black. We called into the Hurst Castle, created by William Randolph Hurst that Tony and Tanya (TnT), as well as Deb & Rob, had told us about. This was the castle created by WRH, the publishing magnate, in the 30’s and now run by the Californian State Parks. We were pretty short on fuel by the time we arrived at Santa Maria. Next morning, we got up early to get into Los Angeles during the mid part of the day.
L.A. is certainly the freeway capital of the world! They crisscross L.A. and are a minimum of 4 lanes each side. In L.A. we did the normal things minimally. A drive down Hollywood & Sunset Boulevardes and a stop off at the Walk of Fame. The trip to Universal Studios showed us how commercial L.A. can be. $20 just to park! A family outing there would have to cost close to $1,000. An all day visit to a shoping centre near our motel was a balm for Fran and
Monterey
Down the Californian coast. A lovely fishing village. even I did a bit of shopping. Two days in L.A. was more than enough for us, though, and the earthquake capped things off nicely. Debra had warned us about American Airlines and she was spot on! Their organizational skills are around the 1% mark. The line to the baggage check-in took close to 3 hours and the flight had, of course, left by the time we made it to the head of the queue. Everyone in the lines was having to be rebooked on later flights.
Hawaii had just gone sunset when we arrived although it was after midnight by our watches. The delayed flight meant we didn’t get to see much when we finally did arrive. The hotel/resort that we are in is massive. The Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort has its own street shops as well as shopping malls and probably 30 restaurants and bars. They even have their own Church. They have designed the place so that you wouldn’t need to step foot out of the resort. Five towers of rooms, a conference centre, 3 pools, a private beach and a private lagoon. It’s a nice way to finish off our Grand Tour, so we’ll
Carmel
Typical of the style in Carmel-by-the Sea. be chilling out today and tomorrow and arriving home sweet home at 10:30pm Sat night.
We are really looking forward to seeing all again. We will organise a night in a couple of weeks after recovery time. Really looking forward to a bit of normality. We have heard the weather hasn't been the best in Perth so can some-one organise some good weather for us otherwise the shock may be too much 😊
SeeYa
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Thanks
For the memories ( sounds a bit corney!! a la deano I think) Have loved the blogs. You two better be ready for some entertaining