Here we are….on plane trip #8….heading to San Francisco!
Flying over San Francisco….all grey and it looks cold!
Yah…..I guess that looks like the airport!!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! OMG, I was totally unprepared for how cold it was in San Francisco…the wind was incredibly cold. We stayed at the metropolis which is right in the heart of the city and we were very thankful to be so close to a shopping mall so that we could buy jackets and shoes.
This is us….checking into Hotel Metropolis….see our little mountain of luggage in front of the tiny elevator? We had to take it up in a few goes! Jordan is totally exhausted….sitting down waiting to go up to the room and have a snooze. Jarryd is sort of hidden behind me checking out the hotel facilities brochure. The room on top of the lobby is the library where you can just sit and drink coffee and read or hop online.
Because of the weather, we didn’t get to do very much as well in San Francisco. We managed to go on a cable car ride (tram) and we went down to Fisherman’s wharf and explored Pier 39. We caught up with a friend from Joseph’s home town and had a fabulous seafood dinner with them at Fisherman’s wharf and then the kids and MIL took a taxi back to the hotel while Joseph and I went for a drive with Jeanelyn and Ricco. They took us to see the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Twin Peaks to check out the fabulous view and went to a few other gorgeous places.
Above are the two more gorgeous shots of San Francisco taken from Twin Peaks….the night was cold…but the view was amazingly beautifully clear. In the first photo, the brightest street leads up to where we live. The second photo shows the San Francisco Bridge.
The following day, we had planned to explore Pier 39, crooked street (Lombard street), take a bay cruise, but when we woke, it was absolutely pouring!!! It was so cold and it was so windy and the rain was coming in almost horizontally. So all we could really do was have a really wet exploration at Pier 39 which was nearly deserted due to the weather. We managed to see the noisy Sea Lions lounging on the docks, and saw the huge seagulls and played at an indoor arcade for an hour so that the kids could actually have some fun. We also managed to go to Boudin Bakery to try out their famous New England Clam Chowder which gets served in Sourdough bread bowl.
The two photos above, you can see the Sea Lions lounging around. They were actually very very noisy. They’re free to come and go as they please.
The Rock or Alcatraz Island….it served as a lighthouse, then a prison and now…it’s a tourist spot.
Jeromel checking out the huge Candy Store on Pier 39….they had an amazing variety of Taffy! Although they looked delicious, we left empty handed.
And then all we could really do was head back to the mall to shop. I must say, shopping in San Francisco was fabulous!! We were right across the road from Gap, Old Navy and the Westfield Mall which has Norstrums, Bloomingdale, Dockers etc. By this time, we had to pick up another two luggage bags to accomodate our shopping. We’re now at 9 pieces of checked in luggage which is ok for the airlines….we’re allowed to have two pieces of checked in luggage each weighing no more than 50lbs. So we can still get another 3 bags. LOL…it’s the airport transportation which is a problem as we have to get a shuttle that is big enough for all our luggage.
Night view outside our hotel looking to the right hand side.
Here I am ….busy doing research for our accommodation for Los Angeles and Las Vegas
Leaving San Francisco, I had organised for the hotel to send us a van that was big enough for 6 people and lots of luggage. OMG…we nearly died when something no bigger than our carnival arrived to pick us up!! No way can everything fit in there….so after a bit of a hissy fit from me at the front desk, a shuttle came to pick us up and all this time I am stressing because I knew we would get to the airport leaving a little less than an hour and a half to go through the check in process. As soon as our baggage hit the pavement at the airport, I spotted a United Airlines check and Go stand. For $2 per bag, we got processed right there on the pavement…our luggage was checked in, our tickets checked, our boarding passes were handed to us. OMG….it was incredible!!! We had managed to bypass the huge queues of people either totally oblivious to this fabulous service or were too tight to pay the $2 to save their sanity and time. LOL!!
Los Angeles, here we come!!!
