From Tokyo To San Francisco (2005-11-07)
KL and I went on our annual vacation from Oct14 to Oct 26. We went to four cities in the US and I took a gazillion pictures. I am going to record our trip in detail over many days so I can spread out the photos to post per day. If you're not too keen on reading US stuff, come back in a month.
The flight from Narita to the first leg of our trip, San Francisco,
was uneventful. We arrived in SF at 0930 Oct 14. KL's good
friend from his high school days,
Rick, took a day off to pick us up
from the airport. It was exciting to see his Beemer pull up the
curb and the happy driver step out to give us a big bear hug.
Since our trip was mostly about seeing friends and family, Rick seemed
to give it a perfectly good start.
From the airport, we headed straight to Marriott to unload our
luggage. We were lucky to be able to have an early check-in and
our room afforded us the view of the bay. I have stayed in
numerous hotels before, but the bed in our room was the most
comfortable I ever lay in. I should be able to sleep well
tonight to combat any jet lag problem.
We left the hotel and went to Rick's apartment to pick up his wife,
Shirley, and the first order of the day was to go get lunch.
After
a short deliberation, we decided on a yumcha lunch, hooray! The
restaurant we went to served very good dim sum. Our first meal in
the US was delicious.
After lunch, Rick took us to some touristy spots including the
Golden Gate Bridge National Park, Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower,
Lombard Street and Japan Town. We couldn't see the famous red
bridge at all due to heavy fog. We would try our luck again
tomorrow.
For dinner, Rick treated us to French fusion cuisine.
The food was simply superb. The dishes were well presented, light
and full of flavor. I would rate the restaurant as the top ten in
all the restaurants I've been to during our travel.
Before we went back to the hotel we drove around the gay
district. We saw gay and lesbian couples on the streets
hand-in-hand and gay bars overflown with patrons. Everybody
seemed to be having fun on that cool Friday night. We certainly
did.
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