Well, here we are in San Francisco. Thank-you to those who communicated with us whilst there - Annette, Mary, Steve and Barbara and Peter. On Friday Sue had finished with Yale, so we spent the morning packing, then at 12:15 we caught the public bus into New Haven. We had lunch at the restaurant Zinc (see http://zincfood.com/ ) - Sue had the Shrimp Cobb Salad while I had the lamb special. Very tasty. We then went for a walk up College and Hillhouse Streets so Sue could see the older parts of Yale.
We walked back into town and Sue browsed through a clothing store, but was not impressed with the quality. We had a coffee at Starbuck's - it really is rubbish. After a browse through the Museum of British Art bookshop we called in at the newsagency for some postcards. We then went to the Black Bear Saloon for a few drinks in "Happy Hour" - very cheap time to drink. We went back to Bentara for dinner, but we were underwhelmed compared with the first 2 times there.
Saturday was all about packing, cooking our last lunch in the suite, then waiting around in the Gatehouse for the shuttle to take us to the airport, where we had more waiting. The check-in guy allowed us to have 5 lb overweight on the big case - saved us changing things around. Eventually our plane arrived - a twin-engined turbo-prop Dash 8. You'd think that in this day and age they would put on a small jet, which would reduce our flight time to Philadelphia from 1 1/2 hours to maybe 3/4 hour. At least we did not have to go through the x-ray routine, as we caught a bus from the airplane terminal (F) around to terminal B from which the big plane to San Francisco was leaving.
On our way around to the gate we stopped at a food counter and bought two rolls - lamb for me and chicken for Sue. I skipped the onions and pepper, so it was quite dry. Sue's had mayo - a bit too much for her liking. It was just as well we ate then, as there was not much service on the plane - mostly drinks and crisps. This was served about 3/4 hour into the 6 1/2 hour flight. They should have come round again after about 4 or 41/2 hours, but in the end the attendants were up and down attending to individual needs. There was no in-flight entertainment, so most people slept, some read whilst others watched their own videos on their tablets or laptops. Air flight these days is 90% individual, so be prepared. We were on US Airways, but I'm sure many others are similar, although on our Delta flight from LA to New York City we had in-flight entertainment units, which enabled us to at least watch the route map so we could see where we were.
At San Francisco airport (SFO) we had to wait ages for the luggage to arrive, then wait outside in the cold for a half-hour shuttle from our airport hotel. Eventually we were in bed by about 11 pm which was 2 a.m. on our body-clocks. We could have had room-service breakfast but decided to stay in bed a bit longer and go down to the restaurant. We were there by 10:30 but they had already closed off the buffet section. Sue ordered French toast whereas I had an omelette. The coffee was OK and was a "bottomless pot". Checkout time was 12:00, so we did that then sat in the bar watching the 49ers lose. Later we had a small lunch - Sue had chicken noodle soup in a mug whilst I had a croissant.
At 3:30 we ordered a cab which took us into San Francisco. On the way in I noticed some low cloud on the hills to the north-west. It was one of those fogs for which San Francisco is renowned. By the time we reached our Studio on Sixth ( see http://www.studioonsixth.com/ ) it was quite dense and very cold. The beautiful sunny, summer's day at the airport was now gone. We unpacked our gear, checked the internet and planned to explore the neighbourhood. Just as we were about to turn off the tablet and go, we had a call on Skype from Mary and Steve. It was good to hear them. That special Melbourne number we arranged through Skype for people who do not have the internet has been a boon for them - and us!
Just down 6th Ave and around the corner on Irving Street is the original building in which Sue spent 8 months in 1984-85 when she was here on her Kellogg Fellowship. Some of the restaurants have changed, but many are still the same, especially the pizza place on 9th Ave. The famous (1984) Owl and Monkey has been replaced. Lots to see and do here over the 4 weeks.
Sue headed off to UCSF this morning. Refused to wear her coat so it will be interesting to hear how cold she gets!
I'm off to the laundromat, dry cleaner and supermarket - what joy!!
Cheers, Phil
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