Pt. Reyes Photos

Here are some of the reasons we love the drive to Pt. Reyes. Once you leave the highway going North from San Francisco, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and passing Sausalito you find yourself climbing on narrow country roads and are eventually in windswept farmland where people (called farmers) are raising cattle.

Signs along the way saying "Scenic Overlook" must be obeyed.

The bridge looks great in a rearview mirror but even better when you stop at a scenic overlook on the North side. Refreshments and bathrooms are available. There are however no cattle here.

The city seen through a summer haze.

The city is now just a memory as we look down on the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles North of SF.

In the distance-a scenic overlook!

Looking South

and North again

Carol sits on a bench (yes the Benchfinder App again) halfway down to the Pt Reyes Lighthouse

There are 300 steps down to the Lighthouse and probably the same number back up again.

It is not accessible to all as a result.

The lighthouse is not manned these days. It sits empty but still functioning. It was manned from 1870 until 1975 and is now run by the National Parks Service. It marks the 2nd most foggy area in the USA and many ships met their doom before it came to their aid. There is a souvenir shop there with photos, tee shirts, baseball caps, books and such. If you want a full meal (as we did) then stop in Point Reyes Station which is 20 miles away over hill and dale.

It will be windy as you are on an exposed promontory and you'll certainly hear it if you use a camcorder as the microphone takes a beating.

But there's fresh air a plenty and a sparkling blue sea forever. 

Pt.Reyes Lighthouse

When we stay in San Francsico-or anywhere they have a branch-we stay at the Omni Hotel on California Street.

California St. and the Omni is the red brick building halfway down on the left. The street is very steep so check your brakes!

Once Omni was  an unknown quantity to us but we took a gamble and stayed at one of their hotels and that was enough to convince us that their product  was just what we like in hospitality and a good clean room for the night. They run a tight and friendly ship!

Of course I get up early when on vacation and SF is no exception. 6 a.m I am in the lobby of the hotel where they put out Starbucks coffee for the guests. There's also a retail store right across the street but it opens around 6.30 just in time for cup # 2.  I walk up the street, wearing my crampons and with a Sherpa team following closely behind until I come to the quiet little park where Chinatown begins.
It is quiet as the homeless men laying among the bushes and benches are fast asleep. They do me no harm and I am not afeard. Birds wake up and sing to me.

Every now and then a Chinese person appears and does those morning exercises. So calm and graceful as they stretch and bend and welcome another day.

There's a nice statue in the park.

Calm and serene, as is the morning. Cool fresh air but it will warm up and we will have a nice sunny day to enjoy a drive far out of the city. North! Over the Golden Gate Bridge and into wild windswept country to the coast. We are going to revisit Pt Reyes Lighthouse. Fresh sea air ahoy!

This is the alley where several of the men sleep with their loaded shopping carts which carry all their assets. They are awake and on the move now, seeking breakfast. I don't photograph them.

But first a look around the neighborhood once I have sipped my coffee-Starbuck's Pike's Place. No exotic flavors for me. Give it to me straight and strong. Leave room for sugar and cream.

I walk down California Street to where the ground flattens out until it reaches the sea at the Ferry Building.

The iconic TransAmerica building points to the sky

The Zeotrope cafe which I believe is owned by Francis Ford Coppola.

Near the foot of this fabulous building is a favorite small Irish pub chain which I loved in Seattle....

I'll have a Guinness and the Shepherd's Pie please.

Great mural !

The view from our room before we set out on our long day trip. It would look exactly the same the next day as nothing had moved in the interim.

City by the Bay

Each time we find ourselves downtown in San Francisco we immediately make for our favorite spot.
It's the Ferry Building and it is on the water. This is the place to forget the 4 hour plane flight and to get into the relaxed rhythm of SF. I hear gulls. I see ships. I smell food-there is a fantastic collection of coffee, pastry and hot food shops within the Ferry Building. Artisan-staffed cheese shops, organic this and that. Seafood aplenty. Empanadas! (my favorite snack). Outdoor restaurants. Peete's Coffee always gets a visit for some double espressos and a pastry. There's always a line but it moves fast and the staff are fast and cheerful. There are benches to sit on and gaze at the calm water while you wait for your ferry to the far reaches of the Bay. The ferries run back and forth endlessly and disgorge commuters and cyclists. After you get out of work you have a 20 to 30 minute ride on the water to collect your thoughts and decompress, while watching the beautiful bay scenery go by. The wind in your hair.

It's a relaxing place despite all the comings and going of the other people who have to be somewhere, do something. For us, just arrived, it's a place to sit and savor and plan our next meal...

The Bay Bridge, heading to Oakland and Alameda, which is a special place for us.

Let's go inside the Ferry Building briefly.......

As it was hungry-time and Anthony Bourdain had recommended the Buena Vista cafe for their Irish Coffee, we thought it wise to get a bite to eat and follow in the Great Man's Footsteps, although we didn't actually walk but rather, having purchased the Muni Transit card, we rode in style on an olde world bus from maybe the 1950's. North driver! To Fisherman's Wharf from where we would walk the last few hundred yards in search of victuals and libations.

The long walk from Fisherman's Wharf to the Buena Vista cafe.

San Francisco July 2013/ June 2011-The Prelude

This blog will feature NO SCHNITZELS. When in Rome (which I will be in September 2014)....
No AUTOBAHNS (sigh). There will be a fast car though and it's one I rent frequently in the USA-the Infiniti G37. It's a BMW wannabe and a pretty good car even though it lacks the balletic handling. It does have a barn-burning engine with over 300 Horsepower and quick brakes that can catapult you through the windshield to an early grave.

Like Munich, San Francisco is a place we have been before and keep coming back to. For me the attraction began on my first visit in 1987. It is by the sea which is all a city needs to get my vote. It is by the sea and has a very busy port with dozens of big ships from "all corners of the world"- as we all know by now that the Earth is square. I like ships. My father, who's name was "Dad" was a ship's Captain in a far-off land called the United Kingdom.

Carol has a long association too as her brother has been living there for over 30 years.

As you can see from the title of this blog, this is two visits to SF for the price of one! Order now and I'll even throw in a FREE set of steak knives (value $300).

So instead of an hour by hour retelling of our time there, in chronological order, this will be a series of episodes featuring good restaurants, excursions by car and by boat, scenic vistas, botanical gardens, quiet woods, exciting bridges and craggy coastlines, culled and deftly edited from two visits to a favorite place.

There's a comment tab on the blog if you think this is a thumbs up or down idea. It's there also if you have any questions....Where is that? How do I get there? How much does X cost? What's the dress code? Will I get sea-sick? and so on.

In some of the video scenes I will tell you when and where we are so you can make sense of it all (hey, good luck with that!)

All events will take place within a 150 mile radius of the downtown area of the City by the Bay.
We'll travel to Big Sur, Sausalito, Oakland, Tiburon. Point Reyes and such.

So please join us on this new adventure.....

Last morning in Munich

Well, all good things must come to an end and our vacation in Germany and Austria has been an endless procession of pleasures. We found time to relax, away from long work days, commutes, preparing meals for ourselves , washing clothes and taking out the trash.

We didn't rush around trying to fit in Museums and art galleries. Each day started with a pleasurable experience like breakfast outdoors in the sun and ended with dinner under the stars among quiet and considerate people enjoying life. Even torrential rain and drizzle along the way didn't diminish the experience.

Now as we walked home from a great dinner at the Ratskeller, through the shuttered and dark Victualien Market where we heard the man play the accordion our thoughts were on the logistics of getting home to Chicago. Our final packing could wait until the morning after breakfast in the beautiful garden of the Admiral that we are so familiar with.

As we have done so many times before we spent our last hour in Munich in that delightful garden in that tiny unassuming hotel that we were so fortunate to have discovered back in 2003. I am in no doubt that there are "better" hotels in Munich but it has become our home there. It is not the experience of luxury that the Grand Vienna is but we have wide tastes and we don't need to be pampered but enjoy it nonetheless.

We leave Munich though with something to look forward to under our belts- we have a Caribbean cruise booked for January 2014 so that prevents us from feeling low-spirited.  The clock was ticking on our adventure from the moment we set foot in Munich and we savored every moment even when the weather didn't bless us. Luckily we packed an umbrella ! (Regenschirm)

We travel well and do everything calmly and leave ourselves lots of time to get to airports and such so there is never any drama of our own causing. Rental cars get dropped off, we check our luggage, go through security and relax in United Airlines Red Carpet club if there is one, until it is time to board the plane. We traded Frequent Flyer Miles for Business Class seats to enjoy, rather than endure, the journey. 9 hours in the  air and then an hour on the other end to get our luggage and get a taxi home where the two cats were waiting with lots of white hair to annoint our pants with....

Next blog- San Francisco for the 4th of July 2013 Fireworks!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Ratskeller Munich

On most of our Munich visits we have dined in the Ratskeller. Up until now we had dined inside. The restaurant is underground in the basement of the Rathaus, that gigantic town hall we all gaze up at to watch the mechanical jousting knights and twirling dancers.  At street level there are entrances on three sides to the Ratskeller restaurant-stone stairs that lead you down into an underground warren of dining rooms. Stone archways hold up the ceiling so it's like being in an ancient castle. Although I can't find details, even via Google, I would guess that it could seat 1,000 diners. I have photos and video from previous trips but those live on another computer 80 miles away so that will have to wait until a future blog. Google images will give you some idea of it's vastness and interior charm.

Anyway, this evening we stumbled upon the Ratskeller's outside dining area for the first time by walking through an archway at the base of the town hall. We liked the location and once we realized that it was served by the Rat's kitchen we decided to go no further and took our seats for our last dinner in Munich.

Munich revisited

Now we are back in Munich and it is the last full day of our time in Europe. Tomorrow a long daylight flight home to Chicago with a time change of 6 hours.

I hadn't been to my favorite Biergarten this trip. It's in the giant public park called the Englisher Garten . There are three  Beer Gardens there (with seats totaling 12,500), one of which has a huge lofty bandstand where a brass band plays Oom-Pah favorites to the sprawling crowd below. They are located in the 5 story Chinese Tower which looks like a pagoda. This garden has seats for 7,500. Much further from the center of the city in the Nymphenberg district (near the Palace of the same name) is the biggest Beer Garden in Europe-the Hirschgarten which seats 8,000 people with shade from chestnut trees. Hirsch is the German word for deer and there are deer in the park behind a fence. The Biergartens are unusually open from 11 a.m until midnight. They all serve good hearty food and with typical German efficiency you won't be in line long before you are carrying away big plates of rotisserie chicken and fries or eating a fish on a stick grilled to perfection. You will lick the stick afterwards. You pay on the way out of the food area-usually in cash. You will typically be sitting at a large wooden table, sharing it with an ever-changing cast of Germans and people from lord-knows where. Everyone is good spirited and friendly.
We have yet to see any obvious drunkenness at these places.

munichbeergardens.com is the place to do your research with lots of photographs to give you the flavor of these massive friendly gardens.

Here are a few older pics from our last visit to our favorite- the Seehaus, a ten minute stroll north of the Chinese Tower, in 2009. No brass bands but lots of ducks! Seehaus seats 2500.

Beers this big cost about 7 Euros.

See is the German word for lake. 

I didn't get to visit the Seehaus this time but there will always be "another time" as Munich is probably our favorite city anywhere so we will return. We stayed close to home and cut down on the walking.

We took a leisurely stroll on our well-trodden path to Marienplatz. I'll spare you the Glockenspiel show this time. Yes it drew a crowd, as always. We whiled away an hour sitting drinking and soaking up the atmosphere of another peaceful Sunday in Munich. Every city should have a Marienplatz and the world would be a better place.

As everywhere we went they seemed to be renovating it was no surprise (though a bitter disappointment) that our favorite Munich restaurant-the Spatenhaus where they serve the beer of the same name was also part of a large renovation project.

Normally we would be sitting at a sidewalk table eating and drinking and admiring the Bavarian State Opera House just across the plaza. When we attend the opera in Munich it is here we dine after the show. Here's the opera house.....

The Munich taxis are typically Mercedes, BMW or Audi and are the same color. They shine inside and out and the drivers are professionals. They wait at stands so there's no point leaping off the street waving frantically for them to stop. That's not safe but it's how we do it in Chicago, New York etc.

So with the Spatenhaus closed we had to come up with plan B for dinner.....