Leaving Los Angeles heading to San Francisco - Saturday 28th June

Leaving LA going to San Francisco

Saturday 28th June

 

 

Our continental breakfast area, we have time for breakfast before we head off to the airport

 

Amy with her croissant and muffin!

 

Here we go!!!

 

Ok Yorkie is fixed on properly now let’s head to the Metro!

 

Here we are on the Walk of Fame and as long as Ray Charles if not driving the Metro train we will be fine!!

 

Tickets for the metro and we had to buy a card called ….

 

A tap card for $1 and $1.50 for the journey!!   Why didn’t google maps give us this option this is far easier than the public bus!

 

Jemima is having her first ride out on a Metro we are travelling from Hollywood/Highland station going to Union Station, now is that near Union Street Aberdeen or is it LA!!!

 

Absolutely stunning the railway station

 

Wow this is impressive here at Union Station, this is the main railway station in Los Angeles, opened in 1939 and the original station has been preserved and is on show with barriers up so looky looky but no touchy!! It is absolutely beautiful!  We are at Union station to catch LAX Flyaway Bus

 

Oh look at that a novel idea a direct bus to the airport and they have room in the boot for our suitcases, wow this is the way to travel!!  And even when we get in it is air conditioned!!

 

 

Here we are at the airport, direct buses are brill but we were $8 each!  That journey was priceless compared to our arrival into LA!

 

 

 

Heaven help us it is the A team checking us in, they look in deep discussion about something!!  We then have to join a very long queue for baggage drop!!  So we are struggling going through each airport security as they are all different with what needs checked and what we need to remove from our bags.  So we see a sign but it has a piece of paper blocking it so I ask the security guy do we need to remove laptops and iPads, yes to laptop but no to iPad.  Colin asks if he needs to remove his belt as he tells him the sign is confusing and boy the security guard says ‘just do what I say’ wow nothing like a power trip!!  Anyway we were quiet after that and got through security quickly away from attitude boy!!

 

Sticker task complete, love this sticker for Hollywood!

 

And something that will make you smile Alison after our trip round the shops to find a USA flag we eventually found one!!!

 

See you later Los Angeles

 

So the flight is called LAX Shuttle and because it is the shuttle we get a free snack, yummy!!  Gluten free crackers (they must have known I was coming), sunflower seeds got eaten, tomatoes all went to Colin and the carrots all went to Amy and the celery went in the trash ha ha!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are on our approach to San Francisco and I’m not sure what the white areas are on the ground??

Waterways

 

The runway must be out on a peninsula as there is only water on our side that we can see and we are mighty close to the ground, eeeek!!!  Reminds us of landing in Bermuda!!

 

Why thank you Mr Mayor!

 

We have got our bags and now we need to get the Skytrain to then connect to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to take us into the city

 

 

Come on Col you’ve got your ticket and a disabled space to get the bags through no hassles here so far!!

 

Here are some lovely coloured houses we spied on the BART train

 

So we arrive at 16 Street Mission which google has directed us to get off the BART train and then jump on number 22 bus to take us to our hotel with a ¾ hour journey

 

Why do we come to cities when there are celebrations going on so this has an impact on our bus journey but it worked in our favour for a change as the bus had to get away from the parade area so didn’t stop at any stops just went straight to Lombard Street the other side of the city and then started stopping at the stops just in time for our stop!!

 

Our first experiences of San Francisco’s hilly streets and the streets are incredibly long too!!  I start speaking to a lady on the bus as she is curious where we have come from and she laughs at the way google maps has directed us but she has had the same problem with google maps before too.  I asked her about the pink celebrations and there is a parade tonight and tomorrow but it is a bit risky so she wouldn’t recommend it for children and to stay away from the area with the ‘risky’ costumes and outfits being paraded around surrounding streets too, good tips thanks kind lady!  She also tells us when we need to get off the bus after she has got off at her stop, lovely helpful people around

 

We get off the bus and we just walk the next street and here we are at Hotel Del Sol, really bright and colourful we like it already!!

 

The pool looks nice and it is supposed to be heated!

 

The courtyard area with hammocks, lovely setting!

 

Here we are room 304

 

That is funny I have managed to capture all of us in this photo all by mistake as Amy walked out of the walk in wardrobe at the wrong moment and I didn’t realise there was a mirror where I was taking the photo and Colin was taking the suitcases in the door!!  A selfie by mistake!!

 

Our view out of our room, certainly shows the hills

 

The pool toe test, it seems okay temperature it is supposed to be 80-82 degrees F?!  And if you haven’t noticed there were no toes bared in the making of this picture as Amy and Colin had trainers on!

We headed to Chestnut Street for something to eat for tea on the receptionists recommendation.  Two lovely heart shapes!!

 

 

We ended up at the Squat and Gobble for tea

 

 

Absolutely gorgeous food, Colin had veggie burger, I had Kung Po chicken and Amy had chicken tenders, delicious!!!

 

 



 

Wow look how long these streets are and how hilly!  Beautiful with the sun setting on the houses too but with the sun setting the temperature feels as if it has plummeted hurry let’s get home!

Lombard Street with the sun setting and that is our day over tomorrow is a Hop on Hop off bus tour day to see the Golden Gate Bridge, looking forward to seeing that!