Athens

Cafe in the Plaka

Temple of Olympian Zeus

At the Ancient Agora

Acropolis

Parthenon

So I flew into Athens to meet Hector after he wrapped up a week-long work trip to Dubai. I had upgrades all the way but I’ve come to the conclusion that all that pampering (relatively speaking) isn’t really that satisfying when you fly alone. One leg was Chicago to Brussels-- which we also took in September on the way to Berlin--and it’s a great airport. Minimal immigration, no Customs. American Airlines has joined up with Brussels Air so it’s a much better alternative than Heathrow when passing through Europe.

Our Marriott was nice but a bit faded, but had a well-equipped Executive Lounge. It was about a mile walk to the tourist area and the Acropolis but entertaining; it was our daily obstacle course through life-threatening intersections, sizzling electrical wires sticking up through the sidewalk, abandoned cars parked bumper to bumper along the street and the endless stray dogs, any of which might choose to adopt you, following you for several blocks, only to abandon you later.

There were very few tourists in town this time of year, so we had the run of the place, basically. We walked miles each day, explored all the historical sights, visited the wonderful Archeological Museum, made a number of hikes up to the Parthenon (undergoing huge restoration), and endlessly wandered the narrow streets of the Plaka and Monastiriki neighborhoods. It would have been ideal to have a hotel in that old charming section, but we enjoyed all the walking and of course the history is just unbelievable.

I’ve heard lots of people say that Athens is really not that great a destination, other than the Temples and such, but we had a very enjoyable and relaxing week, traveling the way we do (leisurely, to say the least). The trip home was okay, except that Hector was developing pneumonia and got really sick with a high temperature on the plane. He’s recovering just fine now.

The Athens riots began the day after we left so we really can’t be held accountable.

London and Dublin

Canterbury Cathedral

Friday, another easy flight into London City Airport. The city seems crowded and congested after serene Switzerland. After a cranky afternoon getting our Marriott room straightened out, we went out to fabulous weather and did a marathon walk through St James Park and down along the Thames, then up to Charring Cross for fish and chips.

Saturday we hopped a train for Canterbury. The train and the town were full of rotten teenagers with spikey hair and bad attitudes but we toured the spectacular Cathedral and walked around town. It’s totally tourist, with every shop and café themed around the olden days and Canterbury Tales. Full of local riff-raff. Then back to Victoria Station in London, where we raced back to our hotel and free glasses of wine.

Sunday we discovered a new area for us- Spitalfields and Brick Lane. It’s on the East End and full of Bangldeshis, Bohemian types and big street markets. Thousands out on the streets! It was very festive and fun. Stayed all day, toured a church, saw an old pub that Jack the Ripper met one of his victims in.

Monday, we opted NOT to take a train to Stratford but just stay in the city and roam around. So we walked across Hyde Park to the new Whole Foods, had pastries there, then went on to another new area for us- Holland Park. It’s lovely, there’s an actual park that is just beautiful and the residential area around it is wonderful. We decided that’s where we’d be living if we lived in London (and were billionaires).

Tuesday we flew to Dublin, where we met Hector's colleague, Terry, a fun Irish guy. He took us around to see Trinity University, The Guinness Museum, and then we had dinner at an historic Irish Pub named Johnny Fox's. We stayed at the beautiful Shelbourne Hotel in downtown Dublin. Back to London next day.

Thursday and Friday we just walked a lot, up and down the Thames Walk, toured fabulous Buckingham Palace, and had a final dinner with Marc and Al, who had just returned from Spain, where they are hoping to buy a home. They showed us pictures of a picturesque hillside estate in Southern Spain and now I just hate them. On the other hand, they said we could come stay in the guest house so maybe I don't after all.

Zurich

Zurich Old Town

Lucerne

Quick/easy/cheap flight on Airberlin to Zurich. The Marriott here is a bit old and run down but the spread in the Exec Lounge is to die for. Huge breakfast and huge evening snacks with free liquor and cappuccinos all day! There are lots of well dressed business people staying here. We walked around the historic district of Zurich the first day, which didn’t take long. Everything here is placed along the River Limmat that runs down into Lake Zurich. It’s really quite pretty.

Next day we took a bus tour with 5 other couples (Italian, Argentinean, Canadian, American) to Appenzell, where they make famous cheese and the natives are little ruddy-faced hobbits. The tour guide says they are the joke of Switzerland. But the area is gorgeous, all rolling hills and little Swiss cottages with dairy cows. The town itself is very quaint, chock full of tourists and all the little hobbit people snuffling around. Later we toured a rather dull chocolate factory and then drove back through the gorgeous countryside to Zurich.

Thursday, we decided at the spur of the moment to take the train to Lucerne, about 2 hours away. It’s beautiful too, right on the shores of Lake Lucerne with grand 19th century hotels and casinos lining the shore. Lucerne has more of a historic district than Zurich, which means there’s a lot to see, but also lots of tourists as well. Everywhere we’ve been, we’ve seen mostly European tourists. I guess the Americans are back in school and too broke to travel. We are definitely being frugal this trip.

Berlin

At the Reichstag

Holocaust Memorial

What a comfortable flight! San Diego to JFK, then to Brussels, (very nice, efficient airport) then on to Berlin. Comfortable bed-like seats on the overseas leg. American has spruced up their big planes. Immigration at Brussels Airport was so easy and friendly, very different than the assholes at U.S. immigration. Our Berlin Marriott was brand new and very nice, and the executive lounge was so well stocked and staffed that we didn’t even mind that we got a tiny room. So, our plan for this whole trip is to have 2 meals a day for free at the lounges. They do serve a full, delicious breakfast here, and then for dinner heavy hors d’oevres with our (free) cocktails! Take that, inflated euro!

First jet-lagged day in Berlin we did the double-decker city tour and strolled around nearby sites: Bradenburg Gate and The Holocaust Memorial. Out Marriott is right on the Tiergarten (big Central Park-style garden) so we went through there too but not sure how safe it is at night. Then, Sunday we walked hours up Unter der Linden street to Alexanderplatz to see all the old historic buildings. This part of the city was all East Berlin at one time and a lot of the tourist focus is on the history of the Nazis and the Wall, of course. There are still portions standing as a memorial.

Monday we went the other direction toward Charlottenburg. Visited the zoo, designed like a beautiful Hansel and Gretel fantasy and walked around the main shopping district. Then we went to the Reichstag, which was once the big Parliament building until it was burned during the War, now it is rebuilt as a combination of old remains and brand new modern design. It’s fantastic. Berlin is really clean and well-designed, so much was destroyed that they had to come up with new ideas to rebuild around all the old stuff so it’s a great combination of new and old.

Panama

Plaza Bolivar, Casco Viejo

Hector with Panama City in background

In Panama City now, on a work trip with Hector. Since it's summer, it's considerably more humid than when we were here in February. Every day it rains a bit in the afternoon. They've taken to referring to their seasons as the "Dry Season" and the "Green Season", which sounds a bit less wet, I suppose. Even with the humidity I like it here a lot. The people are very easy going.

Our Marriott is big and bustling, it has a nice gym, a lovely pool and, best yet, a casino. We went for dinner last night over to the old colonial part of the city, Casco Viejo, where things were pretty quiet. When we were here in February, they were filming a James Bond movie in some abandoned buildings down here. Panama is standing in for Bolivia, I believe, which is making the Panamanians irate. We caught no glimpse of Daniel, although we decided we might as well say we did. Who's to know?

We had planned to come home Thursday but decided to postpone a day so we could return through Dallas and avoid any weather delays that might stick us in Miami. That will give us a full day to goof off-- we want to go back to visit the Panama Canal.

Yesterday I took a taxi back to the hotel from a nearby shoppping mall around noon. The traffic was just horrendous- things would just stop dead for 10 minutes at a time and my driver was cursing at everybody and honking nonstop. The trip should have taken 10 minutes but took 40 and the poor old man was red and sweating, it had just stopped raining and I thought he was about to explode. At last we pulled up at the hotel and he turned around and looked at me like he was going to either kill me or start crying. I asked him how much and he said, "two dollars".

Do you, Steven...?

Hector & Steve with City Hall halo

I've been pretty ho hum about this whole gay marriage deal here in California. Basically, I haven't noticed it doing much good for straight people, not to mention that Hector and I don't really need it-- we've got our domestic partner registry and our wills and powers of attorney all done. But, at the last minute, we decided to do it while at our annual week in Palm Desert. We got our license last Friday in Indio (the pits), then drove over to the Palm Springs City Hall, where we were given a very sweet, moving ceremony by a very friendly Justice of the Peace. It was really great. And now I have to say, I really DO feel married!

Saturday night in Boulder

Lilah meets Grandpa

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Bette Midler in Vegas


Carlos & Vanessa at Mission Beach


Steve, Pollard, Lucien in Boulder

Oh hell, rather than pretending that I was keeping up with this blog all summer but forgettting to hit the publish button, I will just do one entry that encompasses the whole summer. But fear not-- I shall try to be concise. We went to Vegas in June (112 degrees) to celebrate Bob Brady's 50th birthday with a bunch of guys. Kent and Bob rented a big house with a pool and we all just partied and hung out there, even though Hector and I stayed at Bellagio. We went to a local art gallery gala of what looked like high school art AND we went to see Bette Midler's show at Caesar's and it was lots of fun, possibly even $225 worth of fun. Tons and tons of foreigners all over the place, they're the only ones who can afford it now. I did very little gambling this trip. We're poor Americans.

In July, Hector's niece and nephew came from Kentucky for their annual visit with the bachelor uncles. Carlos is 10 and Vanessa is 13, they were exhausting but lots of fun. We learned last year to limit their soda intake. It makes for a much more enjoyable stay. We had a few Ramirez reunions at our house while they were here so we got to see everybody we hadn't seen for a while. Oh, they all grow up so fast.

Then, Hector and I flew to Boulder, Colorado to celebrate my brother, Lucien's, 70th birthday. The whole family met there: siblings, his kids, new grandbaby, and us. We had a great, quick weekend. Boulder is really pretty, the weather was gorgeous. It reminds me of Santa Barbara. We took over a couple of restaurants for dinner, we kids (ha) took a hike one day, sat around visiting, very enjoyable.

Finally, I finished summer classes and I have to say I really enjoyed them, especially my freshman english class. We read a bunch of interesting literature and had to do a lot of writing, but it was fun. Probably not so much for the 19 year olds that were in class with me. I'll get an A in that class and a B in my Intercultural Communications class. So, now I'm done with school for a couple of months... just enough time for a trip to Panama at Labor Day, 3 weeks in Europe in September and a trip to Athens in November. Heaven!

Del Mar Fair

We made our annual trip to the San Diego County Fair (formerly known as the Del Mar Fair, but changed because it sounded too snooty) with Mark, Arturo and Sonia. We started doing this ten years ago with M&A. We'd spend hours, wandering among the prize hefers, the botanical show, the arts & crafts. But these days we've thinned our priorities and now we begin at one end and eat our way to the other end, and then back, then go home. This year I had a hot dog on a stick, BBQ sandwhich, homemade potato chips, and a chocolate dipped ice cream bar. Hector had even more, if you can believe it. Now, 2 days later, I'm still in a kind of lard-induced stupor.

The Parker, Palm Springs

Entrance of The Parker

Our room

The Main Lobby

Hector returned from Bogota late Saturday night, then we left early Sunday for Palm Springs. This was a birthday getaway for him, fortunately it was also Memorial weekend and we both had Monday free.

We arrived at The Parker amid throngs coming and going. It's a big property but there were people everywhere. I think a lot of them were sight-seeing. A Bravo reality show (Welcome to the Parker) was filmed here a couple of years ago. No way were they going to let us into our room before 4pm, so we just wandered the grounds, had lunch, then wandered some more. There's a croquet lawn, petanque courts, 2 pools, hammocks, a fire circle, and a big spa, all tucked into a nicely landscaped desert area. It's actually the former estate of Gene Autry. They've done it all up sort of 60's funky. Actually, I read that the designer described it as a place that looks like where your Auntie Mame used to live. It's fun and funky and comfortable. And really expensive. I hate to sound like an old lady but My God. When you check in and give your credit card for the room charges, you think the worst is over, but no... wait until you order a lemonade by the pool ($6) or have a light dinner from room service ($100 for 2). So we just tried not think about it and have a good time. Breakfasts were delicious ($65 for 2) but we skipped dinner at the signature restaurant in favor of a steak in Palm Desert for 1/2 the price.

On Sunday there were so many people we couldn't get a chair at the pool, but by Monday morning they were all heading back to LA and we had a nice long day poolside with a manageable crowd. It was a very nice mix of gay/ straight. I'd say 50/50. Plus lots of families. Service was pretty good, much better after things calmed down. Loved the spa! Full pool, steam and sauna for men and women separately. Our room (the cheapest) was very nice and spacious, with quality bathroom amenities: L'Occitane and Hermes.

We decided we'd gladly go back but maybe during a slow week when the prices are perhaps not so high. Plus, it's MUCH more enjoyable not to have to share it with people from LA.

Atlanta

I came with Hector to Atlanta because he was presenting at the International Reading Association Convention. 25,000 chubby, middle-aged teachers in sneakers and pedal-pushers. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis downtown, one of those concrete behemoths with a huge open atrium that soars upward 50 horrifying stories, including glass elevators, in case you're not already freaked out enough. We were on the 42nd floor. I can honestly say I did not look down once in 4 days.

Atlanta is a charming city. It immediately reminded me of Dallas and that opinion never changed. It’s very green and slightly rolling, it has a respectable skyline but the downtown area is filled with these huge concrete hotels so it’s not so great a downtown for strolling. It must have the largest black population in America. I had plenty of opportunities to overhear the use of AAVE, or African-American Vernacular English, which we’ve been studying a bit in Linguistics class. (formerly and infamously known as Ebonics.)

All the cab drivers must have recently gone through a required course in boosterism because they all acted like unofficial tour guides, pointing out highlights and providing tourist data. Did you know that the new Atlanta Aquarium is the largest in the world? So we went to the aquarium. It’s very nice but still doesn’t come compete with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Did the Botanical Garden: very nice, CNN Tour: pretty entertaining (Did you know that the escalator in the CNN Building is the longest freestanding escalator in the world?) Last night we attended the Braves vs Padres game at Turner Field to watch the San Diego Padres get their lazy asses kicked. The stadium is fun, it’s newish, like Petco Park in SD.

Hector, Tere Rivera, and I had a great Southern meal of fried, horribly unhealthy food on Monday night at a restaurant I can’t remember the name of. I had hoped for more of that kind of thing but after that one I really couldn’t take much more, so the rest of the meals were a bit lighter in the carbs. Fortunately, we did a lot of walking.

Istanbul

Hotel in the Sultanahmet District (me on top)
The Blue Mosque
Grand Bazaar
1000 year old mosaic in the Haghia Sophia Mosque

We just returned from a week in Istanbul. I met Hector there, where he was presenting at a teeny little conference of Eastern European Schools. Five hours to JFK, then 10 more to Istanbul. But Turkish Airlines is quite comfortable, unless you find yourself sitting next to a retired army sergeant who wants to talk from the instant she flings herself down. Fortunately, my coffee cup-sized Bose earphones always do their job. We did have individual TV screens, 2 meals and free booze, in coach! I watched 4 movies and still had time to sober up.

Istanbul was much cleaner/friendlier/prettier than I expected. We left our Marriott after one night because it was so far out in the suburbs and moved into the Alzer Hotel, a charming guesthouse directly across the street from the Blue Mosque, so we could watch the minarets light up at dusk as the muezzin did his loudspeaker call to prayer. There is absolutely no way in the world one could not hear this, as all the mosques seem to have a competition for who can be loudest and most overly dramatic. We were there for some special event where the baying went on into all hours of the night and men were scurrying in and out well past bedtime.

The Turks are a pretty friendly bunch. Granted, we were staying in the tourist area, but even strangers approached us on the street, wanting to converse in English. It was kind of sweet. In the US when a stranger walks toward you with a big smile, you quite naturally assume they are crazy or wanting money. In Istanbul they would say,"Where are you from? Are you enjoying Istanbul?" And then just walk on. Turks think Istanbul is just the greatest thing in the world-- just like New Yorkers: Aren't you thrilled to be here? There were very few American tourists, but a million loud Spaniards, Germans, tough-looking Russians, aloof Japanese.

The food was good, lots of lamb and beef kabobs, vegetables, rice. Superb desserts. Mostly we just walked around, getting a bit lost, stopping for tea at a cafe, seeing all the hotspots: Topkapi Palace (2 days worth), Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia Mosque, The Bazaar and Spice Market, Aquaduct, Basilica Cistern, Archeological Museum (fantastic!). We bought a lamp and a tile mosaic. It was fun chatting with the locals-- they are eager to not be mistaken for a fundamentalist Islamic country. Several said they wanted to visit the US but it's very difficult to get a visa, big surprise.

Back from LA

I'm trying to keep up with Hector's movements on the other side of the world but since he's going to bed as I'm getting up and taking flights at all hours it's pretty hard. I send him a good morning email as I'm going to bed and vice versa. He told me he was walking through the Dubai airport last night and out of nowhere heard someone shout "Hector!" It was a former Harcourt employee who used to be head of the International Division. So they chatted a bit and are going to get together for coffee later.

I just returned from LA where I went for the weekend to visit with my nieces, Rohanna and Hari. Ro is breathtakingly pregnant. You can almost see the baby's face pushing through her belly. Had dinner with them & their mom, Sophia, and Tom, the baby daddy, at Parc in Hollywood. Good food, fun atmosphere but very loud. I hate to say it but I'm too old for those places. After dinner, I walked back to my hotel, The Renaissance Hollywood, just a couple of blocks away, past the amazing freak show that is Hollywood Blvd at 10pm on Saturday. On one corner, a bunch of hip hop kids performing for tips next to a group of Christian something-or-others singing What a Friend We Have in Jesus. I kid you not.

I also worked on Saturday for Mary Carlisle Blakeley, my old customer on Rodeo Drive I've known for 20 years. Mr Blakeley, her wonderful 97 yr old husband, has died and she had a bad fall 2 weeks ago that left her pretty banged up. But she was outside with me as I built some shelves in the garage: sweeping up, shoving old rotten fainting couches out of the way. Her old mausoleum of a house is just falling down around her ears but still she's talking about pulling it all together to have dinner parties, maybe even replacing the old burned-up Rolls Royce... This morning she showed me a gold ring given to her by Anna Q. Nilsson, a silent screen star in the 20's! Really, when she goes, she must surely be the last of that era. It's hard not to be taken aback when she starts talking about swimming at the Basil Rathbones' and visiting San Simeon with Marion Davies.

Off to Istanbul

The school quarter is winding down, only ten more days to go. But the assignments are becoming more fevered and frequent. Big lesson plans due, papers on foreign cultures, final exams. Keeping my head above water, though. I might actually make an A or two.

I've got the dreaded nasty-cold-that-you-thought-was-over-but-came-back-a-month-later that everyone seems to have. Just when San Diego was ready to come out into the sunshine, we're struck down again.

Hector leaves tomorrow for an extended work trip to the mideast that, by all that is right, I should be accompanying him on. He goes to Kuwait, Dubai & Abu Dhabi, and then Istanbul, where I'll join him next weekend when classes are done. We'll spend a week exploring, eating yummy food, smoking water pipes and whirling in circles with long, white skirts on.

Now I Can Die

It must have begun in Mrs. Sharpley's 4th grade geography class because I've always had a strong desire to see the Panama Canal. It just always has seemed so exotic to me, like it was unimaginable that I could ever be there, just like the Pyramids at Giza.

Gaspar drove us over yesterday and we had lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the Miraflores Locks. I mean really overlooking. You could throw a dinner roll and hit a passing ship, were you so inclined. But it's a real production, all the ships' crews come out and wave to everyone on the observation deck. As we had lunch, 3 big ships went through, along with a few sailboats they throw in as a package deal. You can see the tankers lined up for miles, waiting their turn.

Panama City

Sitting at the Dallas-Ft Worth Admirals Club Lounge en route to Panama. Hector is working there next week and I am going along for the ride. I’m looking forward to seeing the Panama Canal. Bad storms in Texas so our arrival was like a tilt-a-whirl.

I was awake most of last night with a weird vertigo sensation. Every time I tried to move, my head would feel like it was spinning. It felt exactly like when you were a kid and you’d spin in one direction a bunch of times then stop and try to walk straight. Very unsettling. And since it was me, my thoughts naturally turned toward brain tumors, spinal meningitis and worse. Around 330 am I was planning my own funeral.

But today I’m fine, no dizziness, just exhaustion and the low-grade crankiness that goes along with air travel.

Later… Finally we arrived at our hotel (Courtyard) in Panama City at 2am., then slept until almost noon the next day. We went over to the old section of the city, Casco Antigua, and walked around and had a late lunch. It’s very much like the old city in San Juan, Puerto Rico, maybe 10 years behind in restoration. Still a lot of families living in the old colonial buildings with laundry hanging out on the balcony--loud music coming out the windows. We might have been in Havana. We had drinks under a big umbrella at an outdoor café and a huge rainstorm blew in. It was very nice.

Today, Hector is working and I am heading to the mall next door to see if there’s a latte with my name on it.

Later still... found two lattes with my name on them, also a red windbreaker at a store called Helly Hansen. Reminder: grave error to shop alone when the staff is a couple of bored, good-looking young guys who want me to buy something.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time for my posting here but I thought I'd better check in. School is going well, we're into week 5 now and I have to say I'm really enjoying all my classes, even though I'm forced to read chapters and chapters of this kind of drivel: "...parallel to the interest in developing rational principles for vocabulary selection was a focus on the grammatical content of a language course." Say what? I've enrolled in 3 more classes for next quarter so that means I should be done with the class work by the end of summer.

We're off to Panama for a Hector work trip next week (I'm cutting class) and then to Istanbul during the spring break. Very excited about both. I've always wanted to see the Panama Canal (actually, I've always wanted to sail through the Panama Canal but this will do for now) and I'm especially thrilled about Istanbul, of course. I think my desires to see all these places are related to movies. I keep thinking about that silly Peter Ustinov movie Topkapi that takes place in Istanbul.

Also, we're tentatively planning a Country Walkers trip to Slovakia in September. The tour begins in Budapest and ends in Krakow so you get 3 passport stamps for the price of one. Anyone care to join us?

Okay, I'm not as stupid as first feared. I got to my Teaching Grammar class and no one, NO ONE knew anything about past participles or 3rd person singular or copulas. And some of these students are already teachers.

In San Diego, even more rain this weekend! I had a quiet few days, Hector spent the weekend in Guatemala between work weeks there. I went for a few long walks, between rain showers, and had dinner last night with Dave at Kitima. Just trying to be frugal and studious. Translation: dull. I'm ready for a trip!

TGIF

When did I become so old and stupid? At the end of my first week of classes I'm exhausted and confused. I can't remember which textbook is for which class (granted, they all are connected to teaching English) and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right homework. It reminds me of the shock I went into when I attended the Spanish immersion school in southern Mexico a few years ago. For ten days I was a nervous wreck, not sleeping, walking around in a daze. Then, one day it all just changed and I got it and became the star pupil. Hope that happens here, but for now I don't know a past participle from a gerund.

Hector is back on the road again (and not here to do my homework for me) and I'm doing a few measly jobs but spending most of time being a student. Most of my classes are filled with giggly Asian girls over here from Japan or Korea to get some sort of credential for back home.

Bit of a gloom at our house. After much anticipation over the supposed new international staff for Hector's company, it turns out that almost everyone got fired from the International Div. and there are no plans to hire anyone new. That rather puts the kibosh on our overheated fantasies about ending up in some exotic locale. Of course, there has been no official word to Hector but still we moped around, kicking the cat, for a couple of days then just decided-- what the fuck. I'm still going to do the teaching certificate program (beginning next week) and we'll sit tight for a bit. Hopefully, our planned (and ticketed!) trips to Panama and Istanbul can still be managed.



Currently it is raining like crazy here. Usually, when the weather forecasters are screaming "storm of the century!" like they did all last week, it means that it will cloud over and you may need to turn on windshield wipers. But this time they were more or less correct. San Diego...code orange...heightened alert!

Redwood Highway, part 2

Kenwood Inn

Now where was I? Oh, yes. Driving out of Mendocino. We took an easy meander north and arrived in Kenwood early afternoon, all drizzly, cold and foggy. I don't know if you've ever been to the California Wine Country before but it's a real experience. For one thing, it's really picturesque. We stayed at the charming Kenwood Inn and Spa, got upgraded to a suite with fireplace and jacuzzi tub. It was pretty nasty out so we stayed by the fire, killing off a good bottle of wine. As a matter of fact, we spent pretty much the entire 2 days at the hotel-- steam room, heated pool, breakfast room, winebar, room service, reading our books in front of the fire. Armchair travelers.

2 days later we drove in to San Francisco, over the Golden Gate. Checked into the Renaissance Stanford Court on Nob Hill and that night we met Hector's brother, Jorge, and his family (in town for shopping) for drinks at the St Francis Hotel on Union Square. We had dinner at Cafe Tiramisu on Belden St.

Next day, hiking at Muir Woods, hamburger in Sausalito, drinks at the Fairmont Nob Hill. We also visited Grace Cathedral. Next day we flew home, joined by all the traveling holiday families, cranky because they didn't get what they want for Christmas.