San Francisco - Day 10

Saturday, July 27, 2019

So we spent the night on the train — not the best sleep but enjoyable.  Sunrise from our window.

Here I am getting up and going out for coffee.  

And Ed when the bed is up and we are back to our seats. 

And then the “facilities” — behind the door on the left is a combo toilet and shower. We actually used the shower. Not too bad.

We were delayed until 8:45 so we ended up having breakfast in the dining car (got our 3 pre-paid meals in).  We sat with a couple who were about our age but looked like they were still stuck in the 1960s. We thought we would have nothing in common but we did. Turned out that they were Major League Baseball enthusiasts like us and had been to all but 4 of the stadiums. (We still have 12 to go.). But here’s the thing. They had reached all of them by train!

Travel note — the train to San Francisco stops in Emeryville or Oakland.  Then one has to switch by bus to an intermodal station in downtown. Then Uber to your hotel.  We arrived around 10 to the Westin St. Francis on Union Square, where we first lodged in 1977 and have several times since. 

Surprise! Our room was ready and it was beautiful. Although it was not on a high floor, we even had an outdoor patio. 

We took a brief nap (since train sleep wasn’t great) and then headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf to revisit another of our favorite haunts. Mid summer the tourist traffic is fierce, so we didn’t even try to ride the trolley. Instead we took a nearby city bus which was cheap and convenient.  

The Wharf was very much as it has been, but very crowded today.  Weather was gorgeous but extremely windy.  We just enjoyed walking along the waterfront.

We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Alioto’s, and snagged a table on the patio by the street to people watch.  The special of the day? Petrale!  We indulged!

Afterwards we walked all the way to Pier 39, which had become way too touristy for us, but fun to see again. 

The highlight was viewing the sea lions which are on the nearby K-Dock. They mysteriously took up residence there after the October 1989 earthquake and hundreds now “haul out” there seasonally — for the available food supply and lack of predators.

We also caught a glimpse of Alcatraz.

We ended our walk down memory lane at Ghiardelli’s Square, where they gave away free squares of chocolate and sold a variety of chocolate specialties. Too bad we were still full from lunch. 

Then we headed back to the hotel by bus. On the way, I stopped at nearby Britex Fabrics before it closed, but didn’t find anything special.

Tonight we went to our favorite San Francisco restaurant — Tadich’s Grill, the original “cold day restaurant” (long story) established in 1849, making it California’s oldest restaurant.  Part of its tradition is an only male wait staff clothed in white starched uniforms, but tonight we noticed a female in the same uniform.  It was crowded as usual (they don’t take reservations) so we sat for a minute at the bar.

Soon they had a table for 2 nearby. We both had petrale — Ed had grilled and me panfied, equally delicious. The food, the ambiance and the evening was as great as always.

Seattle - Day 3

Saturday, July 20, 2019

While Ed slept in, I took an early morning walk and checked out the location of our food tour. I also went back to Pike’s Market.  At this hour, it was not quite as crowded but still very busy. I looked in a lot of the tiny shops built into the different levels of the hillside, but found they were full of cheap Chinese imports. Nothing I needed to buy. 

Ed and I headed out about 1 pm to walk to our “Savour Seattle” food tour about a mile from the hotel. The tour was excellent. One of the surprising things our guide told us is that 5 chefs own 45 restaurants in the area.  Here is a recap:

Orfeo -

We had polenta with an Italian house made sauce topped with fried basil and coupled with white wine from Chateau San Michelle - the largest winery in Washington which started the industry here. It is now the second biggest wine state after California. The guide recommended sparkling wine to go with spicy food - it clears the palette.

Serious Pizza - 

Owner is Tom Douglas who owns 17 restaurants including Etta’s and Dahlia’s. The pizza dough here rises for 3 days so it doesn’t rise in your stomach, basically allowing the digestion process to take place outside your body. This enables you to eat more without feeling full (does anyone really need to do that with pizza???) extensive pizza menu and we had chanterelle and crispy mushroom and traditional Margherita.

Steelhead Diner

Owner is Kevin Davis who also owns Orfeo.  Alaskan razor clam chowder with Calderwood smoked bacon and truffle on top paired with Viognier.

Heartwood Provisions

Fancy Waygu beef jerky - marinated, dried and then rehydrated. Paired with beer cocktail. Noted for cocktail and wine pairings.

Von’s Gustobistro

Sour dough based menu featuring a 55-year-old sour dough starter. We had sour dough pasta with Asiago cream sauce and salmon paired with local beer from Ballard’s. 

Fran’s Chocolates

The Obama’s favorite chocolates. Famous for their sea salt caramels which we had. Not chewy - melted in your mouth. Had photo of owner’s granddaughter recreated in 4,162 chocolates.

Afterwards we walked back through Pike’s Market and then headed to the Space Needle area where we had timed tickets to see the Chihuly exhibit next door. We realized upon entering that we had seen this exhibit multiple times — in Boston, Toronto, Nashville, and some of it at Maker’s Mark in KY. However, it is always worth seeing again. This must now be its permanent home.

This is his collection of Navajo trading blankets.

See the space needle reflected in the blue orb in his outdoor garden.

We walked to an outdoor festival in a nearby park, but realized the music and the venue were not our scene. We went back to the Edgewater and shared fish and chips in the bar with views and some music. Delightful.

Chamonix, France - Day 10

Saturday, June 22, 2019

What a beautiful day for a hike! While waiting for our bus, we were able to spend a few minutes at the Saturday market. Lots of local goodies from flowers to meats and cheeses.

Then we took a city bus to the village of Le Tours and then by cable car to Charmillon.

The last leg to “Les Autannes” (7200 ft.) was on a ski lift. 

From here we started about a 4-5 mile hike. One place we went was “Refuge de Col de Balme” which  is located at the Swiss and French border.

From this point there were wonderful views of the whole valley and the Mont Blanc range.

We walked down to “Carmillon,” the intermediate station of the cable car where there was a cute little restaurant. We had brought picnic lunches from the hotel and were able to use their facilities.

Afterwards we continued to walk all the way down to the bus stop. We also walked under the cable cars.

Along the way, we had to cross some snow. 

Our guide Bastian also pointed out some of the alpine wild flowers like the crocus, 

pansies (similar to ours)

and blueberry bushes. 

We also saw 2 chamois run across the snow.

We finished our hike early and went back to the hotel. Sydney and I decided to go up the Brevent Cable Car to check out where she is going to go paragliding tomorrow. The walk to the station was rugged but the ride was only about 10 minutes. 

Some great views of Chamonix.

The weather was getting cloudy so we stayed a short time, but saw the launching area for the sport.

Afterwards Sydney and I found a cute little cafe where we had fancy coffee drinks - macchiato for her and mocha for me.

Tonight we had dinner at Le Monshu Restaurant. Here we cooked our own meat on a hot square of stone. Another interesting meal.