20.9 - 26.9.2021 San Francisco and surrounding area

Highlights of this week

20.9.2021
Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito and surrounding area, Downtown, evening: Pier 39

21.9.2021
Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Russian Hill, Oakland and Berkeley (University of California), evening Fisherman's Wharf

22.9.2021

23.9.2021
Muir Park, Mill Valley, Tiburon, final final bar

24.9.2021
Napa Valley, Mondavi tasting, Opus One winery

25.9.2021
Chinatown

Noteworthy of this week:

Due to the experiences with hotel prices on the weekend, I asked booking.com by email if we could extend our stay at the riu fisherman over the weekend. Since I didn't receive an answer until check-in, I asked the hotel directly on site. They said I should make a new booking, well.

So I made a new booking directly through booking.com at check-in, as it was cheaper than a direct booking at the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I booked the additional two nights in a completely different hotel (Intercontinental), but at least this one is also in San Francisco. The next day we received the (joyful) message from booking.com that it was now possible to extend our stay at the Riu. I was almost shocked, as the two additional nights were supposed to cost over 900 dollars. After some commotion, I was fortunate enough to cancel everything.

Sylvia also had her experiences in the digitalized world: she tried once again to activate an electric scooter via her phone. However, the scooter was parked in a no-parking zone. Sylvia was able to activate the device, but the lock could no longer be opened. The scooters are also charged based on usage time, so the (payment) timer on Sylvia's phone continued to run even though she hadn't driven a single meter. After 20 minutes of trying, we gave up and contacted the rental service. They then checked their system and fortunately waived the cost of (non)usage.

Speaking of digitalization: You can only visit Muir Park if you order an electronic ticket online in advance. The ticket is then supposed to be sent to the email address. So I logged in via my google account and ordered the tickets. The debit on my credit card actually took place within 2 minutes. However, the electronic tickets never arrived in my email. Nevertheless, we drove to the park anyway and at the entrance we were able to prove that we had made the payment. However, they remained firm and didn't let us in. Well, we will probably have plenty of opportunities to admire the giant sequoias.

And now something Renaissance: 40 years ago, I was already in San Francisco. I still remembered that the bar near the motel where we stayed back then was called *the Final Final*. We had our nightcap there every evening. And behold, this bar still exists. Of course, this time we also enjoyed a drink there.

It is also worth mentioning our trip to Napa Valley. Here we booked a 2-hour tasting at Mondavi and indulged ourselves. However, if you are looking for the charm of French tastings, you will be disappointed: in Napa Valley, commerce is the focus. But for wine lovers, it is still a real experience. Even an experienced wine connoisseur like our friend Martin would undoubtedly be delighted at the sight of Opus One Winery.

We definitely enjoyed San Francisco. Tomorrow (26.9.) we will continue to Yosemite.