Placerville Sunday 13 / 8/17

Today has been delightful. Warm and sunny with some new exploring. We had a leisurely start and decided to walk the rest of Main Street. We had only seen the top end last night and typical of the area it is not a straight street. When we turned the corner we found it blocked off and a craft fair in full swing.  I thought of Ingrid immediately because she loves such events.  It was a big affair and took us quite a while to browse our way around. There was some lovely pottery and wood work. Lots of fabrics and jewellery of course. When we had seen as much as we wanted we headed off on our original plan which was to visit one of the old mining towns nearby. Georgetown was at the heart of the 1850's gold rush and many of it's buildings are substantial enough to have survived a severe fire in the 1850's. The road up there was amazing. Only 25 miles but it was so narrow and winding it took us 3/4 of an hour to get there. The scenery was beautiful with heavily wooded  steep valleys opening up occasionaly for great views. Unfortunately the narrowness of the roads didn't permit parking for photos. Georgetown was all that we expected with lovely old  stone buildings. We had lunch at the saloon and it was yummy. We just had to be strong and not eat all the fries which came with our sandwich. I had to endure my first serve of iced tea because I can't face soda's and didn't want beer. I will attach a photo which shows the interior of the bar. The photo is deceptive because the place had emptied out while I went back for my tablet. It had been hopping with a seniors group some bikers and some young people. After strolling the street, inspecting the fire station ( very important in this country) and the gift shop we drove home. The way back was through  a couple of different communities. The contrast between those which are close to the highway or have a means of promoting the town and those that were less fortunate was very marked. A couple of places were very evidently peopled by those on low income who lacked the resources to do more than eke out an existance. Tonight we are walking down to Main Street again for dinner and hope to keep our waistlines in check with the exercise. 

Check out and collect Car Day

I reaIsed when i was looking through the photos that I hadn't included one of City Hall. So here it is today. Bob said that I had to tell you that it's main claim to fame is that the dome is taller than the one on the National Capital. It also has gold trim on it's external paint work.
The collection of our car went very smoothly. We had to return to the International Airport to pick it up and used our "seniors discount" train tickets. These just seem to apply to the round trip for the airport and were half price. Our appearance was the only proof required that we were over 65. How surprising. In contrast to our experience with Dollar Hire cars last trip Alamo were extremely efficient despite a long queue. And we had a choice of cars. Our destination was Placerville which is the heart of the original gold rush area of California. It is only 230 miles from San Francisco and we arrived by 3-30pm. It was just as well we made it then because we needed our "Nanna Nap". Friday night at the hostel had been very noisy with a group of young people drinking on the sidewalk until about 3am. Even though our room was not on the street front we were overlooking a service court yard which seemed to collect the sound. Sounds of passion nearby topped it off.
Placerville is very pretty being in the foothills of the mountains. In contrast to the hills around San Francisco which really are treeless there a tall pines around the town. Due to it's location in a valley it is a long thin town and we had quite a walk to reach the restaurant area in Main Street last night. The walk was good for us after the drive and dinner  was very good. We are looking forward to a relaxed day exploring the area before we move on again on Monday. Bob is preparing our yogurt and cereal so it is time to close.

Photos from Day 3

I could't remember how to attach photos. Here's trying again.

San Francisco Day 3

Well we have had the best day today. The weather was warmer and we planned a gentle stroll down through the Tenderloin area to the San Francisco Civic Centre. We drove past it yesterday and marked it as somewhere to visit at leisure. It was destroyed like many other buildings in the 1906 earthquake and rebuilt by 1915. It is very impressive as a structure and when we arrived we found that it was a very social building. It is the place where Marilyn Monro married Joe DiMagio and there were at least 4 weddings happening while we were there with more couples with entourage arriving. People were laughing, cheering and singing during the services and it was a very alive place.
From there we walked around the square past the Opera House and other impressive buildings to the Asian Art Museum. This was not somewhere that I would have sought out but it was recommended and we were there so in we went. The art was so beautiful I was so pleased that we went to see it. There were examples of pottery from 300 BC through to modern day. The art from Korea and Japan was exquisite.  We only saw one floor and then ran out of steam so retired to the restaurant for a delicious lunch of genuine Asian style food. Light and tasty.
After walking back through the Tenderloin which I have to tell you is not a place to go after dark we had a little rest before going down to the area where we ate last night. This morning we spotted an Italian Restaurant, called "Little Henry's" which is operated by a Cambodian couple.  We immediately decided that was where we would eat tonight. We did make a mistake ordering the special Alaskan Cod because we were intrigued to try it. However although the fish was nothing special it came with sides of salad, pasta, vegetables and bread. By the time we had eaten as much of that as we could we decided that we may well return on our last night before flying home to order pasta which is what we should have done tonight. More interesting yet was that while we were eating Bob spied a GOLD Lamborgini being parked just across the road. While I say gold that it just what I mean. Not golden yellow but gold like gold leaf. He could hardly contain himself to finish his meal to go over the road to look at it. When we did it was so amazing that we decided to walk back to the hostel to get our cameras hoping it would still be there when we returned. It was and there were others taking photos. One man was pretending to open the driver's door. With that there was a hale across the street telling him to get away from the car. It was the owner. We had assumed he was eating at a nearby posh restaurant but he subsequently informed us he had been having a haircut. He came over and as we had been a respectful distance taking our photos and polite he chatted. He is a US citizen of Pakistan heritage. He informed us he owns 3 gold cars and often displays them for charity. This is the latest version designed to be a street car as well as high performance.  He explained that the gold is applied as a wrap and the car has to be dismantled to apply it. As we were obviously very admiring and Bob was asking all the right mechanical questions he asked me if I had ever sat in one and then invited me to do so. I did and Bob took the photos to prove it.
He was just a very nice person who obviously enjoyed talking about his cars and San Francisco.
On that note we strolled back to the hostel and had a little boast about our evening to the young impressionable hostel reception staff.

San Francisco Day 2

Well today has been a different experience. When I checked the weather forecast this morning it said "cloudy 20 decrees C". Perfect we thought as we set off for the Hop on Hop off Bus for a city tour. We were just in time to get front row seats on the top of the double decker and we were primed to see the sights. San Francisco is a beautiful city and we learnt a lot - such as all the trees around the streets and parks had to be gradually introduced and are all non native species. This is because there are no trees native to this area. Hence we saw a lot of eucalypts and some flowering red gums ( in flower). Also 70% of the city was new since 1906 due to the massive earthquake of that year. In this respect it is a lot like Perth with very few venerable buildings. Unlike WA they have been a lot smarter about preserving their 1900's era buildings. This is particularly notable in the houses in the older areas of the city where care has been taken to preserve and maintain them. There is an area where the houses are known as the "painted ladies" because of the detailed trim which enhances their timber painted exteriors. We also drove through the Haight Aspery area of the 60's fame where the decoration of the buildings is much more "out there " and more in the theme of "painted molls". Lots of fun to see evidence of "The Summer of Love". Unfortunately the weather forecast did not live up to the original prediction until late this afternoon. Long before then we had tumbled off the bus on numbed legs and with shaking hands into a handy "Hot Spud" lunch bar to re negotiate the plan. Fortunately we had taken our jackets anticipating the cold breeze which lurks around corners and pounces unexpectedly but even they were not enough to protect us. We decamped back to our cozy room for a nap, a hot shower and then ventured forth for some retail therapy. Tomorrow we will retrace our path to the magnificent Civic Centre for a closer look.
Before we joined the bus tour we had to track down a USA  Post Office to post a parcel of photos to my cousins in Oklahoma. In  the walk there and back we discovered some restaurants that were off the "tourist trail". Tonight we went back to that area which was conveniently only 3 blocks over from our hostel. Bob very generously volunteered that we try out a Mexican/ Salvadorian restaurant "Olivo's"  knowing that I would enjoy it even though it is not his preferance. We had an hilarious conversation sorting through what he might enjoy and me then translating his order to the proprietor's son  who was bemused but patient. What is more Bob thoroughly enjoyed his thin sliced topside and prawns. Though I have to report that he would not eat the mashed refried beans gravy.
And so ends another day.

The trip to San Francisco

All began well when our dual alarm system worked and we were up and dressed when the taxi arrived at 2.45 am. Ingrid had also nobly set her alarm to make sure we were awake and to wave us off.  The driver was early which saved us any anxiety about whether he would be on time. He had us at the domestic terminal earlier than we had expected which turned out to be unfortunate. Because of the recent security alert and our relatively short transfer time at Sydney Bob had "chatted" with Qantas to ensure that there were arrangements in place to make sure we caught our USA flight. We had been assured that as long as we were at Perth airport two hours before the departure time there would be no problem. This meant arriving at 3-15am. We were actually there at 3am and found to our annoyance that we were locked out of the terminal. The notice on the doors informed us that the Terminal does not open till 3-30am. So with a few other concientious mugs we hung around the doors in the cold. The security staff did actually open the doors at 3-15am and we all streamed inside to queue up at the Qantas counters. Then to our utter disbelief we read an electronic sign which informed us that the Qantas staff would not be there until 4-15 am; one hour prior to boarding. All was not lost however as true to Bob's prediction the coffee stall was open and we were able to while away some time sipping expensive flat whites. The flight went went well and because our luggage was checked through to San Francisco we had no trouble transferring from the domestic to the International Qantas terminals. Since our last trip there is a shuttle which crosses the airport land instead of having to go right around the outside on public roads. Hence a faster trip. The Sydney to San Francisco leg went smoothly too except that the plane was full and there was no  room  to spread out. Neither of us slept as "mother's little helpers" did not work this trip. Never the less the staff were excellant and we were plied with food and drinks even during the "night" stretch. We have had no problem finding our hostel which is close to Union Square and very central. We walked down (and I mean down then back up) to AT&T to buy a chip for my phone and she set it up for me. I was so pleased to have the means of phoning while over here that I sent Elise a text straight away with our phone number forgetting  that it was 3am at home. Sorry Elise I hope you slept through the "ping". Ingrid was lucky that I realised before I sent her one too. We had a short nap and are showered, topped up with tea and are ready to walk down to Chinatown for dinner. Over and out.

Departing for the USA

We are sort of packed and are having dinner with Ingrid tomorrow evening and then having a brief sleep before heading to the airport at 3am.
It really is the most uncivilised time to be catching a plane but it does have the advantage of delivering us to San Francisco at 7am.  I will post more when we have had our first day in San Francisco.
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