anniebrooks: Day 15 San Francisco

We left Big Sur to head up to San Francisco, and found the hotel after only a relatively small amount of Tim and I screaming at each other. (No photos)

Before we left Carmel though we went to see the Carmel Mission, a delightful little place with beautiful gardens and a nice and (for the US) very old church. In the shop we found BibleOpoly (as opposed to Monopoly) which looked great fun, and Bella bought a Seatbelt Prayer which keeps you safe in your car, and will live in Alexa (our new car, also known as The Chung Mobile), when we get back and Bella’s driving lessons start in earnest.

The Marriot is about the size of Redbourn on a busy day – there are 1500 rooms, and walking to our rooms is like walking around on an ocean liner. It has very good showers, and no signs of raccoons. The kids were planning on trying out the pool later which doesn’t close until 11pm.

We went to Chinatown for dinner and met the most assertive waiter any of us have ever encountered. He had the following conversation with Bella (brave man):

Bella: Can I also please have some fried rice?

Waiter: No. You share with him. He prenty rice.

Bella: He’s having beef rice, and I would like egg fried rice please.

Waiter: No. Prain rice or his rice.

(NB If I’d had this conversation with B, I know exactly what her next line would have been, but she managed the following without resorting to any bad language)

Bella: No rice for me then.

The conductor on the cable car we went on had a similar no-nonsense approach to his people-skills. It took us to Fisherman’s wharf, a charm-free tourist area where the most interesting thing (if a little upsetting) was an injured seagull almost being run over by a limo. Not a sight one sees in Harpenden very often....

For California, San Francisco has a much cooler climate but it’s still hotter than the first 2 weeks of July we had back home when I had to tie myself to a kitchen chair so as not to put the central heating on. We’re here for five days, so have unpacked and are ready for anything.