The first installment of the California 2007 Journal is up.
Photos above all taken on the 17 mile drive of the Monterey Peninsula between Pacific Grove and Carmel. Click on photos to enlarge.
California: August 10th – August 24th, 2007.
Part 1 of California 2007 – San Francisco
Friday August 10th: This long awaited trip kicks-off with a 6 hour direct flight from Montreal to SF. We don’t have our car yet but we’ve reserved the Super Shuttle to take us to our Hotel. This will be my third trip to SF, the fourth to California having been to Los Angeles as a child.
It’s about a 20 minute hop from the SFO Airport to the Comfort Inn By the Bay (Van Ness corner of Lombard). Our room won’t be ready until 4 PM, so we leave our bags at the reception and walk to the Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s a beautiful day, cool and crisp but sunny (about 60 F or 15 C).
We stop for a late lunch at the Buena Vista Café (2765 Hyde Street) which is famous for its Irish Coffee. The place is packed with tourists and we end up eating hamburgers sitting somewhat uncomfortably at the bar – not exactly a gourmet meal but it hits the spot – particularly since we haven’t eaten anything since this morning.
The rest of the afternoon is spent at a leisurely pace, stretching our legs and just getting fresh air. First a quick walk around Ghirardelli Square enjoying free samples of milk chocolate with caramel. Next, the Maritime National Historical Park where are docked the USS Pampanito, the Balclutha, World War II Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien, and other ships.
After that we continue to the famous Pier 39 and watch the noisy sea lions basking in the sun. Along the way, a quick stop at the Musee Mecanique, “one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade.”
In the evening, it’s dinner at the Café Lombard (Lombard Street), right across from our Hotel (we can see it from our 8th floor window, along with the Golden Gate). The Café looks like a dive, but we’re way too tired to go anywhere else. Surprisingly, this restaurant serves excellent Italian fare, so it turned out that appearances can be deceiving. We would definitely go back.
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Western lowland gorillas, females left and right, male (silverback) at center – SF Zoo. Click to enlarge.
One of many pictures I took of the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. This one shot from a northern vista point. We stopped at this lookout twice, once on the way to the Muir Woods, the second time when we went to Napa. I artificially aged this photo in Photoshop CS2 and superimposed the manipulation on my original. Click to enlarge.
Beautiful female Sumatran (Indonesia) Tiger at the SF Zoo. Stay tuned for more.
