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| Saturday, July 29, 2006 - Left home for La Guardia Airport for afternoon flight to DFW, the first leg of our flights to San Francisco. Uneventful stopover and continued on to SFO. Avis wanted to upgrade us on our rental car - because they wanted to transfer the car to Seattle. We reluctantly accepted - but are not crazy about this car - a Ford Taurus - much too big - we much prefer small cars. |
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We checked into the Fairmont San Francisco atop Nob Hill. We wanted to leave our car out front because we just wanted to drop our stuff off in the room and head out to dinner. They said that the Secret Service was not allowing any cars to be left alone out front. We asked who was staying there but they only pointed to the Union Jack at the entrance and said the could not tell us. Of course 1 minute on the Internet revealed that Tony Blair was in town and staying at the Fairmont - end of that secret. |
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| We drove around town (it was close to midnight Saturday night) but couldn't find anyplace open that looked interesting. We went back to the hotel and the doorman suggested some diners about four blocks down the hill (near Union Square). We finally found a parking space and found a sort of semi-upscale dinner. Jane had some eggs over easy while Hal had a "Denver" (aka Western) omlette and some iced tea. Perfect for our very tired selves. Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. |
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Sunday, July 30th, 2006 - We started the day with coffee at Starbucks. We then drove across San Francisco on Pacifica Street and ended up on the 49 Mile Scenic Drive. |
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| We followed that around to the Cliff House where we took some photos of the outlying rocks with their famous seals |
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We continued south along the coast for a bit and then turned around and went to Daly City - the most unpicturesque city in the world. That old 60's
song about "ticky tacky houses all in a row" was actually written about Daly City. But Daly City does have one attraction: Koi Palace - a superb dim-sum emporium. We arranged to meet Jacob Lemieux there. We only had to wait a little under an hour for a table. So we caught up with Jacob while we waited. It was worth the wait. Fantastic dim-sum. We had many different dumplings, huge scallion pancakes , excellent noodles. |
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We even got to play peek-a-boo with the adorable young lady with her family at the next table. Many large Chinese families were there enjoying the excellent dim-sum. |
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| We then went back to the hotel for a rest.
Made an online "Open Table" reservation for dinner at Fog City Dinner. Had some wonderful food. While waiting at the bar Hal had a Compari and soda while Jane had a beer. Jane ordered Dunginess crab cakes and cayenne onion rings. Hal had 1/2 dozen oysters and cioppino, all washed down by a round of beer. The food was excellent. The crab cakes were meaty, the onion rings delicious and the cioppino was filled with seafood - including Dunginess crab, shrimp, mussels, fish and a thick tomato soup that was more like a tomato sauce. Wonderful. Back to the hotel. Entering the lobby there were Secret Servicemen all over the place. We walked through the bar/bistro and are fairly certain Tony Blair was there based on the protection - but we didn't notice him. |
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Monday, July 31, 2006 - We started the day walking
DOWN Nob Hill to Union Square where we had some
coffee and split a danish. |
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| We then got on a very very very long line for the cable car to Ghiardelli Square. We sat inside which was ok but not as much fun as being outside. |
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We walked around Ghiardelli Square and had lunch at a 50's style diner. Jane had a grilled cheese and diet coke. Hal had a chef's salad and iced tea.
We walked around a bit and visited some art galleries. There was one that had some original Dr. Seuss drawings. There was one of the "Cat in the Hat" that was beautifully framed and on sale....Tempting...
We then got on another very very very long line for the cable car back to the hotel. This time we got to hang on the outside and tempt fate. Took some great photos and movies of the experience. Back at the hotel for a rest. Looks like Blair has left town. No more obvious SS. |
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| We went to the Hunan restaurant for dinner. It was once called the greatest chinese restaurant in the world by the New Yorker. It has gone down a bit but it is still a terrific restaurant. We were greated by the owner Marty, who is the son of the founder and chef Henry. Our friends Mike and Stewart used to be regulars and we sent their regards (and vice-versa). We stated with a world class scallion pancake and a wonderful cold chicken salad dish.. We then had some bean curd with a meat sauce and the Henry's special - which was very unusual. It was spinach and various meats in an interesting sauce. The more you ate of it the better it tasted. Very good and very unusual. We also bought Marty's special to take to Reno for Mike and Stewart. |
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| Tuesday, August 1, 2006 - We got up, packed and checked out of the hotel. We stopped at a Starbucks for some iced coffee for Hal, regular coffee for Jane and a blueberry scone to share. Then off to Reno! |
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