First Class California - Day 7 San Francisco

Day 7 - San Francisco (Wednesday 22nd May 2013)

After we got back from the Restaurant last night, we had another look at the Bus routes and the more we looked the more we decided that none of the routes now looked like a good idea, So we didn't set an alarm and decided to just have a shopping day.

We actually woke up at 8am and after the morning routine we wandered towards Union Square looking for breakfast, which we found in the form for Sears Fine Foods on Powell street and with the Server Roger, we had a lovely breakfast and would so recommend this a a good breakfast spot, but the queue outside did gives us an idea that this would be a good spot.

After breakfast we headed down to the Westfield Mall, which was quiet and from there we wandered around the roads around the Union Square area slowly getting more bags.

The highlights of the day was the Tiffany shop, where we managed to find a lovely bracelet.

We finished the shopping in the large Macy's and after some more shopping we ended up at the top floor where there is a Cheesecake factory. Now the factory has always in the past been a favourite place for us to go, but this time after a short wait we were seated outside which did slowly get cold as the sun had set over the building. Then we tried to order, but as we told then about Celia's intolerances we were told that almost nothing on the menu (which is very very large) could be produced without Gluten or Dairy as its sounds like most of the menu is prepared significantly before it gets to the restaurant. We did finally get some meatloaf for me and some plan salmon with rice and brocolli for Celia. But it was a real downer that somewhere that we liked so much in the past, just could not produce anything but the most plain food for Celia.

So after dinner/lunch we took our purchases back to the hotel and headed back out to grab a bus up to the North beach area and BEACH BLANKET BABYLON.

Now beach blanket is a very strange long running show, a small cast of 11 actors who all play lots of different roles and the basic story is Snow White looking for love, but has lots of comedy sketches with them all dressed up as famous figures, but as they come on they had a large sign with their name so you know who they are supposed to be. This is not a great explanation but this is a great show and something that should not be missed in San Francisco for adults.

After the show we grabbed the buses in reverse and were back at the hotel by 10pm, this was our last night in San Francisco and at just short of half way through the holiday we were off down the pacific coast tomorrow.

First Class California - Day 6 Yosemite

Day 6 - Yosemite (Tuesday 21st May 2013)

Our second morning started a little bit later and we knew from the start that we had an appointment in San Francisco at 6:45pm. So it was slightly quicker morning routine and after a al la carte breakfast (Oatmeal for Celia, French Toast for me) we checked that all our stuff was in the bags and headed for the car.

We reordered the bags for this trip, which allowed us to only have 1 bag on the back seat, with the other 4 in the boot and we set off from the hotel, the first stage was to the village, as we had not seen many places to stop for lunch and with a fixed time for dinner that evening we decided to grab some sandwiches for the trip, along with water and some snacks.

Leaving the valley the first plan was to stop at the Tioga road, where there is a small grove of Giant Sequoia trees. So after 45 mins we finally made it to the small car park with a rustic loo (a cabin around a hole in the ground) and locked up for the walk down to the trees.

Around the first bend we came across a group of deer which were the largest animals we had seen since we arrived in Yosemite.

We continued down to the grove, which was another good mile walk and although it was a gentile downhill we did understand that the walk back was going to be a bit harder. The early morning air (it was around 9:30am) along with the shade from the trees made the walk very pleasant and the downhill part was done in just over 20 mins.

Again the scale of these trees was so impressive, and you know that these are around 1000 years old and there are only 12 of them around this grove, but you can only see a couple of them, and they are awe inspiring.

Just to put some context on this photo, I am 6 foot 6, and around the same reach.

This last tree had a gash in it, which was large enough to walk into but seemed to be a healthy tree.

After 20 mins or so, we knew it was time for the walk back, it took 30 mins (10 mins more than the walk down) to give an idea of the slope. Back at the car we emptied our bladders and go into our mustang for the drive back.

The drive back was much more of a chore than the way out as there was nothing new to see, we made it back to Oakdale by lunchtime, stopping at the Raley's for a pit stop and to get some fresh water, we then ate the sandwiches we had brought from Yosemite in the car and refreshed on we continued. We took a slightly different route then diverting onto the 108 towards Modesto, but then heading north again on the 99 back to Manteca where we rejoined the main freeway.

As we knew that this second leg would be more motorways we had left the roof up and just hammered it back to San Francisco, the main fun was trying to work out if we had enough fuel to make it without having to re-fuel.

We crossed over the Bay Bridge with 30 miles to spare on the fuel gauge and we made it to Hotel Vertigo by 4pm, but there was no bell hop, so we had to empty the car ourselves and leave it on the road whilst we checked in. Leaving Celia safely in the room, I headed off to grab some gas and return the car. Slight mistake.

Now my GPS has gas station as a Point of Interest so I though no problem I will just go to the nearest one and fill up and then back to the avis office on Post Street. BUT that was a slight mistake as both the first and second gas stations in the GPS didn't exist. I was just about to give up on the third when I saw it on the right side of the road, but I was in the left lane and this was one of the on roads to the Bay Bridge, but with a lot of pushing and hoping I made it across I was at the 76 on 1st and Harrison and the women inside the cabin, obviously didn't have to deal with Englishmen trying to return a hire car before. If you are returning a car full, you need to fill a tank, but you have no idea how much petrol this will take and as you don't have a ZIPcode for any credit card you have to prepay. But the women would not let me pre-pay $100, just $50 so I took the 50 and still needed more so got another $50 and then got a refund of 36. But at least the car was full and I managed to not end up back on the bay bridge and was soon pulling into the Avis garage, with the decision that the next hire we will take the full tank option.

Car returned I walked back the 2 blocks to Hotel Vertigo, expecting Celia to have showered and freshen up, only to find that the sink in the room had a leak and she was waiting for a plumber who arrived just after me and he was only here for a moment until he worked out what he needed and headed off to get it, so Celia showered, he did arrive back and fixed the issue whilst she was in the shower which was slightly weird, but soon we had both scrubbed up and the sink was fixed and with an hour to spare before dinner we decided to walk to Union square in the hope that it would be easier to find a cab.

On the way into Union Square, Celia saw a Sketchers shoe shop and I saw a cash point and I knew that we were getting low on cash, so Celia went to look at shoes whilst I drew some funds. The joint account card failed, but I did get some from my own account. I borrowed Celia joint account card and that did work. Ah so we were 1 card down on this trip now, as Barclay's then texted to try and confirm if I was trying to use my card, but as I was in the USA and they use a UK text number they could not handle the Yes I texted back.

But cash and shoes got, we went into Union square to grab a cab, they were a bit low in numbers, but one did stop to drop someone off, and he put his available light on, so we went to get in saying where we wanted to go, to be told NO, he wasn't going there. I have never had this before in any city, but he was certain so we got out and headed around the square trying to find another option.

We managed to sneak into the queue at the Westin hotel and the nice doorman there grabbed us a cab and we were off to Atelier Crenn.

We arrived and were seated and when we saw the tasting menu we knew this would be an interesting evening, as the menu did not give away much.

• Spring has come with its cool breeze
• Where the broad ocean leans against the Spanish land.
• The glowing ocean and light ecume de mer
• A gentle smell, oceanic, of yummy feeling
• Mellow serenades of colors licorice and orange
• the half moon, silky and smoky
• Woody and stone
• Nature rejoice, chasing childhood memories
• Walking deep in the woods, as the snow might have something to spare
• Birth which gives its morning mystery
• Spring....Where birds sing and are causing ripples in the nearby water
• Dotting the fragrant flora
• Spring has come and full of sweet surprises

for me this was accompanied with 2 beers served as wine, small amount in a large wine glass and very strong. Celia went with a Rose wine. This was probably our favourite meal of the trip the food was wonderful and we met Ms Crenn about 3/4 of the way through the meal, which allowed us to let her know how great the meal had been so far.

The Strange point was the Asian couple on the next table who arrived as we were almost done, as he did not eat anything green, and we both thought then why are you here if your not prepared to try. Now Celia has some food intolerances but this green issue seemed to be a want rather than a need and you could see that even the Waiter was confused as to what to do. For the first course which is all we saw before we left he was picking the small amount of garnish out of the dish as that was green.....

The meal over they called us and cab and we headed back to our 3rd hotel. Tomorrow was going to be a shopping day and a chance to get Celia's present as Tiffany's was on Union Square.

First Class California - Day 5 Yosemite.

Day 5 - Yosemite (Monday 20th May 2013)

Waking up in the quiet of Yosemite, we did see the benefits of the Cabins, even with our less than ideal location. After getting up slowly we headed over to the main building for breakfast. Again the food was ok, but the buffet was overpriced with only a few options, but fed we headed to the bus stop to get a bus to the Lodge where the Valley tour would start.

At this morning time, we were at the Bus stop at 9am, there was a bit of a crowd and the bus was crowded having come from the public car park, just before our stop, but we managed to get on and the bus cleared out at the next stop as we reached Yosemite village and even more at the bottom of Yosemite falls.

The Lodge looked like a nice hotel but the rooms did seem to be very spread out, the reception area was nice and the dining options seemed to be better than those at the Ahwahnee, so we thought that it would be a better option for lunch after the tour. The tour picked us up from in front of the lodge it was a sort of truck with a long set of seats behind, with a guide up front who talked us through what we were seeing.

The tour took us along the valley, past Camp 4 which is the main camp for the climbers heading up El Capitan. We paused just at the foot of El Capitan as our driver was also a climber and he came out of his cab to give us an explanation on the history of climbing and answered questions on climbing El Capitan, which takes 3-5 days and is the height of 3 Empire state buildings.

These photos of Yosemite do not really show the wonder and magnificence of the beauty of this place.

Our first full stop, where we could get off the ride was at Valley View, which had a great view back up the valley.

and also contained a sign showing the worst flood of the valley in recorded history.

From the Valley floor we headed up to Tunnel view, passing Fern Springs, the smallest waterfall in Yosemite. It is difficult to see in the picture but is is no more than 2 feet tall.

Tunnel view has the most classic views of the Yosemite valley, and helps to show that man's intervention in this valley is insignificant compared to the size and scale of the valley as a whole.

From Tunnel view we headed back around the south side of the valley, the talk turned more animals especially bears and the old act of firerain where ashes from fires would be pushed of the side of the cliffs so that the lit up the sky from the valley below.

The tour was a great sampler of what is in Yosemite valley and we arrived back at the lodge just less than 2 hours after we started at 11am. As that was to early for lunch we walked back towards the village from the lodge passing the start of the short walk to Yosemite falls.

We arrived in the village and had a look at all the lunch options and a quick look in some of the shops, deciding to have sandwiches from Degan's Deli as they also do Gluten free sandwiches which meant that Celia could also have one. Lunch finished, post card sent to friend from the post office and more water collected, we grabbed the bus to Stop 16 which is the start of the Mist trail, as our afternoon target was to be the 1 mile walk up to Vernon Falls.

We had thought that this was going to be an easy hike, but had miss understood something and so going up 400ft in 1 mile, meant that our normal pace which would have resulting in this being a 20 min walk turned into a 45 min walk with a couple of stops on the way up, but the views on the walk and at the top were worth it.

The walk down was much easier but I am glad we were fit as it had still be an exhausting afternoon, We grabbed the bus back to the village and stopped at the main store to get some water and gifts, and walked back to the Ahwahnee for a break before getting the bus back to the Lodge for dinner in the Mountain View room. Dinner here was more basic but nicer than the Ahwahnee. Celia had a Gluten Free Quinoa and lentil burger, I can't remember my choice.

After a long day with lots of walking we were exhausted so got an early night as tomorrow we had the long drive back to San Francisco.

First Class California - Day 4 San Francisco

Day 4 - San Francisco (Sunday 19th May 2013)

A bit more of a lie in this morning, and any chance to get down to see the Bay to Breakers race had gone, today we were switching to Yosemite and did want to try and get there before the sun started to set and with Google being our friend it looked like a long 5 hour plus drive.

After the morning routine, we checked out, leaving our bags with bell  services before heading down North Point Street to find our breakfast place for today, which was the Hollywood Cafe.

After breakfast we got another bus from just over the road, which headed down parallel to Chinatown into the main Union Square area of the city. The Avis office was on Post street and was crowded and it seemed to take for ages to actually get our car. We had booked a Ford Mustang Convertible but was offered (for a small upgrade) a Volvo, but after confirming that the Mustang had a bigger boot and knowing the amount of bags we had, we stayed with the Mustang.

The Drive back to the hotel was easy, especially as it was still before 11am on a Sunday, we did see a few people in fancy dress obviously runners from the bay to breakers had headed back into town after the race, but we were soon back at the hotel, the bell guys managed to get 1 suitcase into the boot, but the other one and my laptop rucksack had to go on the back seat, but this could only be achieved by taking the top down. And so we were on our way around 11:30 for the long drive. I was to take the first leg until a late lunch and Celia would take over for the second half.

We had hoped to drive up Hyde Street and turn left into Lombard street and get to drive down the crooked street, but you can't do a left into Lombard from Hyde so had to make a later left and headed towards the bay bridge.

Driving through the city in a Convertible was a nice experience and you get a good view especially at a weekend when the traffic is not too bad. We were soon over the bridge and the first part of the journey is motorways so not much to see but the wind was howling around the car as we had the top down. The temperature started to rise as we headed into the valley and the urban and suburban views gave way to farm land and the odd small town.

But the towns also get less and less frequent, We went through Oakdale at 1pm where they were having a Chocolate festival, but we had planned to only have lunch at 1:30 so decided to carry on, this may have been a slight error as after Oakdale the towns just disappeared and we drove on for another hour seeing no signs of civilisation with the slight exception of Chinese junction population 13. We then found the road went from long straight and empty to very hilly, and we started to climb.

At the top of the hill we saw a cafe, Priest Station it was 2:30 and we were both hungry so we had no other choice than to stop, and we were so glad we did. The food was great and reasonably priced which as there had been nothing for over an hour was a good sign. I had a burger and Celia a salad. We both had the Lemonade which was divine. We would so recommend this as a stopping point.

Refreshed from our lunch and a nice chat with a local couple we continued on, just after the priest station we entered Groveland which is an alpine looking town and from there we were soon entering the Stanislaus national forest.

and from there we continued directly into Yosemite. (at 4pm)

It took another hour of driving through Yosemite until we reached the valley floor but the views on the way were stunning.

We had booked 2 nights in the Ahwahnee hotel and we got there just after 5pm, there was some confusion on the tour we had booked the following morning as the desk clerk said that it was cancelled and we would have to speak to the concierge to rebook, but on speaking to the concierge it was just the change from 9am to 10am that we had had an email about 2 months ago.

Driving all that way had resulted in both of us having got a small bit of Sunburn, but we also decided that I needed a hat, so we had a look in the gift shop, but they only had full wide brimmed ones and it would be unlikely that I would wear it again, so we tried the Candy store, which also had some baseball caps, so that seemed like a better choice.

We had been given a room in the cabins which was a nice but basic room, it was a bit of a shame that will all the lovely views, our view from our window was of the maintenance area.

But we were not there to sit in the room. We didn't even unpack for this short stay, just moved the food into the fridge/plastic box to keep the smells from the bears. We had a reservation in the Dining room that evening and after a long drive that was the limit to our experience.

The food at the dining room was OK, but just OK. Celia had a Pork chop and I had pulled pork pasta disk. We both then headed back to our cottage for an early night, tomorrow we would get to explore the valley properly.

First Class California - Day 3 San Francisco

Day 3 - San Francisco (Saturday 18th May 2013)

Again we were up at 6am, and after getting sorted we wandered down Beach Street (which doesn't have a beach) to the Beach Street Grill, great breakfast of Corned Beef Hash, Eggs and Toast. We had passed the Avis office getting to breakfast but they had not quite opened, but they were there as we walked back and with the paperwork done we headed on to Blazing Saddles. I had seen this company on someone elses trip report (sorry can't remember your name) and loved the sound both of cycling over the bridge and the name.

We arrived at 8:45 and were quickly fitted out with helmets, and bikes. I went of the standard Hybrid model, and Celia fearing the hills went for an Electric assisted bike. This has an electric motor and battery to help with hills, but you do still need to peddle. By just after 9am we were walking our bikes down the hill to the start of the Bike route.

The route heads out over Fort Mason, which is a slight uphill and the first time when as I was struggling but still moving uphill, I had Celia zip by with a slight wave. She did wait for me at the top of this hill and we continued down into the Marina district. The ride along the bay is lovely and as it was still early (before 9:30) there were few people around even on a Saturday.

After 30 mins we made it to the Warming Hut near Fort Point, where we stopped for some water and a decision on where we were going.

As the bikes do come with locks we decided to head to the Walt Disney Family Museum. This did involved another hill climb so again I was zoomed past, but I made it up Long Ave and Lincoln Blvd to the Presidio.

For any Disney fan, the Walt Disney Family Museum is a must do in San Francisco. This is dedicated place looking at Walt the man, it starts with a room filled with trophys, medals and awards that Walt was given during his life, including more Oscars than you can believe are in one place. You then go through a couple more rooms on the ground floor showcasing the Disney family and Walt's early life, until you get into an elevator and move upstairs to when Walt moved to Hollywood.

Upstairs is more of the history that is well known, the Alice comedies, the invention of Oswald and then Mickey Mouse, adding Sound and Colour to animation. The Multi-plane camera, into Snow White. They don't hide the animators strike or the propaganda they worked on during the war, and move on to the later movies and the growing family until suddenly you find a simple green bench, with a lovely few of the Golden gate bridge.

This is one of the old benches that Walt used to sit on in Griffith Park whilst he watched his daughters ride on the Carousel, and from there there is only one place to go...........

DISNEYLAND

The room on Disneyland is dominated by a full model of just rides and attractions in Disneyland that Walt personally worked on, to some degree.

The price is worth it just for this model and I could have spent hours taking in all the detail, but after the joy and wonder of this room, we move into the next one......

and then after 1 more bright room look at his legacy we were out, not straight into the gift shop but a small area with a small cafe, and the gift shop. After a quick snack of fruit and water and a wander around the gift shop we left the museum and got back on our bikes and headed for the bridge. In the end we were in the museum proper for about an hour but if you read every thing it would take days. If I ever make it back to San Francisco it will be on my list of things to do again.

The ride to the bridge from the Museum only included 1 little hill  right as you go from the bike path onto the bridge. Now it was a little later the paths were much more busy.

Just after the bridge is a great twisting downhill, but I would not want to have to try and cycle back up on this side.

But you do get some great views of the bridge

The rest of the ride to Sausalito is quite hilly and you need to be fit to keep getting up the hills especially as the heat of the day was now in force as it was 12:45 by the time we road into Sausalito, checking the ferry times we realised that we had no time to look around if we wanted to get the next ferry, but the one after that was at 3pm, and two hours seemed to use up most the rest of the day. So we joined the queue. Actually a ferry to the ferry building was first, which we could not use due to the Electric bike so we found ourselves almost first on the Blue and Gold ferry.

Arriving back at Pier 41, we found somewhere to lock up the bikes and feeling hungry headed to Pier 39 for some food, We tried Fog Harbour Fish house near the entry to the pier and especially for a tourist area the food was really good and not to expensive, we got a window view and could see the seals basking in the sun.

After lunch we wandered around Pier 39 for a while, getting a better view of the Seals.

Leaving the Pier we grabbed our bikes and headed back to the main blazing saddles location to return them, from there we walked along North Point Street to Ghirardelli square in the hope of getting a Sunday, but it was a Wine tasting weekend and the place was packed, we grabbed some chocolate and headed back to towards the hotel, where there was a Ben and Jerry's.

We got back to the room at 4pm and had dinner reservations at 7:30, so after some downtime, I had a look on google and saw that we could get a public bus from North Point Street to Chestnut Street where the restaurant was and the cycling map showed Chestnut Street shops, so about 5:30 we headed to the bus stop with the hope that we could work out where to get off. The bus was 2 dollars each and is a great way to see a city as a local.

We got to Chestnut street around 6 but that was the time that shops were starting to close, we did have a good look around Williams Sonoma which is a great foodie shop and we got some nice rubs to bring home. We also found an Apple store so Celia offered to get my birthday present (which is in June) which is a new Ipod touch 64Gb as they are so much cheaper over in the USA. We spent some time in the store as the free Wifi allowed me to start to set up the Ipod and download some apps.

It was finally time for our reservation at Mamacita, which is a Mexican restaurant. As we walked in the couple in front of us were told it was an hour wait, which does make the reservation feel like a good idea. The Food was brilliant but very filling. It is supposed to be a sharing menu, but with Celia's intolerances to Wheat gluten and Dairy. We end up ordering too much food, but we really recommend the Jicama salad and the Enchiladas were very good but filling.

After dinner we got the bus back to the hotel and got some sleep, we were thinking that we might head to watch the bay to breakers but after the full on 3 days so far and especially the effort in the cycling today we decided against it, we would check out, grab some breakfast and head off to get the next car - The first convertible.

First Class California - Day 2 San Francisco

Day 2 - San Francisco (Friday 17th May 2013)

We awoke early, as normally seems to be the case when you head to the West coast, must be the time difference. After the morning routine and Celia's Skype chat with her mother and finally able to hand over the card, with a fake Tiffany gift certificate (which I would make good later in the trip) we headed down to breakfast, it was OK but nothing memerable.

After breakfast we headed out of the hotel and started to walk arround the Embercadero to Pier 33, We already had our tickets so could get into the queue straight away, we were on the 9:10am and just saw the 8:45 first boat head off as we got there.

At arround the same time, another tourist arrived who had booked on to the 8:45 and was told to go to the ticket office to rebook, so be careful not to miss you boarding time, which is a 10 minutes before the cruise time. The cruise includes being subjected to a photo in front of a green screen with them photoshopping a picture of Alcatraz in by the time you head back. It takes about 20 mins to cruise accross to the Island, and when you get there you have an inital guidence talk explaining that no food or drink but bottled water can be taken beyond the dock area.

After the steep walk up the hill, we got to the Cell block and were issued with our little audio devices and headphones for the tour. It is facinating, the size of the cells are so small and bare, and the stories of the officers and criminals bring the place to life.

Having the personal audio does allow you to pause when you want and spend time taking it in, I think that the Recreation yard where as you walk in you can see the bridge and the realisation that the rest of the world is so close but if you were there to far to get to...

Obviously we had to lock Celia up on her birthday.

and these were the worst of the worst cells as they apeared to be in darkness almost all the time.

Alcatraz is a MUST DO for any trip to San Francisco, it is very emotional and powerful to see this Prison.

After spending slightly more time there than we expected we got the 10:55 boat back to San Francisco and decided to walk down the rest of the Embarcadero down to the Ferry Building to see if we could get into the Slanted Door for lunch. The build up to the America's cup was progressing with lots of posters and a stage being built, but still a slight somber mood with the death of Andrew Simpson just a week before.

The Ferry Building was a wonderful assortment of food shops and resturants, from Google Maps it had looked like Slanted Door was at the far end but we found out that we had walked passed it once we found a guide map, but that did allow us to have a good explore as we walked back to the northern end. Asking at Slanted Door we were told it woudl be 1 hour wait for a table for 2, which with a very nice meal planned for later that day, seemed a long wait and woudl mean a very late lunch. Instead we had just seen "Out the Door" which was a quick service place served out of the Slanted Door kitchen, so we tried that instead. Good choice, the food was really good and we managed to get a stand up table as that is the only issue, lack of anywhere to sit as it was 12:30 on a Friday and the office lunch break was in full swing. After lunch we grabbed some ice cream and gots some supplies for later in the week (Apples & Chocolate) and started to plan how to get back to the hotel to collect the car for the drive to Napa.

Looking at the map and some idea of the hills, we decided to walk up Market Street, which seems to divide 2 different grids running at angles to each other. Walking arround a city gives you a great feeling for a City and we both decided that we liked the vibe of San Francisco, apart from the beggers and homeless which seemed more than we had seen before on trips to the USA.

We made it up to the Powell Cable Car turntable and the queue was long but we thought we had enough time, and you can't go to San Francisco and not ride the Cable car.

I stayed in the queue as Celia headed off to find out where to get tickets, which were quickly found and we got tickets and got on a Powell and Hyde cable car which would terminate just by our hotel. We went to try and sit on the outside bit, but were just a couple of people to late so had to stand, but after a while you get your balance and it is fun...

Back at the hotel, a quick change and we were walk down the road to the Avis office to pick up our first car for the trip, this was the quick rental as we were returning it tomorrow morning.

We had planned to leave at 3pm, but waiting for the Cable Car had delayed us so it was 3:30 when we headed of from the Fisherman's Wharf area towards the Golden gate bridge, but we had not allowed for Friday rush hour starting early and we crawled in traffic on and off until we turned on to the Napa Valley highway 29, when we finally started to make some time up, finally arriving only 5 mins after our reservation, and not the 30 mins late that it had looked like at one point.

We had managed to get a reservation for the Resturant at Meadowood, which is 1 of only 2 Three star Michellin resturants in the San Francisco area. And the meal was perfect. It is hard to describe this kind of food, and it was not the kind of place where you can take photos of the food as each course is brought out, but we do have the menus so I can say we had (Celia's Options in Brackets);

• Whipped yogurt pickled plum shiso [Cuttlefish bean broth cumin]
• aji cured in green tomato artichoke almond
• potatoes cooked in beeswax assorted sorrels
• sour pasta borage geoduck clam dill [Scallop tapioca cauliflower]
• daylily spot prawn caviar
• cod peas mustard spring onions
• bouillon of roasted meats
• chicken whelk turnip green juniper
• pork rhubarb celery
• cheddar malt caramel broccoli brown butter [Green house salad]
• koji sorbet unripe apricots
• chocolate cherry tart
• a candy dish

After that wonderful meal we started the drive back and with much less traffic we were back quickly and parked back in the same car park space as the car was in when we collected it. The hotel was just a 5 min walk away and we were safely in bed with plans to cycle back over the bridge tomorrow.