The immigration procedures in the land of the fair and free are these days thus that you feel like being assumed a terror merchant unless you can proof that not to be the case. And since my passport is filled with visa for exotic countries and has hundreds of stamps in it filling about 65 of the total of 80 pages, I am invariable sorted out for special scrutiny. Don’t get me wrong, I am not by any stretch of imagination a USA hater or basher. A bit like with religion, I have no problems with the individuals, it is the organised authority which sometimes gets up my nose.
Arriving the my hotel, the Roosevelt mid evening gives me a short time for a drink at the bar before I fall into bed. The Roosevelt might not be the top notch hotel in NYC and the value for money relation leaves a bit to be desired, BUT the location is almost unbeatable, situated on the corner of Madison Av/45th Street in the heart of Manhattan and in good walking distance to most of the things I would like to see, visit or experience.
A couple of years back I had a wonderful experience in this hotel. My Internet connection in the room was not working, because the cables for the connection had been laid under the carpet through the room and the constant walking on them had made them brittle and eventually broke them.
In this situation of need I had a brilliant idea. I looked at the notice board in the reception hall to see, where in the hotel there were conferences etc held. For those occasions they usually put up broadband internet access, usually even wireless or plug in. And given that the time table were usually part of the information on the notice board, I used to sneak into this room after the function had finished, but the room had not been cleared by hotel staff. (which usually only happens a day later) And here I then sat, plugged into the internet connection of company XYZ and sailed through cyberspace at corporate speed with no corporate rate applicable!! And yes, it worked a few times quite well and I almost made a sport of it at the Roosevelt in years to come. Saves me lots of money!!
There are a few things in NYC which I usually do and which are pleasant to body and mind. Amongst those things are a long walk to and through Central Park, where I can’t but end up at the boathouse for a glass of wine.
Not far from there is the Metropolitan Museum which I usually visit and, a few streets up the Guggenheim which also holds a lot of interest for me.
Paul had asked me to look for some electronic gadget in NYC (can’t remember right now, what it was) and I took the opportunity to walk along Broadway down from 45th Street to Greenwich Village in search for computer stores which would carry said item.
And there are lots of those stores around, however, mysteriously none of them carried the item I was after. But it provided me with the welcome opportunity to walk all the way to Washington Square and through the Village. And after about 6 hours walking I was back at the Roosevelt.
Had plans to visit cousin Anita but she and her family were at their holiday residence in Long Island. Hence a visit has to wait until next time.
After three lazy days with wonderful weather and lots of walking I again boarded the plane to make my way to San Francisco.
Again this is a city which I love to visit and just amble around following my nose. Nothing planned in particular. As usual, I took a car at the airport and made my way to my hotel on Sutter Street, just around the corner from Union Square. Not so long ago, the hotel was still called the Cartwright (of Bonanza fame) but is now branded as Larkspur. It’s one of those somewhat older and run down hotels which, in their promotion, is labelled with “European charm” which is basically a euphemism for small and somewhat dilapidated. And since the change in name and corporate ownership has also brought about a change in management, the once reasonable breakfast menu has been replaced with a breakfast voucher for the fast food outlet next door. A very unpleasant and totally inadequate alternative. But there are shops around everywhere and with a bit of looking around Jochen can find the things which make an acceptable breakfast on my room.
One of my regular trip destinations in SF is Sausalito and, more specifically, the Horizon Restaurant on the water. For 14 years I tend to go there at least once for lunch. What draws me there are very good memories, very good food at reasonable prices and the location overlooking the bay area.
I remember my first visit there in 1994 on a trip through the USA. On my trip by boat to Sausalito I had met a very nice Ecuadorian gentleman by the Name of Raoul. Like so many tourists, he wanted to have a few pictures of himself standing in front of one of the many landmarks which signify the place of visit. In the case of Raoul, however, one photo did not do the trick, he needed a whole film of pictures (yes in those days we still used films in Cameras!!) And as we started a conversation on the boat and he accompanied me for the rest of the trip, he developed a standard phrase which always started with ….would you mind Mr Johann…. And Mr Johann did not mind at all and took many photos of the South American Gentleman. And on this trip, we also had lunch at the Horizon.
In 2000 I sat here with Frau Hillebrand and my mother during our stay in San Francisco and I remembered how Mum enjoyed the location and ambience.
And from here it is not very far into the wine country, which also holds some strange attraction for me.
Visited a few wineries (third time this year on three different continents) and even found a little memento which I could not resist buying. It is a coaster from the region inscripted with CENTRAL COAST. Well, they don’t say that they mean the Central Coast north of Sydney (where I live) but so what.
As I said in some other trip report, no self respecting queen visiting SF can do without a visit to Castro and the main drag, Market street, this being the heart and soul of the gay universe. Well, I must admit that the heart and soul have largely gone elsewhere and it still is pretty run down as I found it last time to my disappointment. Hence the visit was swift and short and I took some drive around the surrounding hills which afford great views over the City.
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