Day 71 Tuesday 9th September Fiji to LA
We had to vacate our room by 11am this morning, the car had to be back by 7pm but our flight wasn’t until 10pm tonight so some planning had to go into the packing as we had a 10 hr flight ahead of us. We started to pack but got hungry so stopped for a big breakfast to keep us going and went back to finish the packing afterwards. We managed to check out without fainting at the bill and spent half an hour on the internet to print off the confirmation for the car we had booked last night, to pick up in LA. The Scott family we had met at the Hotel, Karen Marie, Richard and their 2 boys arrived in the reception, ready to leave for the airport to go home to Wellington NZ so we said our farewells. We arranged for our luggage to be collected from the room and stored while we went for a last walk on the beach. We asked for snorkels and masks and after some discussion we were allowed them even thought the tide was low and they didn’t usually hand them out until it was higher!! We set off along the beach and found a quiet spot some 150 yds along where we couldn’t see or hear anyone – heaven. The snorkeling was excellent in fact we saw so many large and colourful fishes and a hermit crab – much bigger than we had seen on Schooner Island. After an hour relaxing we walked back to get some lunch and a swim in the pool but the children seemed particularly noisy today so we went for a shower and called a golf buggy to take us up to the sanctuary of the Bebe Spa bar where we had a long cold drink and a cookie and soaked up the fantastic views until it was time to leave for the airport. It took about 1.5 hrs to get to Nadi and hand over the car to the rental company – Bob was ages in the office – apparently arguing of $26 he said they had overcharged him. Check in was fairly straight forward – the luggage weight was still at 22kg each but our hand luggage is getting heavier and heavier – we have to parcel up some clothes in LA and send them back to the UK so that I can go shopping !! A quick look round the departures lounge proved that they didn’t have much to offer – not even a good book for me to read so we bought a drink and sat and waited for the flight to be called. Our plane was an Air Pacific 747 Jumbo with tv’s in every seat so we could choose a film unfortunately we had seen most of them so we watched some of the new Indian Jones again, had a supper snack and settled down to sleep for our 10 hr flight. 3 hrs before we landed we were woken for breakfast which was the most disgusting blob I have ever seen! And I like plane food normally. We landed in LA at 1pm local time 9hrs earlier than we had left Fiji, to find that I had lost my jacket !!! luckily there was nothing in it but I think it must have slipped from my bag when I was busy trying to maneuver onto the plane and I hadn’t noticed at the time. Oh well – more shopping??? We picked the car up from just outside the airport, one of those funny old fashioned shaped Chrysler cars and set off with our Garmin (TomTom) navigator to find a hotel. About 3 miles outside of Downtown LA we found the Wilshire Hotel and having remembered seeing it on the web when we were looking for a Hotel, we stopped to ask if they had a room and their tariff – we were surprised to find that they offered it to us at less than the internet so we booked in. We went for a walk to get our bearings, picked up loads of leaflets on what to do in LA and had dinner in an Italian restaurant just down the road. On the way back to the hotel we found out where to go tomorrow to get the metro to Universal City and the Studios.
Day 72 Wednesday 10th September in LA
We woke to realize that it was already 8.15 and we had planned to get up early to be out by 9pm as Universal Studios opened at 10am and we wanted to be there early to buy the tickets. Oh well, a quick shower and we were out of the hotel and on the metro. We arrived in plenty of time for the opening and didn’t have to queue long for the tickets but we were disappointed that no restaurants opened until 11am and we had dashed out without breakfast so we decided to ride some of the rides while it was quiet to pass the time. We started with Bart Simpson, a simulator ride around Simpsons town – a bit rough and tummy turning so glad breakfast wasn’t in there ! The second one was the Jurassic Park boat ride through dinosaur land, there was no queue for this so we climbed onto the boat which we had to ourselves then realized why it wasn’t so popular – we floated through waterfalls, got squirted with jets of water and the grand finale was a big dipper drop into a lake !!! Oh well the sun was shining so we would dry quickly ! Still not quite 11am so we decided to risk the Mummy ride which was a roller coaster but it was in almost pitch darkness, mummies and scary things jumped out at you when you passed and we were turned upside down then shot backwards – I really was glad I hadn’t had breakfast now and needed a g & t when I got off ! Time to eat and then some more sedate entertainment in3d and 4d cinemas, shopping and an hours trip round the backlots of the studios was very interesting. After a late lunch we did the Terminator and a show of film animals and their trainers before heading for the exit. We had intended to go into downtown LA for the evening but our feet were aching so we took the metro back to the Hotel and watched some tv before being rudely interrupted by another guest at the hotel trying to get into our room – apparently he had been given our room as well so had a key for it too. (awaiting response from the Hotel manager regarding this as the reception could only say “oh sorry” when we told them what had happened !).
Day 73 Thursday 11th September
Bob was like a cat on a hot tin roof this morning as we had hired a Harley Davidson motor bike for the day. We set off from the Hotel at 9am and drove with the unhelpful aid of the Tom Tom Navigator that took us the long way round to the office on the other side of Los Angeles near to the airport. We chose our jackets and helmets and setoff for the coast with a full tank of fuel. It took a while for Bob to get used to it, it was very big and heavy and I had to get used to sitting on the back of a bike again as it has been some 6 years since our last ride on one. But by the time we were leaving the city we were cruising – everyone looked at us and smiled – bet they were wishing they were us !! As we neared the coast the houses got bigger and nicer and we saw Pepperdine University where only a few days before we had seen on the TV that they had put a flag in the ground for every service man killed in Afghanistan – what a sight! On we went to Santa Monica, by now I had got the hang of balancing on the bike and I had my camera in my hand ready to take photos. The views were wonderful, the hills to our right with huge mansions perched on ledges high up and to the right golden sandy beaches. We stopped for coffee in a Starbucks in Santa Monica in a shopping plaza (they call them Malls everywhere else but here it was posh !) we noticed the flower shop had a sign saying “no paparazzi” . Apparently John Cleese has a house in the hills and its for sale but we didn’t see it – there were however, lots of houses for sale – obviously the economic climate is affecting the rich and famous too ?? We motored on to Malibu Beach and pass it along the coast until there was nothing to see so we turned round and went back to what looked like a nice bit of beach and stopped. We took off our trousers and jackets and put on our shorts and went for a walk on the beach, then lay on the sand for a siesta. Later, stopping at a bar to buy some water we suddenly heard a commotion outside and looked to see a man with the biggest telephoto lense you have ever seen, crouching down on the floor outside the door shooting off reels of film, another man in a car drove up and at the same time a 3rd man arrived on a motorized skateboard with another large lense camera. We realized they were photographing a man running along the beach and before we could blink it was all over and they had all disappeared. I asked the girl in the bar who they were photographing – Matthew Mcnaughie I was told – is he famous I asked? Apparently he was and had been in the film Sahara. We shrugged and walked back to the bike to start heading back to LA as it was nearly 5pm by now. Bob was really enjoying riding the bike, it was easy riding on the coast road but he had to concentrate more when we neared the city because it was much busier but we arrived back at the hotel safely and raced to the bathroom to get a shower and rest our weary backs and legs before going out for dinner.
Day 74 Friday 12th September
We had to have the bike back by 11am but we wanted to go to downtown LA too so we set off at just before 9am to return the bike and pick up the car. All paperwork sorted we drove back to the Hotel to finish packing and checkout. We had a planned route into LA and then along Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard and Beverley Hills as we headed north towards San Francisco but after several “ok lets turn around” we gave up. We didn’t much like LA by car, it was grubby and dark and the buildings blocked out most of the light, the roads were congested at every turn and the only bits that we found that were ok were Hollywood – but that was only a couple of streets. So we were heading north by 2.45pm on the I.5 Highway – only about 400 miles to go ! The scenery changed as we drove, some very mountainous and some very flat, mid way there were lots of cattle – in fact thousands of cattle and it smelt awful. We decided we didn’t like ‘miles’ – kilometers go much faster !! We stopped for a drink and something to eat at a garage and were hit by 35 degrees of heat as we stepped out of the car – LA had been around 18 degrees but we were in the valley and apparently its always hot there. We trundled on, through one horse towns, and a couple of two horse towns before we saw the lights of San Jose but by now it was pitch dark and we missed a couple of turns because TomTom didn’t speak up soon enough so we did a few backtracks. I was getting very tired and ready to just stop where we were when we realized we weren’t that far away so we kept going and finally found our destination - Paul and Inderjits house in Sunnyvale California at almost 9pm. They welcomed us with open arms with a drink, a smile and a big comfy bed to fall into after a 6 hr+ journey.
Day 75 Saturday 13th September in San Francisco
Being Saturday Paul and Inderjit had the day off work but Inderjits father lives with them so to save him being on his own all day, Paul stayed with him to play cards etc. and Inderjit took us into San Francisco for an orientation trip. 1st stop was the Golden Gate bridge – very crowded and impossible to park so we left Inderjit in a no parking zone in the car whilst Bob and I ran round and took some photos. I must say it was disappointing to see it was a dull red – I expected it to at least sparkle if not gold ! On to Lombard Street which has the crooked street – so steep and bendy we zigzagged down at 5 mph – amazing but I wouldn’t like to live there with so many tourist click clicking their cameras. Apparently not many people do live there, most are rented out for tourist now. At the bottom of this street we turned towards Fishermans Wharf where we left the car (at the harbor front) with the keys in it , with an attendant, in the middle of street carpark. We then walked along the front to the famous Pier 39 which had lots of shops and restaurants, where we stopped for lunch at the Eagle Restaurant. We walked off lunch in and out of the many unusual shops and stopping to see the sea lions basking in the sunshine on their own platforms in the harbor. Some of the cheeky ones tried to lie on the boat jetties but a man was walking up and down pushing them off, the noise was deafening and the smell – bad . Moving on we exited the pier and walked the length of the harbor to where the cable car trams go up the steep streets of San Francisco (like on the TV). We plan to come back on Monday to see Alcatraz which is visible across the water and take a trip on the cable car, hopefully it will be quieter then. The day had gone by so quickly but on the way home we stopped at a local phone shop to buy a sim card for my phone – over an hour later we emerged with a sim card that didn’t work – but should do in the next half hour ! I told him we would be back early next morning if it didn’t. Paul had cooked fish for us all for dinner so we picked up some salad to go with it and arrived back tired but happy. We checked my mobile phone and finally it had accepted the sim and was working.
Day 76 Sunday 14th September
Once again Paul and Pops stayed at home while Inderjit took us out for all American breakfast – Bob had pancakes and maple syrup and I had coffee and blueberry cake. Next stop was a local golf course to book Bob some golf before he had withdrawal symptoms, but on the way we saw a huge electrical store called Frys so we called in. It was enormous but they didn’t had any ipods (sold out) and the battery I wanted for my camera they didn’t do, but they did have a disc drive for my computer – I will think about that though – don’t want to carry too much luggage as we still have New York to do. At the golf course Bob was told to be at the course for 6.30am Tuesday and they would fit him in with another group – obviously popular course. I saw 2 golf head covers of Nemo (the fish) and picked them up to buy them for Bob but when I went to pay Inderjit jumped in and bought them – it was very kind of her. Inderjits work was close by so she drove there to show us and to print off a couple of confirmations I had put on my memory stick. She works right by Google Headquarters, Yahoo and Microsoft Offices. From here we drove back home to pick up Paul and Pops and we all went to a shopping Mall where there was a JC Penny and Macy’s stores. It was so cheap we went shopping – tops and trousers for Daniel and Charlie, golf trousers and a shirt for Bob and trousers for me. Inderjit had a 20% discount voucher and a store card which gave further discounts so she insisted on putting them all on her card to get the best price we wanted to pay but she wouldn’t let us. Tired from all that shopping we went home for a cup of tea and put our feet up before going out for dinner to a eat all you want healthy restaurant that did the biggest salad bar you have ever seen along with pizza and soup. I couldn’t eat a pudding although Bob managed a small one.
Day 77 Monday 15th September
With everyone going to work, expect Pops of course as he is 89 on October 28th he told me, this was the first day we would be on our own in San Francisco. Inderjit had been very informative during our weekend travelling around so we had a good idea of where we were going plus a map of the town and Tom Tom so we should be ok. We planned with Paul and Inderjit to go by CALtrain at 8am, (Inderjit dropped us at the station) which took us to 4th and King Street where we would catch a bus to Wharf 33 to go to Alcatraz. Unfortunately all good plans don’t always go well as when we arrived at 9.15am at the Wharf we found that there were no tickets for that day left so we booked for tomorrow at 3.55pm after Bob had played golf. Changing plans we walked to Pier 39 and had breakfast and took another look at the shops. Back along the harbor front we bought tickets for the Cable Car Tram and waited in line for our turn. Bob stood on the outside step and I got a seat inside so Bob took some video and photos as we trundled up and down the streets with the driver ringing his bell. We arrived at Union Square (downtown San Francisco) where we alighted and spent some 2 or 3 hours window shopping and sightseeing and we bought a Guinness Book of Records for Pops as he liked to read and collect information . The afternoon sun was lovely and warm and we sat for a while watching the world go by before heading for the bus stop to go back to the train station. The no. 30 or 45 wasn’t around so we consulted the map and decided to walk the 4 blocks, arriving at the station the same time as the bus. The train arrived to take us back to Sunnyvale where Inderjit and Paul lived and 45 mins later we stepped off the train and the evening sunshine was so nice and being rested while travelling we decided to walk back to the house. We set off (in the wrong direction) and after another 45 mins phoned Paul to say Help can you pick us up we are lost! We gave Pops the present and he thought it was wonderful and asked Paul if he could get a copy tomorrow for him, at first not realizing that it was a present, he was delighted. We were tired after our day but Indejits brother called in to say hello so we sat and chatted with him. With Bob having to get up for golf at 5.30 am tomorrow, we went to bed early.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment