Golden Gate, Muir Redwood Forest and UC Berkeley

12th Jan 2014 Sun

Everyone took their time getting ready, so we only got out at 11.30 am.  Han and See Hack picked us up then, and the plan was to drive over the GG (Golden Gate) Bridge, take a walk through Muir Redwood Forest and visit UC Berkeley.

The drive over GG was pretty awesome, much like Viaduct du Millau.  We stopped for pictures on the Marin County side.

Then it was lunch at In and Out Burgers, specially requested by Maylene and Melissa.  The menu here is very simple and limited.  You have 3 choices; burger, cheese burger and double cheese burger.  Then you add drinks or fries.  The food actually taste good, because of the limited menu, they can actually prepare the food on premises.  Unlike other places where everything has to be reconstituted.  The staff here are well paid too, $11.50 an hour according to the hiring poster.

Then we wandered around Muir Redwood Forest where these redwood trees are thousands of years old.  There is one particular cross section on display showing the rings that were formed when the wheel was invented, Jesus was born, and I guess the outer most ring should be captioned "timberrrrrrr".

Then it was on to UC Berkeley, very nice campus.  They were renovating the student centre which looked huge.  Sadly for the ladies, the merchandising shop was being renovated too, so no shopping here.

We then drove over the new Bay Bridge, and saw the old one being dismantled along side.

After a short rest at the apartment, we decided to dine at House of Nanking.  The food was cheap and delicious, and the bottle wine only cost $12.95 for the white, and $14.95 for the red.  We had one of each!

Catherine ordered off the Chinese menu, dishes that were not available on the English menu.

13th Jan 2014 Mon

I'd booked for us to visit Alcatraz today.  Everyone was good and we were there early for the 11 am boarding.  We took the Hyde Street cable car there.  When everyone got off at Lombard, I took the opportunity to hang off the side.  No one else was game.

The ferry to Alcatraz took 15 mins.  It was an interesting visit, especially with the audio guide telling us about the inmates, escapes, living conditions and so on.

I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I did.  The best part was that we had to catch the 12.55 ferry, so there was no time to buy anything from the Alcatraz shop.  However, this was more than compensated by the afternoon spent at the Market Street Westfield Mall.

Shopping must be very draining, and no one wanted to eat out for dinner.  So Catherine cooked instant noodles with lettuce and eggs for everyone.

14th Jan 2014 Tues

Catherine thought that the Segway tour was some kind of a bus tour.  So she had a panic attack when she found out.

Her expression during the Segway training was priceless. Here are some pics.  I didn't join them and instead sat in the Buena Vista bar while I waited for their return.

Marie the tour guide did a good job, and Catherine was an enthusiastic convert when she returned from the tour.  The girls all voted it one of the most fun thing to do.

Enjoying the antics of the sea lions at Pier 39.

Then it was on to the Aquarium where we went through a sea tunnell and saw some cool jelly fish.  The otters were the highlights of course, and they had touching pools where you are allowed to touch stingrays, baby sharks and other plants.

Lunch was pretty forgettable at Pier 39.  Deep fried sea food and the mandatory clam chowder in sour dough bread. Ugh!

The Exploratorium had recently moved to Pier 15.  So we dropped in.  It is full of hands on scientific experiments such as electromagnetic, sound, light, motion, genetics, perception and so on.  Good fun,  and we would have stayed longer but closing time was 5 pm.

Then it was time to meet up with Han, See Hack and their boys Sean and Ryan for dinner.  We went to Straits in the Westfield Mall, as it was where the ladies were shopping anyway.  

Bid the Foos a fond farewell, and I am sure we will see them again in SF or NZ.  Thanks, guys, for showing us SF.

15th Jan 2014 Wed. 

There were no concrete plans for today.  Maylene and Melissa took off earlier to Brandy Melville in Chestnut Street.

The rest of us went to Macy's in Union Sq to buy jeans for sons and dads.  We ended up in Ross where the said jeans were procured for half the price.  Even I bought a designer jean DKNY brand which the girls say is a designer brand.  Me so hip!

View from Green St where our apartment is located.

I got bored and left them to it and went home to watch some TV and drink wine.  

We tried to meet for dinner but no one wanted to eat out.  So I was sent out for takeaways from a nearby Chinese restaurant.

16th Jan 2014 Thurs

Time to go home.  The shuttle was booked to pick us up at 3pm.  The morning was spent configuring bags and repacking to meet baggage allowances.  It didn't work out and we had to buy another extra check-in bag.

So 7 checked in bags for 5 of us.

The three-storey building on the right behind the trees is where we stayed.

While the ladies were sorting themselves out,  I took the bus to Haight Ashbury and spent an hour there.  Interesting place.  Full of herbal and smoke shops.  Recycle clothes and vinyl.  Very hippie.

WT announced that everyone was ready.  So I came home and we walked into Chinatown for lunch.  Then it was back to the apartment to polish off any left-overs, like wine and beer.  I was happy with that.

Another view from Green St.

The Supershuttle was parked outside our apartment at 2.30 for the 3 pm pick up.  So we boarded at 3 and was all checked in by 4.30 pm.

Catherine wanted me to show the remains of broken iPhones.  The camera is kaputt also but I can't be bothered dragging it out.  That would make it a camera selfie.

We are still in gate G at the Cafe Del Mondo waiting for our boarding call as I write this.  Might write a wrap up of the trip with random observations later.  Ciao.

Shows, Museums and Memorials

7th Jan 2014 Tues

It goes without saying that everything in NY is still frozen.  We visited the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) today, and we felt as frozen as the exhibits feel fossilised.

Even though the girls slept in, it was not enough, so everyone slept in the subway on the way there.  The AMNH has an awesome collection of dinosaurs and an excellent astronomy/space centre.

The Space section put on a panoramic show on the Big Bang.  They also has some cool real live space objects like this meteorite.

The dinosaur section had all the original fossils such as T Rex, Triceratops and others.

We saw signs pointing to a Whale exhibition provided by Te Papa, unfortunately this one was closed.  So all we got was this shot of the acknowledgement.

Catherine wanted to visit Central Park, so after AMNH, we crossed the street into Central Park.  Did I mention that everything was frozen?  Well, all the lakes in the park were frozen too.  But no skating allowed.  The poor ducks living there had to lift their legs to defrost after a few steps of walking on the ice.

We were planning to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) after this, but we ran out of time.  And it was time to send Catherine and Melissa on to dinner and Lion King in Times Square.

The rest of us took off home.  Catherine reported later that evening that Lion King was the best show she has seen.

8th Jan 2014 Wed

We visited the 9/11 memorial this morning at the old Ground Zero, all within a 15 min walk from our apartment.  It is free, but you have to pay $2 booking fee for each ticket.  They do a security metal scan before letting you in.  

The top part of the memorial pool is a waterfall.  Because of the freezing temperature, this feature was not on.  Otherwise, it would be a vertical ice skating rink.

The names of all the poor folks who died in the buildings, the passengers in the planes and the rescue workers were all  stamped into the metal rostrum running the entire square of the two pools.  A rose is placed there on the person's birthday.

Along the exit, there is a souvenir shop.  I saw this book that recognised the doggie heros of 9/11.  

In the afternoon, we went for a belated visit to MOMA.  Again I liked the Impressionist best.  I had trouble recognising some of the exhibits as art.  Still it was a worthwhile visit.  But of the four museums, the Met and AMNH are just head and shoulders above everything else.

Melissa and Tessa were booked to see Book of Mormons on Broadway and the adults were booked for Cuff Me.

Cuff Me is a parody of the book 50 Shades of Gray.  I don't know how the producers got away with it, but the show was in a synagogue!

We had a lovely Italian dinner at this small restaurant on 49th, Cieli, before our shows on 49th and 47th.

Coincidentally, both shows finished at the same time, so we caught up with the girls and went home together.  Again, everyone reported that both shows were great and had us all in stitches.

9th Jan 2014 Thurs

Today was packing day for our flight to San Francisco tomorrow.  Simon took us to Flushing, which is Chinatown in Queens, for yum char.  The food was great, and this place appeared even more busy than Chinatown in Manhattan.

After that WT and Catherine bought some pastries from Paris Bakery for tomorrow's breakfast and flight.

Gaik Kim and Maggie came over with take-out dinner from New Malaysia to save us cooking.  Awesome Malaysian food.  Thanks, guys,for feeding us today.

I did a weigh-in on all the 5 bags and without exception, all were around 55 lbs.  Delta charges $25 per bag, but if the bag was over 51 to 70 lbs, the fee was $100.

So I suggested we started another bag and pay $25 for the bag rather than 5 X $100 for  each extra heavy bag.  We added 2 new check-in bags in NY bringing the total to 6 bags.

10th Jan 2014 Fri

It was raining this morning.  That is a good sign because rain means no ice  Simon picked us up in a couple of vans.  We were in JFK nice and early.  All the flights were on time.   Check-in and bag drop off was done with most efficiently. I am very impressed with JFK.

We'd paid the trolley dispenser $5 for each of the two trolleys.  So Catherine and Tessa went to return the trolleys to get our deposit back.  They returned empty handed after valiantly trying to get money out of the trolley dispenser.  It appears $5 was the rental fee! 

My friend See Hack, whom we are meeting, in San Francisco told us later that this was a recent introduction for all domestic flights, and out-going international flights.  No charge for incoming international flights, presumably to keep everyone unaware so that you get suckered when you leave the country.

The change in temperature between NY and SF was 25C.  It was really pleasant wearing only one layer of clothing.  Trips to the bathroom are no longer like ski-field bathroom trips.

SF traffic was heavy at 5 pm, so it took 1.15 hours for us to get to our apartment in Green Street.  It was a one bedroom apartment in North Beach.  

Tessa and I went out for a walk to get some milk and eggs.  We are in an excellent location.  Right in the middle of Italy and a block from Chinatown.  There are many restaurants, clubs and pubs just around the corner from us, not to mention lots of quirky shops.  

11th Jan 2014 Saturday

I woke up at my usual time (7 am) to buy our city passes from Alcatraz Cruises on Pier 33.  If you buy the City pass from Alcatraz cruises, you may swap one of the boat cruises in the pass for the Alcatraz Cruise, which was what I did.  The pass also included a 7-day Muni bus and cable car ticket. This is a significant saving because a single bus trip is $2, and the well known SF cable car is $6, not to mention the convenience.  Only trick is to make sure the girls carry this on them all the time.

The walk from Green St. to Pier 33 took me over Telegraph Hill (highest point in SF City), past Coit Tower (best panoramic view of City, but closed for renovation).  Then down a long flight of stairs to the Embrocadero.  I think the bus pass is going to come in handy because I don't fancy this walk back on an empty stomach.

Bought the pass, booked our Alcatraz cruise for Monday, and Google Map helped me catch the bus back to North Beach.  The girls were just getting up at 9am when I got back.

While waiting for See Hack and Han to pick us up, I took everyone for a walk to Little Italy, Chinatown and up to Telegraph Hill.

Han and See Hack arrived in their 7 seater Lexus SUV, it was a perfect fit.  He took us through a few fancy suburbs and the Golden Gate park, ending up at the Golden Gate visitor centre.

After lunch, we went to Stanford University.  We had a good look around the large and beautiful campus.  If you imagine an ideal showcase university campus, then you are imagining the Stanford campus.  

Then it was time to hit the University shop for some merchandise.  This Uni shop puts all the shops on Lambton Quay and Willis Street to shame.  Books, clothes, computers, Kate Spade laptop bags and iPhone cases, cafe are all there.

Then it was off to CostCo.  A huge wholesale quantity sized variety store.  Everything here is oversized, and on per unit basis, cheap.  I bought some excellent Argentinian and German wine and prosciutto for local consumption.

Catherine asked me to show her where the suitcases were in CostCo, and she bought a 28-in spinner suit case.  This is not a good sign and a shopping OD early warning.  Other clues to this were questions like where is the Westfield mall, and when are we going to Union Square.

Melissa has heard so much about WalMart but never been to one, so it was WalMart next.  More things were bought here, mainly chocolate.

Then See Hack took us for an excellent meal at Romano Macaroni Grill, where their elder son Sean joined us for dinner.  We had a really good Mendoza Melbec, and I also tasted their excellent house chianti.  The quantities were again too much for us, but take-out containers were readily available.

After a cup of tea at Han and See Hack's lovely house, and a few songs on his super hifi system, it was time to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport, nothing to do with our friend from Springfield) train home.  It was late and even with google map we had trouble finding the bus stop on Market St. for the last leg back to North Beach.  We did in the end with some help from a passer-by and WT asking around.  Melissa forgot her bus pass, but we entered the rearmost door, so we avoided paying the $2, this time.

Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museums

5th Jan 2014 Sun

We still had 4 museums to visit on our NY Citypass.  First on the list was the Guggenheim Museum, not to be confused with the one in Bilbao.  This one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Bilbao one by Frank Gehry.  Both named after Solomon R Guggenheim, art collector.  Like the one in Bilbao, the building was more impressive than the exhibits, though I did enjoy the impressionist sections featuring Cezanne, Monet, and Picasso amongst others.  

The interior is a spiral walkway and branching annexes along the way, the featuring artist is on display along the spiral wall.  This time it was a guy called Christopher Wool.  

I would say his art looks like graffiti on canvas.

WT wanted me to take a shot of this piece of his work, because we have done 2 out of 3.  The kids can read, mom!

I got slightly bored and while waiting for the others to catch-up, I decided to look for more interesting art work, and these kinky boots (which is also a Broadway show) seems to fit.

Everyone gave the exhibition their full attention and we made it to the top.

Next it was a walk down 5th Ave, along Museum Row to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  This part of the 5th has a whole bunch of museums.  It was lunch time, and Catherine lead the way to the cafeteria in the basement of the Met.  We covered (meaning ignored) a lot of art in very short time on the way to the cafe.

Catherine mistakenly thought that the child's meal of chicken tender and fries she saw in front of the queue was an adult size meal.  So she ordered 2 meals, for Melissa and herself.  Turns out these were twice the size of the child's meal she saw and looked like enough food to feed a small African village.  American chicken tenders are like a side of chicken in size, and chef miscounted, giving Melissa 7 instead of 5 pieces and Catherine only got 6 pieces.

Tessa and I, after finishing our normal-sized plate of pasta, had to help.  But there were still left-overs even after we valiantly tried using a non-surgical stomach extension procedure to accommodate 4 meals in one sitting.

The chef made the above model of the museum frontage from sugar (in between cooking large meals).

The Met is the largest museum I have ever been to.  They have everything, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, American, European, Asia and Pasifika.  Almost sounds like a food court. It has 2 restaurants and a bar (not including the cafe) that I saw.  

The building itself is within Central Park along 5th Ave.  So you could see the park from the back part of the building.  Sunday closing was 5.30 pm, so we were ushered out at 5.15pm.  There was no chance of seeing all the exhibits, but we made a good effort.  And WT didn't have time to browse and buy anything from the museum shop even though 50% discount signs beckoned.

We took a walk into Central Park after this.  It was icy and slippery.

Snow ploughs made mini snow hills on the side of the roads.

6th Jan 2014 Mon

The only planned activity today was for Tessa, Melissa and Catherine to go to  Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet shopping about 80 km north of Manhattan.  It was raining and snowed a little.  They took a shuttle bus tour which, after all the pick-ups, took 2 hours to get there.  They shopped till 5 and returned to Chinatown where I met them and took the subway home.

Proof of purchases for the day.

WT and I didn't have any plans, nor did we want to spend all day at the Premium Outlet.  So we wandered around Lower Manhattan and bought a couple extra suitcases to accommodate all current and future purchases.