FIRST STOP: SAN FRANCISCO

FIRST STOP
SAN FRANCISCO
Hilton, Union Square, 333 O’Farrel Street

A very relaxed journey (Economy Class flight with a free adjacent seat) brought us over Oslo punctually at 12:00 from Berlin Schönefeld to San Francisco Oakland. The crossing of Greenland with a clear view of ice floes was great! With a 60-minute layover in Oslo and probably the most expensive burger and wine of all time (€35 burger, €12 0.1l wine), we landed in Oakland fresh and lively at 19 degrees (how - so cold!?) under beautiful blue sky and a nice San Francisco breeze. The flight lasted 2 hours to Oslo and almost 10 hours to San Fran - 12 hours in which I could deal with the catering, entertainment system, and the communication of the trendy airline Norwegian from Norway: Jens took the opportunity to test the in-flight catering system (screen and order button directly at the seat) and ordered various snacks & drinks (6 x cashews, among others). Jens could sleep like a baby from then on :- )!

At 8:00 PM local time (after 2.5 hours of immigration), we checked in at the Hilton Union Square, the largest hotel on the American West Coast (1400 rooms!) Tower I, 44th floor, and tried to resist the opportunity to take a nap - freshen up and explore the city! Off to China Town - San Francisco has the largest Chinese community outside of China. Actually, directly to a recommended family-owned Chinese restaurant: Jens misses NO sign promoting foot reflexzone massage. So seen - done: 30 minutes foot massage, of which Jens spent 28 minutes sleeping. Eat quickly and take the famous Cable Car back to the hotel - the so nice driver of a Cable Car stopped when he saw me running barefoot through San Francisco (my shoelace broke ...). American hospitality is unbeatable!
By the way: Cable Cars, the historic cable streetcars with detachable cars, were invented in the 18th century and are still running today - there are only 3 lines left, there were 12 back then.

How to explore an 8-million city in 24 hours: With a relaxed sightseeing bus tour. Ready to go at 8:20 AM, directly at Union Square, discovering all the beautiful and not so beautiful neighborhoods of San Francisco until 5:00 PM. San Francisco has the highest homeless rate in America - sometimes you see more homeless people than anything else on the street ... We reserved a lot of time for the best: The Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate Park, and the cool Hippie Mecca from the 60s: the Haight. Here, Jimmy Hendrix celebrated the craziest parties in the "Summer of Love 1967". Even today, many hipsters live the style of the 60s. And: the coolest hipster stores - of course, a little shopping!

After such a beautiful day with fantastic weather, we ended the day at the beach. On the exact opposite side of the San Francisco Bay, north of the so-called Ocean Beach, 7 km from downtown, lies the Cliff House - built in 1858 and destroyed and rebuilt through many earthquakes and fires. Became famous for being used by US presidents as an event location. Had a nice dinner here at sunset and ended the day. Good Night!

NEXT STOP:
LAS VEGAS
Mandarin Oriental, 3752 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89158, USA