San Francisco Day 2

Today dawned bright and sunny again. Every other time we have been to San Francisco the weather has been awful, cold, damp, and foggy – and I have several San Francisco sweatshirts to show for it. This time I was prepared with all of my winter woolies, so of course the weather was great!

The Ruby Princess had been at the Cruise Terminal yesterday, but when I went out to stretch on the balcony, she had left. I am now dealing well with the changes that are happening to this beautiful ship. I have seen the designs for the new Chart Room, and although it looks kind of dark, and not nearly as nice as our current one, at least it will be there. However, I still have issues with what they want to do with the stern of this ship. Up in the Commodore Club there are models of QE2 and QM2. They are both magnificent ships, and one of the stunning things about their design is their beautiful sterns. Seeing the Ruby Princess yesterday made me realize how much a vertical stern lacks a certain nautical feel. At least the Ruby doesn’t have the shopping cart look at her rear, but she just doesn’t look like a ship when you see her from behind. I am sure she is a beautiful ship inside, but she simply has an ugly rear. Our ship will suffer the same fate too soon.

We spent the morning in the Commodore Club working on our photos and video. The view from there was amazing – probably better than the view from any hotel in San Francisco. We had enjoyed the view last night, but in daylight it was even better.

At noon we tried to get off the ship and walk to Alioto’s for lunch. The only gangway they had was the one from A deck. Noon coincided with the passengers who were embarking in San Francisco coming on board. We had to join a long queue of passengers waiting to get off the ship, and wait while the passengers who were joining the ship struggled up the gangway, dragging their carry on luggage behind them. A deck at stairway A really is not the most attractive part of the ship, and I pitied the passengers having to negotiate the gangway and then get that sight as their first view of the ship. Compare that to entering the Grand Lobby on QM2. Still, they seemed happy to be on board. Finally the first wave of embarking passengers was over, and we were then able to get off the ship.

We had been in a rush to meet Nigel yesterday so I hadn’t had time to really look at the terminal at Pier 35. The building itself is large with a beautiful wood ceiling and exposed wooden beams. It could look lovely if it was renovated, but at the moment it looks like a derelict warehouse. There are no facilities available, and it is very unattractive. Not a welcoming sight at all. Down the road is the modern cruise terminal where the Ruby Princess had been. From the outside that building looks much better than ours. However, we where we were was much more convenient for the shops and restaurants, so that is a huge benefit. My favorite ports are the ones where we are right in town, and Pier 35 is in a great position.

We walked along the waterfront to Alioto’s to meet up with Deidre and Kim, and Dan and Irene. Deidre had booked a prime table by the window, looking out at the fishing boats in the harbor. She really is good! I ordered one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, roasted Dungeness crab. This was messy, but absolutely delicious, and they served the most wonderful bread, so it was a fantastic meal.

We decided to spend the afternoon riding around on the trolleys and cable cars. It was tremendous fun, and we got to see areas of the city that we had not seen before. It also kept me out of the shops L. We had tea at the St Francis in Union Square, and then took the cable car back to the waterfront. I did manage to do some shopping there before we took the tram back to the ship.

We met up with Ann and Alistair for pre-dinner drinks. We had first met them when we had drinks with them at the Jury’s Inn in Southampton, before we all caught the ship back in January. They had disembarked in Fort Lauderdale, but came back on board again today. They have kindly agreed to adopt Brunhilda.

After they went to dinner, we chatted to Carlo and he introduced us to his fiancée who will be on board until Southampton. At the time we had been thinking of going to the Lido for dinner, as it was too late to go to the Britannia Restaurant. Carlo told us about the Tadich Grill, so we decided to give it a try. Normally I would not get off the ship after 9:00 to go out to dinner in a foreign city when we sail at 11:30, but we decided to give it a try.

Good choice. We were able to get a taxi to the restaurant, and they had a table available. The restaurant is the oldest restaurant in California, and is charmingly old fashioned. The food and service were great, and we were able to get a cab back to the ship in good time. No need to be anxious at all.

We watched our sail away from the Commodore Club, with great views of the bridges and the skyline. We retired to our cabin after we went under the Golden Gate Bridge, and as it was way past midnight I went straight to bed.

As I was falling asleep in our wonderfully comfortable bed I could hear our foghorn sounding its mournful song. It was amazing how quickly the fog had enveloped us. So it was almost my first visit to San Francisco where there was no fog involved.