San Francisco Hotels
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Happy New Year
Entry 34 of 43 | show all | print this entry |
San Francisco turned on the charm today with another brilliantly sunny day, about 14 degrees celcius. What is not to like.
But what to do? Today was also the only day we had nothing specific planned. I guess it kind of showed a bit.
After rubbing our eyes a bit late and just wandering out of the hotel, meant that it was brunch. We manage to find a local cafe about a block away that looked like the revellers were still standing from the night before - the wait staff were dressed to the nines, but neither the feel of the cafe nor the prices on the menu suggested that was usually the case. Still, it meant that there were still party poppers, streamers and whistles on the tables. Almost like heaven for a five year old. Not too many of the patrons cringed when Zac made some noise and he was pretty happy that some of the other older customers returned fire with their own whistles and party poppers. And they served a pretty mean brunch - blueberry pancakes and an omlette-type thing that was full of flavour and surprises (the kind that you are happy to find). But San Francisco is like that - lots of competing eating houses always help lift the standard.
With full bellies, we were ready for a day of adventure, wherever that might take us. Zac had been pleading with us to return to Fisherman's Wharf, so that he could have a turn on the trampolines there. It was not cheap and probably not adviseable with a full belly, but it could be interesting. So off we went...successfully keeping our big breakfast just where it should be.
Having taken the energy out of our boy for a while, we headed to the cable cars, thinking that an early start was probably a good idea with the likely crowds. But, Fishermans' Wharf tends to be the end of the journey for many in the morning, not the start. We had not only no queue, but not a full cable car. Zac had a chance to find a seat he felt safe with and off we went. It has to be the best way to travel - its fun, brings out the kid in a lot of "big people" and takes the greatest advantage of the hills.
Tried to go to the cable car museum. But that was one of the only things closed for New Years.
Down at Union Square, the cable car line is a different proposition early in the morning -it was packed. Huge lines. Glad we were not hopping on down here. Zac seemed to enjoy his first experience, although he was a bit concerned that people might fall off. But we did not. He said he might even have another go. Later.
Wandered through the shopping centre with Nordstroms playing on the curved escalators. Pretty cool thing for a five year old. But we "got away" with only riding to the top three times. Surely they get sick of tourists like us.
Then we were at a loss as to what to do. We could shop, but were not sure we could collectively stand it. And Union Square is not good for much else, so we decided we had to get out. Cass wanted to see more of the city and we decided to jump on the first street car we could find. For the uninitiated, the street cars are not cable cars. Probably best to call them trams. They run on tracks around part of the city, but on electrical lines, not underground cables. And Zac was keen. Only problem was, a quick read of the map later, we seemed to be heading for Haight Ashbury. Some interesting life style choices down that part of town might have lead to a lot of questions and a lot of explaining, so we were pretty quickly off that line and onto another which looked to be what we were after. Heading downtown and back around to fisherman's wharf. Got to see another part of the city we had not seen much of. And it was an interesting experience and a great advertisement for an integrated ticketing system. (Just typing that comment makes me feel old - who really cares about integrated ticketing systems when you are on holidays and having fun?)
Back at Fishermans' Wharf, we jumped on another bus that was touring the city. Just one of the usual open topped, guided tours. Lots of "hop on/hop off" options, but they never let you do that where you want - still a long way to walk to specific sights. But it was fun. Zac got a chance to see a lot more of the city than he otherwise would have. And we all had a chance to enjoy it a lot more than if we were reading maps or watching for traffic. Turned into a lazy afternoon from that perspective. But a welcome one. Plus, we had a chance to be blown away crossing the Golden Gate Bridge again - this time in a big red shiny double-decker bus. Not as much fun as a fire engine...
Having spent as long as we could re-acquainting with the city again, we were back at Fishermans' Wharf. This time, headed for the penny arcade that is now in one of the Wharf buildings. It used to be in the Cliff House out of town abit. It has a heap of the obselete sideshow attractions from yesteryear - there are strength testers, love testers, "peep" shows from about 100 years ago and really old style games of skill. I remember when I first saw the arcade at the Cliff House. It had a lot of stuff that was around when my parents were young (and in fairness to them, a lot of stuff that was around well before they were young). I remember thinking how lame a lot of it was. They thought it was pretty cool.
But that was nearly 20 years ago. A generation has come and gone. Now, there are also all of the things I used to think were pretty cool - Space Invaders, PacMan, Galaga, Pole Position and even more recent things like the old Simpsons game and an early version of Tekken. The place was full of "Dads" like me showing their kids how to play these games. Lucky for me, Zac is young and was not too judgemental. Some of the other "Dads" were not so lucky - they were getting a lot of rolled eyes and bored sighs. Kids today - no imagination.
Then it was time to think about dinner and a return to the Stinking Rose, our favourite San Francisco eatery. The restaurant is dedicated to the love of garlic and is not for everyone. But we love it. Fond memories from when we were last in San Francisco still lingered, long after the pong of the garlic had gone.
Its down in China Town and we wanted to get there early so that we did not have to run the gauntlet of too many seedy businesses on the way. Mission accomplished. Its a bit boho from the outside. The inside is no different, even though it is the first place we ever came across wait staff using wireless PDAs. And after all of this time, we knew what we wanted - a nice pasta for Zac (he would not notice the garlic in that) and some of their famous garlic steak for us, plus their amazing garlic bread (you just get a pile of cooked cloves to spread on like butter), garlic vegetables and a couple of rosted bulbs. Mmmmm. Resisted the urge to wash it down with chianti, the drink of choice for those chasing away vampires.
The additional roasted bulbs were probably where we went wrong. Just a little too much garlic. Pity, we were looking forward to garlic ice cream again. But still, it packed a punch and was just fantastic. Yet again. As for Zac, he loved it as well. The pasta went down pretty quick and he was back for seconds on the garlic bread.
Later that night, we caught up with Dad and Mum back in their hotel room, who had done their own thing during the day. We had a great time regailing our stories to them about our adventures. Many days later, they admitted they were so happy when we left their room because of the overpowering garlic odour that was just oozing from our pores. One thing is for sure, we could have done anything the next day and we still would not have come down sick - nothing foreign could have lived through the garlic onslaught we inflicted on ourselves that night. Right now, can't wait to go back and have another crack at it. There is a Stinking Rose in Beverley Hills. But we decided against visiting it for our farewell dinner on the night we fly home.
After dinner, we caught a cable car back down to Union Square for dessert - just some standard ice cream. But Union Square at night (and sometimes during the day time) is a haven for the homeless and we were caught on our way to the ice cream shop. The guy just asked for money, but still, at night with a small child, its not what you want. Might have been the garlic smell, but he did not last and we ducked into the ice cream parlour as well. To the credit of the manager and the San Francisco tourist authority, security arrived shortly afterwards to take stock of the situation. All was fine.
The ice cream was enormous and we ate it in the ice cream parlour. No one complained about the garlic. Either they were very polite or it had not hit our skin yet.
Back on the cable cars at Union Square and accosted again by a panhandler. This guy was more persistent. Standing and arguing about the merits of why we did not want to give him any money. Its hard. You don't want to be rude and you want your kids to grow up with compassion, but you just have to hold your ground. And the guy should have known better, we were quite clearly Australians.
Still, the security that is around makes it feel a lot safer than it did in the mid-90s, when you might be hastled for the best part of a block if you walked through the wrong part of town.
This time Zac was brave on the cable car. He was getting the hang of it and was happy to ride outside a bit (although there was no way he was standing up or hanging on). He had a chance to sit right at the front and feel like he was driving the thing. All every interesting. And Cass had a chance to hang on as well. Its great when they are not full.
After travelling to the end of the line, we boarded again (love the all day pass) and headed back up to Lombard street. It was a nice night for a crooked stroll and with no cars on the street, we could walk Lombard and gain a very good appreciation for why you would not want to live there. Just imagine living on the crookedest section and having bumper to bumper tourist traffic all day every day...
And after a huge day, we were back at the hotel. Still in love with San Francisco and already planning what to do next time we are here.
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