Back to SF

Finally we're back in SF!

Stayed at a really nice and conveniently located hotel at the union square, which serves free wine and cheese with biscuits from 530-730 everyday. Awesome!! The first hotel we stayed at was a kimpton hotel that also served wine.. but i prefer boutique hotels with 20+rooms.. find it a lot more cosy. The service is better too! 

So anyway, we went on a wine tour to Napa and Sonoma valley.. went past a golf course that was called CHAMPAGNE golf course! Can you believe it? Anyway the scenary was great, and the sun was a lot brighter than in SF though it's only a 1hr drive away. 

More pictures during the wine tour..

Oh by the way, we only came back with 2 bottles of wine, whereas we shipped half a dozen to my sis for her birthday. Too mean to myself?

The next day we went to the SF bay bridge - see the fog in the picture. I could hardly see the bridge!! I think I only managed to see to abt half the height of the bridge. There's this perpetual fog in SF so this is quite normal. 

At the bay we came across this ship/tanker used in WW2 and decided to visit it. Turned out to be quite interesting also as they were showing us what the ship was used for during the war, what went inside the engine room etc. Didn't help that I was not a history student... but pictures taken were still worth while. Apparently it's 1 of the 2 boats that didn't sink during the war... mmmm...

Alcatraz island tour took another day. This was an eye opener. It's an old prison (shut down a couple of decades ago) used as a museum now. We can only get there by boat (and there's only 1 company offering the boat service!!) and guess what... we missed our boat cos we were too slow to get out of the hotel. Almost thought we had to write off the US$50 ticket but thankfully we managed to squeeze on to the next boat. 

That's about all for the honeymoon. 17days, 16nights, 7 hotels, 5 places. Seen nature, history, culture, people, the beach, tried different food... no regrets for the big hole in my pocket. :-)

 

Las Vegas

Fifth Stop - Sin city

Finally, we took a FLIGHT instead of a bus or train. And next destination - Las Vegas!!

Stayed at one of the hotels along the Strip and upgraded for $50 a night to a room on the 33rd floor with a HUGE bathroom and a jacuzzi (top left pic in collage), which was very useful cos Las Vegas is quite boring during the day except for all the shopping centres and pretty architecture and themes. It's way way way too hot to walk outside by the way. Ghiradelli chocolate ice cream was the highlight of the day... it's sooooo yummy and but it's a little too big so I felt really full after eating it. At night we watched Ka (Cirque de Soleil) which was really nice! In the end, Las Vegas turned out to be a place where we did quite a bit of shopping for myself (clothes) and for the home (quite a bit of decorative items).. which added to the load in our luggage. 

Fourth stop

Los Angeles!! Our hotel this time was also a very nice one (this is the 8th one in the last 2 weeks), quietly tucked inside a residential area off Sunset blvd. We had strawberrys with chocolate for a welcome gift and a note + dinner voucher from my sister. How sweet! 

Le Montrose

Santa Monica beach

Did a sand bath for my feet

Universal Studios Hollywood! Although it's my 3rd or 4th time here by now but many things have changed.. still enjoyable after all! 

Santa Barbara

Ok I'm back.. really bad updating my posts.. so where was I?

Third stop: Santa Barbara

I really LOVE this place. It's a small town and everything is so serene. The beach is great, weather was fantastic.. and so was the food and the hotel. Absolutely no complains. 

We went on a whale watching cruise, did cycling, sat on the beach, walked around town.. RELAXED! 

Reaching SB by train

Cycling & enjoying the coastline

Fine weather!

Our hotel - very petite place

The food! Look at those gorgeous scallops (top left)!!!

Let's catch up

Finally down with some time to blog. 

It's been a hectic 2 months after getting married, too busy enjoying myself in HK and US.. and back to work immediately. Finally had some time today to look at my honeymoon pics. 

First stop: San Francisco

A lovely place with a lovely weather. The hotels were great too, with their free wine and cheese selection every day. We were at SF for 3 nights on our first stop, stayed at one of the Kimpton hotels so needless to say it was great. Furthermore they had really cool tiger-striped bathrobes and bedrooms slippers. Coolest ever that I have seen. Located along 5th St, it was real convenient to get onto the tram to the bay. Of course, like all tourists, we queued about an hr to take the tram too. 

Second stop: Yosemite

This is one of our fav stops. No doubt it was hot (it is summer), waterfalls were "leaking" with water instead of free-falling - if you know what i mean- and we didnt have a car so we couldnt go around to other parts of the park. BUT it was wonderful. We stayed at a lodge facing the mountains.. breathtaking, esp in the morning. During the day we were walking around enjoying the scenery and the wonder of creation. Really really really nice. I would say it's even nicer than Canadian Rockies. 

Gtg now.. continue another time..