San Francisco

Yesterday was my only chance to investigate sightseeing options for San Francisco.. well, I started the day by researching how to get to town, which I hadn't had time to do before! I was appalled to learn that either train was going to take me over two hours.. not only that, but I was nowhere near either of them. The BART would have been slightly faster, but I'd have needed to get the bus, and I figured, you know, too much hassle for my first time in town, having to figure out stops. Instead, I plumped for the light rail, which would take me to the nearest station for the Caltrain. I hear they're to get BART at some stage, too - which would be handy.

Also had to Skype my mother. So, by the time I got out of the hotel it was 10:40. And by the time I made my way to the nearest light rail station, navigating a neighbourhood of sidewalks that just end abruptly and without warning - so you have to cross these almightily wide roads to continue your journey - it was after 11. I could take either train - unfortunately, the first to arrive was the one I had to change from, so I had another wait en route. These are only about every 15 minutes - jeez, London would go insane!

Well, it was nearly 12 by the time I got to the Caltrain station. Or, rather to the corresponding light rail station - and could I find how to get across?! I finally walked all the way around the main road. Finally inside, I got a ticket - sadly, it didn't recognise my Monzo card and I had to use my Irish credit card, having no cash - ascertained my platform number, and went in search of food. Which turned out to be a packet of crisps - I didn't fancy the shop's selection of rolls. They didn't take cash, but had a convenient ATM just inside the door. With a $2.25 fee - never mind. The crisps themselves were honey & dijon - something of a favourite flavour here, it seems - and were quite tasty. As I was eating them, I headed off to the platform - and blast it, there was the entrance from the light rail! Had I been on the other light rail platform, I'd have seen it.

More photos here. I had nearly an hour to wait, for the train - which was old-fashioned, and already on the platform - but they seem to have the habit here of not opening the doors until about 15 minutes before departure. Happily, when they finally did, I managed to connect to WiFi - always nice, when that's what you're depending on. And a two-hour trip ensued - as we moved from brown to green landscape, there wasn't honestly much to look at, apart from some notably weird passengers. By the time we were disgorged in San Francisco, a full two hours later (nearly 3pm, by now), I was quite stiff.. people who aren't used to the train were shocked to hear, today, how long it takes! Well, it is only 45 miles, apparently - but it does stop everywhere.

Now, I realised that if I took the King Street exit, I'd come onto Embarcadero - which someone had said was good. On and on I walked, remarking to myself that this sure was a magnificent sea walk - and I sure did see some sights worth seeing:

But as time wore on, and the afternoon wore on, I started to worry that I'd never get to see everything. I finally came across a place with fliers for the BB Big Bus Tour, and determined that, given how long it was taking me to get anywhere, I'd be well advised to let them do the walking for me. Mind you, I still had something of a walk to get to where they were - in the event, I just made it in time for the 4:45 tour.. I was lucky, their last is at 5! After a hoo-ha buying my ticket - I was sent into the office, where they stared at my cash as if they'd never seen it before - I scrambled onboard, grabbed a set of earphones, and was just seated upstairs when we jolted off.

Now, it was a conscious decision to sit upstairs, but a brave one - it was fairly freezing. But my, what a good idea to take the tour, as we seemed to hit all the highlights: the financial district, Union Square, where the posh shopping is, Haight-Ashbury, centre of the 60s hippie revolution.

We saw plenty of beautiful, painted houses, and some of those famously steep streets:

 

The highlight must, of course, have been the Golden Gate Bridge, which we crossed, stopping for photo opportunities on the other side.










Wouldn't you know it, my blasted phone picked that moment to die! Well, at least I got the important stuff. And at least now I could put my gloves on - I was frozen to the bone. On the way back, we passed Nob Hill and Chinatown - I got off at the touristy Pier 39, for the sake of the souvenir shop, which I guessed would be the last I'd see here. And by now, still shivering, I realised I wouldn't even have time to eat, really, if I were to get the last train back - the tour had taken nearly two and a half hours. I decided to walk - cutting across town this time. Didn't quite manage to leave the Embarcadero before a skateboarder got me - he'd just passed me, came off his board, and sent it shooting back to me. Where it got me in the ankle, ouch!

The train was at 9:37, arriving in San Jose (the final stop) at 11:22pm. A frigid wait for a light rail train followed - which, with the late hour, was finishing early, so I then had another wait for a second train! Got to the hotel about three hours after I caught that train from San Francisco. To a set of emails inviting me to a series of meetings - starting at 8 this morning! No wonder I didn't blog last night..

Tonight, going to treat myself (now that my meals are expensable). I have a yen for Chinese, and there's one within walking distance, with a good rep.. and then, I think, straight to bed, given my broken night's sleep, what with freezing cold, that could only be alleviated by a noisy fan heater. Well, the cold can hardly be avoided, with inch-high gaps under all the doors!

When I fly back, I'll be turning straight around and flying to Ireland for the weekend. With nothing much on Meetup for the 26th, I'm thinking of a film - but of course, the listings aren't out yet! Watch this space.. 

Day 1: San Jose

Today, London European Club organised a trip to a ceilidh for St. Patrick's Day - however, it was subsequently cancelled, for essential ongoing maintenance work on the building. Which, mind you, worked out perfectly for me, as after booking it, I discovered I was travelling to the company's Silicon Valley office today, where I'll be for most of next week. It's my first time in California. Not a great start with BA, mind, whose app completely failed to recognise that I had a booking at all, so that I had to print my boarding pass. They then passed me to the IATA website to check that I didn't need a visa - which the site concluded that I did, despite me having got an ESTA right after I booked the flight! Hmph, methinks they need to update that website. Imagine stressing people like that. I had enough stress, just thinking about packing..

Well, I managed it. Wisely, I set the alarm for this morning - when it went off, I was fast asleep - and I wouldn't have liked to sleep any longer. A few last-minute items flung in the case, and I was ready to leave at 9.05. And got all the way downstairs before I realised that I'd forgotten my comb, so back up I went for it, Eventually left at 9.10 - into a blizzard. The 10-minute downhill walk from the Tube station turned into a 20-minute walk, uphill and with the most luggage I've had in an age - and with snow blowing constantly against me, and a gale-force wind around every corner.

What a relief to squeeze onto the Tube to King's Cross - second relief was that I didn't have to climb any stairs to get to the Piccadilly Line - third relief was that I got a seat on the Piccadilly Line! At Heathrow (Terminal Five, for once), I headed straight for bag drop. Where BA was, once again, in disarray, this time due to understaffing. So we were directed to self-service bag drop - which was less complicated than it might have been. Baggage receipt emailed to me, lovely. And so through security, a redundant boarding pass scanner that didn't seem to be working, and another shortage - this time, of trays to put our stuff in! It was a relief to get to the gate, frankly - but I have to say, the staff were unfailingly lovely, the guy at security even holding aloft my liquid bag as an example to others of how it should be done! :-) Gold star, me..

A charming, two-dimensional assistant directed us to the transit to take us to whichever gates we needed. (Why does she have to be en pointe, though? Or maybe she's just in heels.) Anyway, on I went, getting eventually all the way to the gate without passing anywhere decent to eat. Well, within site of the gate is a Wetherspoon's counter, where they have panini, so I got a meal deal there. Eventually. They're hopeless at multitasking, you see. Unfortunately, the sweet chilli chicken panini was actually a bit tasteless - but hey, I was just glad of something to eat! And as I did so, I watched the army of flight attendants head toward the gate, to board first. Gosh, it's so long since I flew long haul, I'd forgotten what a difference there is in the scale of the planes!

I'd managed to bump my BA-preselected seat up by 10 rows - not an easy feat, on a very user-unfriendly website But it was worth it - I always sit as far forward as possible anyway, to have a less bumpy flight, but I was also pretty much right at the front of Economy, which was handy for getting served quickly. And I can't fault the service - two meals, which were perfectly edible, two servings of alcohol, if you wanted it, or something else if you didn't, another serving of drinks with the second meal. The first meal was a choice between chicken and chorizo (hate chorizo!) or pasta, which was what I had. Came with a bread roll, sourdough crispbread, a small block of cheddar, some nibbles I didn't bother with, and a yummy chocolate ganache. The second meal was calzone - chicken, which I had, or mozzarella - which came with pasta (which this time I didn't bother with) and a yummy lemon muffin. A serving of juice or water at another point - and lo, at one stage they came around with a basket of classic Mini Magnums!  which was when I was really glad to be so far forward.

During the flight, some slept, which I just thought was foolish - for goodness' sake, we were due to arrive in the early evening! Just stay awake, have an early night. (On a side note, I've never before seen electronic window-darkening on planes - ooh..) Anyway, I didn't sleep on the flight - which meant I had time for four films, and yes, you can guess I'd looked up what was available, and how it was rated. Here's what I saw:

1. Dangal - Bollywood. Based on the true story of an Indian champion wrestler, who desperately wanted a son to carry on and win the international gold that eluded him, but only had daughters. Undeterred, he simply trained them instead, going against local tradition. Turned out a lot better than I expected: surprisingly moving, frequently hilarious, and who would ever have thought that a wrestling film - with contests faithfully documented - could be so interesting to a non-fan? I really liked this one.
2. Baapjanma. More Bollywood. This one was just okay - Sachin Khedekar is an old man who discovers he's dying of cancer, and conceives a unique idea to get his estranged kids together as a family again. He's going to fast-forward his death, so he can watch them show up for the funeral. Enjoyable enough.
3. Ondu Motteya Kathe - third Bollywood in a row. I watched less than half an hour of this - comedy is subjective, and I just couldn't get into this story of a baldie's search for love.
4. Finished with Bollywood now - the fourth film, at last, was Call Me By Your Name, which has been at the top of my film lists for ages. A curious beast, this - screen captions are in English, although the film is in French. After the previous three films, I'd also gotten used to seeing English-language subtitles appear automatically - so I wasn't surprised to see them here as well - until I realised they were only describing part of the film! Turns out it's set in Italy, and the subtitles (again, weirdly, in English) were for the Italian bits.
   
   Anyway, this is a lovely film to watch. The story of a young lad's sexual awakening over a summer, when he falls for his father's research student, it's gorgeously sensual, all these people lounging about in the heat, very few clothes on and little to do. And I don't blame the kid - this student is played by Armie Hammer, who frankly, is an Adonis. And what impeccable French, considering it's not his native language! It's a beautifully nuanced story, the older man hesitating over starting something with the younger, and most of what happens is quite unpredictable. Gorgeously bittersweet.
5. Yes, five - considering I didn't watch No. 3 all the way through, I had time for another, so Thor: Ragnarok made the list, which I was delighted about. And it seems I'm not the only person drawn to this film - it's a star-studded cast, with Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Idris Elba as Heimdall, all as before. Oh, but this time several more have come along for the ride - Cate Blanchett, almost unrecognisable with black hair (until she makes an impassioned speech, and you say, oh THAT's who it is!) plays Helda, Odin's long-banished daughter, the Queen of Death. Jeff Goldblum plays a marvellously camp outer-worlder, Mark Ruffalo is Bruce Banner, and Benedict Cumberbatch (jeez, he's everywhere!) shows up as a wizard. In fact, you'd have to wonder whether roles were created especially for them. Anyway, it's a merry romp - and they're right, there are a lot of in-jokes, and it loves to poke fun at itself.

Finished off with the first episode of the revival of Will & Grace! Love that series, and just handily got it watched before it was time to get busy with landing cards and seatbelts. It was handy, really, that the weather was no warmer than London had been before today - meant I could make a reasonable compromise on clothes, not have to strip everything off when I got off the plane! Mind you, it was to be a while before I got outside - nearly an hour queueing, as a relaxed set of border control guards processed us all extremely slowly, making us all give fingerprint scans and have digital photographs taken as well. The guard I got was amazed I had no stamps in my passport! As I said to him, not in that one - ah, he replied, you've just been travelling around Europe, not getting stamps.. yep, that'd be it. And, predictably, no visa problems at all, despite what IATA said.

A short walk to the hotel then. I was to be glad I'd Streetviewed it though, having to walk up one side for a bit, then the other, because the pavement doesn't go all the way! I was even gladder to discover that all the crosswalks have pedestrian signals - a relief, considering the size of the roads, and something I hadn't noticed on Streetview. This hotel was chosen for price and proximity to the office - WiFi is extra, I splurged on high-speed, figuring they wouldn't begrudge me that (altogether, it's only about $20 extra). No breakfast, but there's a food mart next door, and a fridge in the room, which could be handy. For tonight, though, I figured I'd manage without having to go forage - will be turning in very shortly indeed, having now been awake for 22 hours straight. And the WiFi is decent, apart from having to keep restarting it when it freezes. Just as well, considering the scarcity of available tv channels. Oh, and I'll be glad of my earplugs, with my proximity to both freeway and airport. 

Decent-sized room anyway, and what seems a comfy bed. And a full bath! Will be availing of that - just not tonight. Tomorrow, will have to investigate sightseeing options for San Francisco..

And when I fly back, I'll be turning straight around and flying to Ireland for the weekend. With nothing much on Meetup for the 26th, I'm thinking of a film - but of course, the listings aren't out yet! Watch this space..