Wednesday 2nd of June - Seattle - Peep Meet!

Awoke at five , and pootled around a bit, managed to get to sleep again a bit later and awoke again at ten to nine, packed the rucksack and headed out. Tried to work out the underground system but with no joy, walked to pioneer square (triangle), which is quite interesting, late nineteenth century architecture, some of it quite posh, but generally utilitarian, which is really good, of course most of these buildings around the world have had plateglass windows put in if they haven't been knocked down, so it was really interesting to be able to see them almost unaltered. The main problem here, and to be honest in a lot of Seattle is that every third person seemed to see me as a human cash machine, which got most irritating after a while.

Waited around in the square for the tourist bus, one drove past but didn't stop, and I couldn't see where I was supposed to catch it, walked back to the hotel and caught a bus out to the space needle (some buses are free, some you have to pay for, I really have no idea and I paid), when I arrived there was a McDonalds and decided to pop in for breakfast. I ordered a sausage and egg McGriddle because I thought it sounded interesting, it was an omlette and sausage patty inbetween maple syrup pancakes (little ones, so it was like a burger with US pancakes on the outside) to be honest I found the sweetness quite unpleasant, however I guess that it a) because I generally don't care for sweet and savoury together, and b) I am very unused to that sort of thing.

After finishing my repast I walked over the road to the park with the Space Needle in it, as I walked in I noticed the Science fiction museum, the chap selling tickets tried to con me into buying a city pass "if you are doing x y and z it will save you money, it only costs 54 dollars" me "X costs 15, y costs 17, and z costs 18, how am I saving money?". Forked over $15 for the sci-fi museum, and got free entry to a "music" museum as well. The science fiction museum was very interesting, original outfits from Star Trek, Twiki from Buck Rodgers in the 25th century, The Death Star and lightsabres, all very good, spent quite some time there :-) really a highlight!

Then to the emp, I lvoe, lvoe, lvoe music, my tour of the hard rock vault in Floridia (shut down now alas) is one of the highlights of all of my trips, unfortunately I have some musical blind spots, whilst the museum suggests that it covers all music with a lot of Jimi Hendrix I couldn't find much that wasn't Jimi, and I just don't get him at all. Other weaknesses, Robert Morley and the Wailers, and Mickie Jackson.

Spotted a double decker bus on exiting the museums so I walked over, discovered that they drop off the pickup signs as they go round and don't reach the square until well after I was there. Purchased my ticket for 48 hours and boarded the bus, the weather was very changeable, was up and down to the open top of the bus any number of times!

The driver seemed to take a fancy to me and the guide (Cheryl) had lived in the UK (Branston in Lincolnshire, I didn't know anyone in the US had even heard of Lincolnshire!) so we hada very nice chat.

Seattle seems to be a city on its way up, there are a lot of old and new buildings, quite a few places by the waterfront at a surprisingly inexpensive cost (and some at a phenomenal cost!). The bus went round to pioneer square, Pike market, the shopping district, the waterfront, and back to the space needle, I rode it all the way round, and then got off at Pike Market, ambled round a bit, it seems like a really big farmers market, a lot of little stalls, fruit, veg, seafood, honey, t-shirts, hand made hippy tat, went into the Athenian, where Rob Reiner and Tam Hanks had a meal in Sleepless in Seattle (which I haven't seen) and had a crab, which was very nice, although I think I have been spoiled by the King Crab that I had in Oakland!

Ambled around the market a little more, and purchased a Starbucks, not at the original, but at another one just opposite the market, although this one did use the original logo (the mermaid is topless in the original, Americans being what they are when Starbucks went national they changed it). Then stood waiting for the bus where I met Eleanor from North Carolina who had been in town for a teachers convention and was now quickly riding the bus before heading home. Her chappie was from Liverpool, or maybe north wales, and she had been to the UK a few times, we chatted as the bus went round and at the end she tried to interest me in a health drink (I think) from Australia for which she and her chappie are the US and European representatives.

I got off the bus in the Square at about fourish, where Cheryl yelled Andrew is coming down, and the bus driver held the crowd back saying Andrew is getting off the bus, there was much welcioming of me by name by the people waiting for the bus, flustered I managed to throw all of my pressed coins into the tip box, and Cheryl chased after
me to hand them back.

Quite tired I went back to the hotel, had Raul talk to me for a quarter of an hour on what I had done in the day, and then went to my room to bathe and pretty myself up for my evening out! Put on one of my new pink shirts (second one saved for the visit in Calgary! And my lovely new (still frightened by the price) jacket, and my I think they are jeans but I'm not really sures, and at a quarter to six went out to the hotel entrance. Unfortunately the hotel has two entrances on two streets, although if one stands on the corner one can see both. Up at the main entrance there was this chap with a mustache, and a small rucksack. Karchita had said that her husband might meet me in the lobby, when Karchita pulled up it turned out that he was Mr Karchita, and I apologised for having ignored him, but I was popping up and down the hill to check both entrances (and of course chatting to Raul).

The traffic was apparently quite heavy, although I have to admit it seemed very light to me for rushhour (I still flash back to Romania for bad traffic, that was amazing, stationery or 90mph no inbetween, but mostly stationery), some chap had broken down and was blocking one lane of a dual carriageway, once we were past that it was clear sailing all the way. When we got to Ray's cafe their car park was full, so we parked on a street just a little way off.

On entering the restaurant Karchita confirmed her reservation and we were shown upstairs, the view of the Puget sound was lovely, so green and pleasant over the water. We were given menus, and I ordered the Globalrita (sauza hornitos tequila, jagermeister, cointreau, lemon lime, & fresh orange) which was OK but didn't really grab me, and we chatted for about ten minutes before Sharnina, her husband and two of her lovely daughters turned up. Ordered the food, and Mr Sharnina said Grace, we shared hummus and calamares to start, the hummus was fantastic, so much lighter than I am used to but still packing the flavour, and the calamares were almost perfect, a light batter, and not just the rings but also the tentacles which I adore!

I then had Blackened Red Rockfish, the fish was nice, haven't tried Red Rockfish before, although the sauce was a little overpowering for it although the guacamole and corriander & lime sour cream worked really well, the polenta was a revelation, I am used to the Romanian version which is nice, but again heavy, this was light and really a very good textural accompanyment. Finished the meal with a Key Lime Cheesecake, which was a little heavy and needed a little more oomph.

Throughout the meal Karchita, Sharnina and I chatted, often about RTVW and the peeps there, but on a wide variety of other things as well, it was a really lvoely evening, it's funny how one sort of knows people from an online forum and worries a little that they will be serial killers (or at least aggressively boring) in real life, although one knows that they aren't just from their online selves, and how they are just even more faceted, fascinating individuals in real life, the evening flowed so easily, although it may have been a little dull for the non OTers there. After what seemed like ten minutes we needed to leave, what with tomorrow being a school day, and with Karchita needing petrol, and sadly the party broke up.

Karchita gave me a lift back to the hotel, Raul welcomed me back, I had a couple of cigarettes, and went upstairs to bed. What a lovely day :D

Tuesday the 1st of June - Coast Starlight - Seattle

More details about the train, it was about eight carriages long and the carriages were double deckers, we had two sleeper carriages with cabins on the lower deck and sleepettes on the upper. I was in sleepette 5, most of the wall was window, overnight pretty much the whole thing became a bed, when the steward changed it to the daytime layout it became two seats facing each other, no facilities, however there was a lavatory on the top deck, and two more with two showers on the lower. I awoke about half five, and realised that I didn't have a change of clothes with me, so I popped down to my luggage picked up a T, some pants and socks, did my toilette as best I was able to, changed and put my old clothes in the suitcase.

About 7 I popped along to the end of the corridor and into the next carriage, which was the parlour car, it had a number of seats, a bar, and a few booths, below was a cinema. Then on to the following carriage which was the dining car (after the dining car were the non sleeper carriages) where I had a breakfast of scrambled eggs with sort of rosti, a couple of rubbery burgers (called turkey sausage, actually I like rubbery, chinese fishballs are amongst my faves and in texture these were similar) and a scone, spent the time chatting to someone who was on her way to Eugene.

Back to the sleepette, Anthony had changed the configuration so I slumped in the chair and watched the view out of the window. Regarding scenery please refer to Jerome K. Jerome in "Three men on the Bummel", I will say though that it varied, beautiful forests, impressive mountains, big rivers, dull farmland, junkyards, generally I would say that it was well worth taking the train for the views though. Ate lunch in the parlour, tomato "bisque" which I had to drink using a teaspoon, and a chicken caesar wrap, which was served with the dressing on the side and crisps which was very nice.

More training with the very rare stop, on a couple of occasions it was possible to have a cigarette, however mainly it was the nicotine inhalator. Supper was barbecue brisket of beef with mash and beans, I was going to have the half roast chicken, and to be honest I wish I had. Had supper with a lady and her (six year old?) daughter, who gave me a few hibts and tips on what to do in Seattle, although why she should think I would be interested in aeroplanes escapes me.

We arrived in Seatle at about eight, which was about three quarters of an hour before I expected to, we detrained and I picked up my suitcase, they are doing a lot of work on the station, however it is very impressive inside, beautiful marble work. Leapt in a taxi and off to the hotel, couldn't help but notice that there seem to be a fair number of hills in Seattle! Was really hoping for some level ground after San Francisco.

The taxi dropped me off at the Arctic Club, where my suitcase was appropriated by Raul, who had me checked in and introduced to my room in a very civilised manner, honestly I don't think I would have been treated better had I been The Queen herself, after checking if I was going out for supper (I said that I might want a little something, but had eaten on the train) he popped up after about 5 minutes with a plate of fruit and cheese and a bottle of water, which was most gratefully received. Really very tired, so to bed although to be honest it was quite late.

Monday 31st of May 2010 - San Francisco - Oakland

Awoke this morning at six, so I started to pack and popped down for breakfast at seven, had a couple of their quite nice croissants, which were not quite as good as the ones I had on my first morning, but were still not unpleasant. Went back to my room and finished the packing, unfortunately it seems that I have purchased too many clothes and the case was very difficult to close, in a way I am looking foward to Seattle where I can give my presents to Sharnina and Karchita which will give me a little more room ;-) On the other hand I think maybe I need to roll my new shirts rather than trying to pack them flat! Anyway with a bit of pushing I managed to get the bag closed, then turned round and noticed that my bottle of Pimms was still on the table. Having only had one glass of it so far (last night) I was loath to leave it behind, however there wasn't really room for it, so I unpacked my jacket to give me the room, and resigned myself wearing it around town.

So went next door to check out, which involved me passing them my keys and them telling me to have a nice day, and to leave my case as I didn't really want to walk round the city with it. Then to the cable car line just up the street where I caught a trolley to Fishermans wharf and walked along to pier 39. Looked around pier 39, which was quite touristy, and caught the harbour cruise at 10, this took us out and under the Golden Gate Bridge, and round Alcatraz, I have been very lucky with the weather, so of course all was clear and the views were really very nice, although the commentary was a little irritating.

Arrived back at the pier at about 11 and decided to have a clam chowder in a sourdough roll at Boudins who claim to have invented the concept, and do actually have a bakery just up the road from the pier. It really was rather nice! Although I have to admit that I don't know if one is supposed to eat the bowl when one has finished or not, anyway as Molaholic had recommended a Mexican place to me I decided that I wouldn't. Then I went to the Aquarium of the Bay, the first few rooms were less impressive than the Academy of Sciences, but still interesting, however after that one went down in a lift and walked through 100 yards of undersea tunnel, now the tunnel isn't actually in the bay and so they were able to have two separate environments to walk through, firstly a "close to the surface" one, where I had a school of anchovy swim over my head, and a "Deeper water" one where I had a ray and a few sharks swim over my head, I was captivated, particularly by the anchovy! Then one took the lift back up to an area where one could fondle fish, having touched enough fish in my time I wasn't too disappointed that the area was overrun with children.

After this I walked back to catch the cable car, and came back to Union Square, went into Chipotle on O'Farrell street and ordered a Barbacoa Burrito as Molaholic had suggested, they then asked me a lot of technical questions, to which I replied "whatever you think goes best" and I ended up with a lot of "hot" sauce on my burrito. What I ended up with was a soft taco filled with rice, haricot beans, warmed rillettes, cheese, and of course "hot" sauce. Now I'm not really one for hot things, I can go to a dhansak ot Patia because I adore the flavour, but it can be a little warm for me, this sauce was really quite mild from the British pov. The burrito was interesting, I think I would have enjoyed it more had there been less in it and the meat could have taken a more prominent role in the meal, I may try another Chipotle in Seattle and go for less rice.

Sat back in Union Square for a while just soaking up the rays, then back to the hotel to pick up my suitcase, I never want to have to walk up as many hills as I have in San Francisco! After retrieving the suitcase walked down Mason to get to the Powell street BART stop, leapt on the train and then off at 12th street Oakland, checked the directions for the train station, and all I have to do is walk up Broadway and I will be in Jack London Square. Well I reckon that Oakland my be the panhandling capital of the US I was asked for money seven times, and sworn at twice for not just handing it over. I do find the aggressive begging they have here to be quite unpleasant.

Anyway down to Jack London Square, if I had a connection I would check who he was, I'm thinking he wrote Whitefang or A call of the Wild, not sure, anyway he was an author and in order to recover myself I popped into a pub which was mentioned in one of hos books, inside the bar was set on a slope, but built flat if that makes any sense, picture a normal American pub, then tilt it 10 degrees, not sure how people kept their drinks on the bar, I sat outside!

Then tried to walk to the station, however I was on the wrong side of the line, and wasn't able to get over, so I returned to the pub, where I had another wheat beer, then decided as it was about six and my train wasn't leaving until about a quarter to ten that supper would be a good idea. Walked to a restaurant called Kincaid's (Presumably after Tex Kincaid, frontier accountant) where I had a Sirloin steak with mashed potatoes, crispy onion strings and half a pound of King Crab legs, it was all very nice, never had King Crab before the legs were huge, I only got two for my half pound (or was it a pound?) and they were full of meat.

Then meandered over to the station, where I checked in, waited a while for the train and the boarded, unfortunately the lady who boarded me misread the ticket and put me in the wrong cabin, I was in my skivvies when she asked me to move, dressed and moved carriage to one that it closer to the parlour and dining car. undressed again this time in my correct cabin tp sleep with the rhythm of the rails by about 11