A post-dated story but still a very valuable one.
The first stop of our traveling experience was San Francisco, the city of where the infamous Golden Gate Bridge is at.
It's summer time but it is cooling (more like cold), unlike summer we had in Ohio.
For this stop, Grace joined us. She worked in Grand Canyon and has traveled to several places by herself before she came and joined us in San Francisco.
Day 1We went for the city tours after we've settled our luggage in the very beautiful hotel.
As we stayed at the Fisherman's Wharf, almost all attractions were there within walking distance.
First was the trolley tour. They say you've never been to San Francisco if you never go on the tram. Or trolley.
The humourous driver brought us around the city, telling us about the houses, food, culture and so forth. Why were there so many Victorian buildings, and where is house was. 1757, if I'm not mistaken, smallest house?
Everyone had a great time during the 1 hour tour, laughing about, snapping photos and obeying the driver when he said, "Alright now you Malaysians, go to the other side, cuz the next few things that I'm going to show you will be on that side."
And he said we were 'excitable'. LOL
Then we went on the Prince for a Golden Gate Cruise.
There we went near the bay bridge, the colden gate bridge and the famous prison, Alcatraz.
The tour was ok, but kind of boring compared to the full of laughter tour we had just an hour ago.
Later on we went cycling. Swee Mun & I shared a twin seater bike as she does not know how to cycle.
We cycled to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Imagine us, 5 in 4 bikes, cycling in the cold, unfamiliar to the roads but yet determined to cycle to our destination.
It took more than 2 hours to get there, but we made it eventually.
Later that night after some tiring hours of cycling we went back to the hotel and napped. Then we came out and had some seafood, not as savoury as what we have here. Let's not elaborate further, just leave it that way.
Day 2We went winery tour!
5 young girls boarded the bus full of almost over middle aged couples..... Erm...
Nonetheless it was a memorable experience learning how to taste wine.
First stop was Cline Cellars in Sanoma Valley. It is said that the Sanoma and Napa valley in San Francisco produces finer wine than other countries but well, what do we know about wine...
We were given 10 types of white nad red wines in the Cline Cellars.
Then we headed to another cellar, and tasted some more wines in the beautifully decorated building.
In which we then ran down to the vineyard without permission, but hey nobody scolded us cuz nobody was there as they were either busy buying or selling wine.
Of course, not all wine are suitable for everyone. See this face for example,... I think it's pretty self-explanatory...
Back to the itenery, we went for lunch after that. And grew bored waiting for the time to meet at the bus. So we took some random pictures then went for our 3rd stop.
Third stop was a cellar in Napa Valley. The owner brought us into the vineyard itself and talked to us about some grapes and wine.
"Can anybody tell me what grapes are these?" asked the owner, pointing at the grapes.
"Green grapes!" shouted Grace.
I think the owner was asking some specific scientific, vinerific name, Grace.
Then he brought us to the factory in which they were bottling the wines. We were lucky to see the process (although it was pretty much nothing-ness to me) as they only do it for a few days in a year.
And of course not to miss is the storage room in which they store the wine in barrels. In which the room is kept at a certain temperature and the barrels are filled I forgot how full, and is changed after a few times storing the wine.
And tasted some more wine.
But then alcohol is not for everybody. For instance, Siew Ooi and Lizzy can't be alcoholics as much as they like to be. For they grow rashes and stuff, but you know, some people just can't resist alcohol despite the itch... *tsk tsk tsk* See what kind of friends I'm hanging out with?
Day 3Early morning we overslept.
We wanted to take the tram again but ended up in the wrong place. But no worries, we've got our Alcatraz Psycho Ward outpatient uniforms and a cup of starbucks coffee each, and with the nice weather of San Francisco, nothing can go bad. Just a lot of walking, no harm.
We walked around Union Square searching for the GoCar booth but when we found it the person told us that they're fully booked.
Boleh duduk, tak boleh pandu. =(
So disappointed-ly we walked back to union square and took the bus to the exploratarium (which is just a fancy name to call a science center).
Right beside the exploratarium is the Palace of Fine Arts.
I guess we were not artistic enough so we just settled for some pictures outside the mosque-like-but-very-pretty building.
Then we spent the rest of our day in the exploratarium.
It was a fun place, but it seemed like we've wasted a good weather in San Francisco by staying indoor all day long. That was then I decided that we should eat outside by the pier.
So we ta-pao-ed subway sandwiches and sat by the windy pier, enjoying the breeze while we eat our already-turned-cold food.
So after the fantastic dinner by the pier, we went to our 2nd stop, Las Vegas. With all the luggage.
