So where did I leave us... oh yes, the airport in LA. Well, we got there ok, and it was very lovely with armchairs and fancy bathrooms, cool bottled water and even freshly baked cookies. We didn't have long to wait before Oz's dad and his friend landed. The plane was smaller than I'd thought it would be and it was a bit frightening because the door seemed awfully thin and it did feel a lot more like physics would suddenly realise what we were doing and pull us out of the sky. However, more concerning was that the air conditioning needed recharging, so it was extraordinarily hot in the plane (especially as it had been sitting on the runway baking for about half an hour by the time we got in). Here we are in the plane, looking rather hot (but check out the headsets!):
The flight was uneventful until we got to the airport, when we could hear the control tower directing another plane to land behind us... about 60 seconds behind us it turned out. Luckily we were out of the way when they came down!
We went to Oz's dad's very lovely house in Atherton and settled in before going to Fresh Choice, a salad place, for dinner. (All you can eat salad - sounds a bit perverse to me).
Now... I forget the order we did things from this point on, so you will have to forgive me as it will be a bit jumbled.
We:
- went shopping at Stanford mall (all outdoors, very nice)
- went shopping in San Francisco
- went to Alcatraz
- went to Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury (LOVED it - got to go back, so many cool shops!)
- rented a car and drove around lots (Santa Cruz, Carmel, some park with lots of trees)
- went wine tasting
- wandered around Stanford (saw Facebook HQ)
- went to the computer museum
- went to Berkeley
- went outlet shopping
- went to Vegas
I think that was it... now I have a list I can just write about them all, probably not all today though as my Laura (housemate) has just informed me we're going out in an hour to go to Sainsbury's before we go to Ed's house for dinner before we go to the cider festival... I'm sure you're all desperately interested in these minutiae.
Stanford mall was rather nice, lots of fancy shops and as I said, it was an outdoor mall (not something English people can really appreciate...). I got some silicone cupcake cases from Crate and Barrel - I wish we had that shop here. I also got some more from some other fancy shop that I forget the name of, these ones were mini ones so I can also make mini cakes and put on twice as much icing as there is cake. They work very well I have to say, and I am sure that with the amount of cupcakes I make they will soon be worth the money as I no longer have to buy paper cases. Oz bought a waterproof jacket thing for cycling in, but apart from that I don't think we bought anything of note, which is good because we did a lot of shopping in San Francisco!
There were a couple of buses running from El Camino Real (a couple of streets away from the house) to the centre of San Francisco, so when we wanted to go it wasn't too hard to get there, though the buses did take a while as they went via the airport. The first day we went we were shocked by how cold it was, and I was pretty miserable until I bought a nice grey jumper in Hollister, which I debated buying because I was running out of money, but now I wear it all the time as it is very comfy and stylish (in fact, I am wearing it right now). I also bought a winter coat in H&M. By this point the dollar was not so favourable towards us, but given that the prices were the same figure in dollars as they are in pounds in the UK, we still made appreciable savings. Oz too bought a very fetching black coat. We definitely needed the coats later on when we went to Fisherman's Wharf and it was FREEZING. All I can say about this is that you can't truly appreciate Mark Twain's quote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" until you've been to San Fran. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
We enjoyed the shops in San Francisco, even if I did lose Oz for a bit when I was buying my jumper - he went to another shop but when I went there I couldn't find him so waited outside for what seemed like an age, turned out he'd gone into a third shop and there had been a queue :P We found a nice charm shop and I bought a charm for my bracelet that Oz bought me in LA of a San Fran cable car, and Oz bought me one of two hearts linked together (awww...). We also went to a bookshop so Oz could buy comics and presents for people. Then we got on the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. That was fun! and the hills! I have to say, there are many of aspects of SF that are like nothing you've ever seen before and it's just kind of unexpected. Not many places in the USA were all that hilly, at least not compared with what we're used to in Bristol and Bath. Odd. I guess they have a lot more land at their disposal so they can choose non-hilly places for settlements.
We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf for a while, looking at all the awful tat (again - like nothing you've ever seen) and I bought a pirate mug for Crin. We also saw the sea lions and read some facts about them, then called Shocky because he said he'd pick us up and we could have dinner with him. While we were waiting we got so cold we put on all the layers we could find (including coats) and Oz got a hot chocolate. It was cold and windy and all in all downright FREEZING! Presently Shocky arrived and we went to a burrito place for dinner. We ordered a starter platter, which basically was enough food for all three of us, not to mention the burritos on top of that. I couldn't finish mine. In a way this is surprising as I adore burritos, particularly in the USA because they are so darn tasty. In a way it's not, as in the States the burritos are the size of small rabbits and probably contain about a week's recommended amount of cheese. Afterwards we were sooooo full... full like you're worried that the shock of your feet hitting the pavement as you walk will cause your stomach to rupture, releasing burrito into your abdominal cavity (luckily, it didn't). We wandered down the road and found a bar with pool tables, so we played a few games, all in all a good day I think!
