Long way back home

Up at 3 am on Tuesday morning to take the hotel shuttle at 3:30 am (15 min). Despite of the terrorists’ attacks in Brussels (of which we didn’t know until an NBC TV-Team interviewed us on the airport), there was no extra security or checks. In addition, we were fortunate and got a third piece of luggage checked in for free.

Our Delta plane to Atlanta started at 6:30 am and arrived 20 minutes early. It’s been a modern, new plane and in contrast to our international flight it appeared "roomier", cleaner and more comfortable. The B767-400 ER, which brought us to Munich, didn’t have electric outlets at the seats, the seatback-monitors were old-fashioned and - I didn’t notice this before - seats could only slightly be reclined. Legroom is sparse (less than on U.S. flights) and with the seatbelt sign more on than off and the belt around the hip, it was hard to sleep, even on a two-seater row; the plane was only about 60 % full.

Though, I am repeating myself in regard to food, but I will never understand why they can’t just simply serve a good sandwich or wrap instead of all these tiny, overcooked portions of some tasteless food, wrapped up three times, so that at the end there is more plastic on the tablet then the food wood amount to. Rolls and pastry is always old and ice-cold and salads are not really fresh. Surprisingly, they have started to serve all kinds of alcohol complimentary again (it would be much better, to improve food quality instead!), but there is no duty-free purchase anymore on the plane.

Same constant bother with carry-on luggage: Since new luggage regulations were introduced, travelers have much more carry-on and because it’s usually not controlled, at least not strictly (and never weighted), it’s always a run for the overhead bins. This slows down the whole boarding process considerably. Not very clever...

Sleep wouldn’t come, too tired and too awake and wired at the same time. Hate to arrive in Germany early in the morning, with a whole day to "survive“ (otherwise jetlag is even worse!). We arrived half an hour early and were picked up by our friend Silvia. Bless her, in regard to our approx. 170 pounds of luggage in total! Back home at 8 am exactly after five weeks of traveling. 35 deg. F and rain - what else could we have expected? Easter is coming up, but the weather forecast doesn't look too good.

Bye-bye San Francisco!

This morning we packed first, checked out of the Griffon Hotel and left the luggage in storage, before we departed for Castro, one of the first gay neighborhoods in the U.S. The large and active LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) started to develop when the U.S. military dishonorably discharged thousands of gay servicemen during World War II. In the late 1960s the neighborhood became the gay mecca, simultanously with the neighboring Haight-Ashbury district becoming "hippie heaven". When the Haight became drug ridden and violent,the gay population moved over to Castro, which was named after the landmark theater (see pic), dating in 1922, at the corner of Castro and Market Streets.

Starting in 1973 Harvey Milk, became one of the icons and prominent leaders of the gay movement, he was murdered in Nov. 1978. Nowadays the neighborhood is much more mixed, young couples moved into the neighborhood, but there are still enough old relicts like the Orphan Andy's (open 24 hours), the Twin Peaks Bar or Cliff's Variety (Hardware) Store - where we bought ducktape, just in case... Perfect, to get more background and information about the neighborhood is the GLBT Historic Museum (see left pic below).





By streetcar we reached SoMa then, checked out the SoMa Streetfood Park (a conglomeration of food trucks) and walked southeast, to Mission Bay, where in the old days banana boats landed and where still old warehouses dominate. Partly they are already renovated and either transformed into fancy office buildings, e.g. of Adobe or Zynga, or into fancy lofts. Muji and Kartell shops, Trader Joe's and other fancy stores and restaurants opened - one more sign that the area is about to become a new favorite address. Since SoMa is getting crowded, people move on southward.

We had lunch in one of the new restaurants there, a japanese place by name "Okane", small and unpretentious, sleek and modern. It specializes in izakaya (more traditional Japanese fare, prepared in new creative ways) and sushi (they have their own sushi chef, see pic). We enjoyed a several-course tasting menu of predominantly fish - on the keft picture there is the smoked/cured halibut and one of the popular, modestly priced Bento boxes - and besides getting another great meal (though we are not that good in eating with chopsticks) we were glad to get out of the rain for a little while.






Afterwards we revisited the AT&T Ballpark, Home of the Giants, baseball World Series Champs 2010, 2012 and 2014, (and, of course, the Giants shop) with a statue of famous player Willie Mays in front (pic). Thanks to its location in China Basin, on the waterfront with an adjacent marina (see pic), the ballpark is one of the most spectacular ones in the U.S.A.

Slowly, we started our way back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and bring it to the next BART (subway) station on Market Street. The train (which costs not quite $ 9) took a good half hour to the airport, but there we had to find our way and wait for the hotel shuttle to the Best Western Plus Grosvenor. After two hours in total, we moved into our room in the 9th floor, with a view towards the bay, and, with a little fantasy, also, towards the city. With all our luggage the trip wasn't that much fun and we were glad that they had a bath tub.Fortunately we'll get some rest before we have to head back to the airport tomorrow morning at 4 am - provided we get ready with work soon...

Colorful Neighborhoods

Not much sun on this Sunday morning, but pretty warm. When we waited for the bus, I took the picture of the historic F-Line street car (running along Market Street) in front of the Ferry Building. Considering our big meal last night, we skipped breakfast and first stop was the UN Plaza with its sunday farmers' market - a more "regular", reasonably priced farmers' market with a lot of asian vendors. The market takes place closeby City Hall (to be seen in the background of the picture), in the vicinity of the Asian Art Museum and the Public Library, both architecturally interesting buildings, which were pivotal to improve the neighborhood. The area is called "Tenderloin" and has always been sort of the Achilles' heel of the city. Matter of fact, we got confirmed today that it's still a sore spot with lots of homeless people laying in entrance ways and on benches. Having been to San Francisco over a dozen of times since the early 1980ies, we watched its constant ups and downs. New in the last years, is the enormous development in SoMa: highrises (condos) coming up like mushrooms.

Mission district - the Latino neighborhood of San Francisco -, our next stop, in contrast, picked up in regard to attractivity, but for some strange reason not many tourists visit here. It's a little further away from downtown, but fully worth the visit, alone for the quantity and quality of murals. In the old days the Mission District was mostly known for "Balmy Alley" (pic), one alley with great murals, but now, as part of a mural project, there are paintings all over the neighborhood now (see pictures at the end of this blog), on fences, fassades, garages etc., concentrated along 24th Street starting at Mission. Besides that, many of the authentic mexican restaurants and marketplaces are still existing and cater for a colorful atmosphere, though a couple of fancier places mix in now (which is probably good) and it's fun to stroll along Mission Street to the famous mission San Francisco de Assis, San Francisco's oldest standing building from 1791.

We've become "religious" today, too: on our way through the neighborhood we already had watched a Palm Sunday parade (pic) with a cross bearer and his following, and then, in the new Mission church we followed the beginning of a catholic service, special because of palm sunday. While its pussy willow what people in Germany get blessed (at least I believe so...) it's real palm leaves here. We visited the old cemetery on the mission grounds, with a statue of "famous" founding father of the missions in California, pater Juniperro Serra, who forcefully had convinced the native Miwok and Ohlone indian tribes about the supremacy of the Catholic church.

After church, we hopped on a bus again criss-crossing through town through Lower Haight, Fillmore (the afroamerican neighborhood) and Western Addition (japanese) to Cow Hollow, one of the "newer", up-and-coming neighborhoods with lots of fitness studios, dog bakeries and spas, and fancy boutiques and cafés. We noticed again, that Americans are very patient when it comes to waiting in line to get a table in a restaurant. We would never ever. In the meantime it had started to rain, but nevertheless we took the bus to the new Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center: info center, shop, restaurant and an observation platform. Theoretically the place would have offered a gorgeous view towards the famous bridge, formerly only available from the Marin County side, across the bay. But, not much of a view today: it rained out of buckets and visibility was bad. Didn't take any photos.

The rain gave us a little more time to catch up with work in the hotel before we started again by streetcar towards SoMA's south side, to a terrific dinner at 25 Lusk (pic above by Fortune PR), probably the best dining adventure we had on our whole trip! Great atmosphere and highly creative food. We got three different kinds of caviar with blinis and grilled octopus (incredibly tender) as appetizers after an amuse-gueule of tuna tartare, followed by two little courses of rabbit ravioli in broth and a basil sorbet and as entrées we had ordered filet mignon with steak frites and ahi tuna with asparagus. The grand finale was a sampler plate of three different desserts and the whole menu came with a perfect cocktail and wine pairing (and a good looking, eloquent server...). What a wonderful last dinner in San Francisco! Thanks to our long-time friend Tom, whose clients are always top-notch.

Climbing Hills

The last two days here in San Francisco flew by, days packed with sightseeing, checking out neighborhoods, waiting for busses or streetcars, climbing hills and walking many miles, and always being amazed about the geography (and the views resulting of this fact) and the colorful variety (and, also, the huge contrasts) this city has to offer. Alone the many distinct ethnic neighborhoods - chinese, italian, latino, japanese etc. - are unique for San Francisco.





Saturday morning is "market day" around the Ferry Building and that was where we got fresh baking goods, freshly pressed juice and coffee for breakfast. Farmers sell their local products, but it's not only veggies and fruit (right now a lot of green asparargus, see pic), but also delicatessen like cheese, smoked fish, hummus and olive oil, oysters, baking goods, honey and jams and much more.

Also, since it is a popular gathering point for locals on a Saturday morning, there are always bands playing and cooking demonstrations taking place. A pretty fancy, not inexpensive market, but impressive in regard to variety.

A bus brought us up to Haight Ashbury (see pictures), the former "hippie neighborhood" - now more of a "hip neighborhood". Closeby Buena Vista Park (pics below) offered, after a steep climb, great views of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge, and is a lush green park with interesting flora and fauna; to our surprise, there was a "coyote warning" sign set up!.

We took the bus back to Union Square (right picture), another main tourist hub (besides Pier 39 and the waterfront) in town. In the meantime the weather had turned to sunny, warm and just gorgeous and it seemed like everybody was suddenly outside. Around Union Square it's mostly large (chain) shops, department stores and designer shops as well as expensive, luxury hotels lining up.


After a short break in the sun, we walked through the famous elaborately decorated gate (pic) into Chinatown, which is two-parted: a touristic, kitschy strip along Grant Street and a busy, more authentic Asian shopping strip on Stockton Street. Chinatown borders North Beach, the Italian neighborhood, with popular pizza places, cafés and deli stores. On Washington Square we rested for a little while - the lawn was packed with people - before we took the bus back to the hotel to get ready in time for our 7 pm dinner reservation in the Westfield Shopping Center on Market Street, the main axles of downtown.


Wouldn't have expected such a great place in a shopping center, though Westfield is an upscale, nice mall. In "Tap 415", rather, more of a brew pub on the top floor, the atmosphere was vivid, with TV screens showing basketball, an open kitchen and a long bar. The menu was modestly priced, portions generous and in the kitchen mostly local produce is used. They offer great cocktails, beers and "adult malts" (milk-shake- or ice cream float-like drinks with alcohol, see last pic). We got a sample of different favorites of the pub: pretzel bites with cheese fondue, tuna tartare, tap burgers, shrimp poboys and their home-made pickles, paired with cocktails, beers and malts.
In my "second life" I would sure love to become a food (and perhaps hotel) critic!

Welcome to San Francisco

Friday was one of these days, which would have proved to many of our friends and relatives, that our business isn't really always fun and easy and luxurious: We arrived to San Francisco's Transbay Terminal by bus from Emeryville (the train station), only about half an hour late, at 9:30 am. We schlepped our luggage (4 large pieces, two backpacks and a Pendleton blanket) from the bus station to our "nearby" hotel. The Hotel Griffon, which had invited us, is conveniently located in SoMA, directly at Embarcadero close to the Ferry Building. Unfortunately (but expectedly), our room wasn't ready in the morning.

Therefore, despite of being pretty tired and sweaty, we stored our luggage in the hotel and went out again to explore the city. SF was fully living up to its reputation in the morning: fog. After breakfast in the Ferry Building Marketplace (pic) and checking emails, we lost patience waiting for one of the historic streetcars, which serve the waterfront (in SF public transport is theoretically existing, but slow and not highly reliable) and started walking along the waterfront.

We passeed the new cruiseship terminal, Pier 39, Hyde Street Pier and the Visitor Center and ended up at the Maritime Museum/Ghirardelli Square. Pier 39 (pics) is still the same old tourist trap, with its stinky sea lions lazily laying around and making noise.

As always, it took forever to get on the Hyde-Powell Cable Car at Ghirardelli Square, up and down the hills to Hallidie Plaza, the hub of the business district. With a stop at the Visitor Information Center, we walked to the "American Bookbinders Museum" where we had a short tour and - after a short break in the sun in the beautiful Yerba Buena Gardens (picture), we walked over to SFMoMA for our 3 pm appointment. We got a preview tour in the newly expanded and rearranged museum, which will open in May. Already spectacular before, in a fantastic Mario Botta building (see front part in the picture, new building is to the back), it was expanded enourmously and will be one of the largest and most spectacular modern/contemporary art museums in the U.S. now. Would love to be there for the opening!

At 4 pm we strolled back to our hotel to finally check in, shower and dress up. Room was modern and nice, though not too large, and came with a great view towards Oakland Bay Bridge (see pic).

Out again at 5 pm for our dinner appointment at 6 pm by public bus. At Bobo's Lounge we got (after a little bit of confusion about our pre-arranged dinner) a good meal with branzino (pic), lamb chops and wine pairing. Two different bus lines brought us back to our hotel at 8 pm and there was still a text to proofread waiting for us. Not sure how many hours we were up and running and how many miles we walked, but assumingly not many people we know, would have endured this day with us!

All Aboard!

Riding on the train now for a couple of hours: the Coast Starlight serves an old train route from Seattle to Los Angeles; but we'll only go to San Francisco.
This morning we spoiled ourselves in taking a taxi to Seattle’s beautifully restorated King Street Station (see pic), which we normally would never have done, but luggage was getting too bulky and we had too few hands… It’s not the first time that we take the train, we both love train travel and did it many times before in the U.S.

For economical reasons and because it’s „only“ one night, we took „coach“ (left pic) this time, but legroom is spacious, seats reclinable and there are tables and electrical outlets at every seat. Five restrooms per car (two of them designed as „dressing room“ and „ladies’ lounge“) and, for all passengers, there is a „sightseer lounge“ car (right pic) with wrapped-around windows (see pic) on top and a snackbar on ground floor. Also, there is, of course, a dining car. where dinners are served on reservation in shifts. For sleeping car passengers meals are included in the ticket as well as a wine tasting in the Parlour Car. We’ve had sleeping cars before, but meals weren’t really great and we didn’t sleep well there neither for a much higher ticket price.

The weather is gorgeous, we passed Tacoma (where the Go West Summit took place two years ago) and had beautiful views of the Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and later of Mount Rainier.








In Portland (see pics) the train stopped for about half an hour and we got out and stretched our legs and inspected the locomotive (pic) and the other cars (about ten in total). The train is pretty full and already stopped several times on the route because freight traffic has the right of way since train tracks belong to freight train companies and AMTRAK only pays to use them.


Lush, green countryside in Oregon’s backcountry: wine (pic), orchards, fields and other crops, sheep, cattle and horses. One one side: the Cascade Mountains, on the other, the Coastal Range. In the observation car one young guy started to play the guitar. Just left Oregon’s capital, Salem. Now we have the Three Sisters in view, closeby Bend. Soon the train climbed up into the mountains and woods of the Cascades and it slowly got dark (at about 7:15 pm). We had a „picnic“ with goodies from the Pike Place Market on the train. It’s been a quiet day and eventually we caught up with labeling pics, reading and writing down notes.


Seats seemed comfortable, legs stretched out, but during the night it showed that seats weren't exactly a bed and we only slept in intervalls, until either a muscle got stiff or a bone hurt. Formerly you got pillows and blankets on the train, but not anymore! I am sure, our friend Dave would have slept here like a baby, but we couldn't. Wouldn’t say that we are really fresh and chipper this morning, but well… we survived!
Just departed Sacramento, the capital of California, still pitch dark. Sunrise is at about 7:15 am - palms and a swarm of pelicans as well as layers of thick fog (see pics) were impressive and let us know that we are in Califoria now.Another hour to Emeryville, where we have to transfer to the bus to SF. Luggage will be checked through and then it'll be only a couple of blocks to walk to our hotel in SF.