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San Francisco -- first report --
Well, W had one of those packing days and forgot the power cord to the laptop. So we had four hours of computer time. I wrote down a few notes while things were fresh in my mind.
***
-- Day One --
9/21/06 –
Leave for San Francisco at 7:43 am (United, no stops). As usual, starting with a taxi. Arrive around 9:30 am at SFO
Check into Hilton. Can report that it is as advertised, lovely with clean rooms, but caveat – don’t take a car, the hotel parking is $46 overnight! Also, they charge $12.95 a day for Internet access. Yea, right. Plus we forgot the power cord for W’s laptop, so we only have 4 hours of power anyway. (Free WIFI in the lobby may be utilized, but not a priority,)
Went over to Naan & Curry, a new Indian place. It was clean but a little odd – everything, and I mean everything, was A La Carte. Rice was separate from the main course! No buffet here. The Tikka Marsala (Chicken) was tender with a good sauce. The lamb curry was a lovely sauce, and the lamb was cooked well. But I suspect it was mutton, not lamb, and accordingly very sharp in taste.
Went to the biggest ballroom dance place I’ve ever been – SFDancewear. They had no shoes that would work for my odd feet, but W found a pair of shoes that seemed well-made and comfortable (men’s basic black Capezio are not only uncomfortable but made on the cheap. The layer between the micro layers of leather on the top of the shoe separated, causing a line across the top of the foot that was like a textured piece of cardboard digging in. Capezio did replace them for no charge, when it was brought to their attention. But otherwise, no more Capezio!) He’s trying the Stephanie brand this time.
And in one of those capricious things fate brings you, one of the staff/owners told me that she goes to Arthur Beren’s for shoes. She claimed they could fit anyone – and she had many pairs of shoes from them, despite the 200-1,000 price tags. I looked in their Yellow Pages phone book, wrote down the AB address listed, and we wandered off.
Next we went to one of the stylish malls and looked at the women’s shoe floor at Nordstrom, and were unpleasantly surprised to be told that the sales man was not aware of ANY shoe that would fit a narrow heel, very high arch, and accommodate my broken toes and shoe inserts. (And have you noticed that pointy shoes are back in style?) While there I made my “every ten years” makeup purchase, getting under eye concealer (yes, I needed it before I knew I was ill) a new lipstick, and samples of several facial creams. And their current gift, which includes a real jar of one of the creams, mascara, a couple of lipsticks – and for once in colors I could use, if the mood struck me. And a nice faux crocodile carrying case! Clinque no longer makes the sensitive eye makeup remover I have used forever, but when I described the bottle to the staffer, she promptly went over to one makeup remover and said: “This is what I started using after they discontinued the sensitive one. It’s also for sensitives. I use it every day, and no problems.” The bottle was a small fortune, and if I keep it in the fridge, it will probably last me 20 years.
On the other hand – Nordstrom has made tiny snap containers of plastic that can be used by various companies to give samples. Since one of the reasons I’ve never gone to these people before is because no samples for VERY expensive product, Nordstrom may lead me to a higher level of facial cream. (I hope also a better one – we’ll see.)
There was an even more expensive store with samples of an awesome light lotion/SPF and an SPF 40 solution, too. L’Occitane. We’re talking megabucks – like $54 for a small jar of cream. I find it interesting that a young girl selling dance supplies buys $$$ skin care stuff. But, if it works, she’s ahead of the game.
( have used the Honey Cream for two nights, and their break-the-bank SPF 40 day cream for two days. No red flashes, and it feels pretty good.)
Huh. We will think deep, dark thoughts about our face being better dressed than our body… .
We also buzzed Write with Style. It was tiny but had a nice assortment of pens, and friendly people. They let us try everything they could, once I explained my needs. They apologized for not having a left-handed nib to try (we can order one for you!) and when I admitted that weight was a big factor, they pulled out a darling Mont Blac that was WAY over budget – but light and wrote well. They also told us that Sensa was being discontinued. (Was told it was too heavy…) The Nitiki (sp?) Falcon was a wonderful pen, lightweight and flowed brilliantly.
Yes, the pen store was all![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tia_tarina’s fault!
We decided it was late to be going to the waterfront, so we went to Macy’s (who also had a sea of shoes) but not one salesperson we would find. I think there was a clutch of them behind the checkout kiosk, but I’ve never gotten good service from someone I had to pry out of a chat. We went downstairs and had dinner at the Boudin Bistro. I liked the chicken walnut, dried cranberries and apple salad. I also nibbled the corner of what may be a whole grain sourdough – interesting and tasty. (Yes – I was going to try tiny amounts of sourdough. I packed clothes to deal with things.) W had half a sandwich and clam chowder. He pronounced the chowder as “Good flavor, not enough clams”.
We then went to Haagen-Dazs, and W had Mexican chocolate and double chocolate chip (both quite good) while I had the Mexican chocolate and raspberry sorbet. Sorbet good but rich – the chocolate very good. The dangerous one was a Light Dulce de Leche I sampled while she made up my small cup. I could have eaten a large of it and not cared for the consequences! If the places we eat do not have good desserts for me, we’re coming back. And it was Low-Fat! (Granted, it probably had enough sugar to put me to sleep. But oh, what a way to go!)
Returned home to find out that the pool closes at 9 pm. This will become a constant note in my life -- no large tubs of whirling water...) Crashed pretty quickly, after doing some TaiChi – We got up awfully early that morning!
***
-- Day One --
9/21/06 –
Leave for San Francisco at 7:43 am (United, no stops). As usual, starting with a taxi. Arrive around 9:30 am at SFO
Check into Hilton. Can report that it is as advertised, lovely with clean rooms, but caveat – don’t take a car, the hotel parking is $46 overnight! Also, they charge $12.95 a day for Internet access. Yea, right. Plus we forgot the power cord for W’s laptop, so we only have 4 hours of power anyway. (Free WIFI in the lobby may be utilized, but not a priority,)
Went over to Naan & Curry, a new Indian place. It was clean but a little odd – everything, and I mean everything, was A La Carte. Rice was separate from the main course! No buffet here. The Tikka Marsala (Chicken) was tender with a good sauce. The lamb curry was a lovely sauce, and the lamb was cooked well. But I suspect it was mutton, not lamb, and accordingly very sharp in taste.
Went to the biggest ballroom dance place I’ve ever been – SFDancewear. They had no shoes that would work for my odd feet, but W found a pair of shoes that seemed well-made and comfortable (men’s basic black Capezio are not only uncomfortable but made on the cheap. The layer between the micro layers of leather on the top of the shoe separated, causing a line across the top of the foot that was like a textured piece of cardboard digging in. Capezio did replace them for no charge, when it was brought to their attention. But otherwise, no more Capezio!) He’s trying the Stephanie brand this time.
And in one of those capricious things fate brings you, one of the staff/owners told me that she goes to Arthur Beren’s for shoes. She claimed they could fit anyone – and she had many pairs of shoes from them, despite the 200-1,000 price tags. I looked in their Yellow Pages phone book, wrote down the AB address listed, and we wandered off.
Next we went to one of the stylish malls and looked at the women’s shoe floor at Nordstrom, and were unpleasantly surprised to be told that the sales man was not aware of ANY shoe that would fit a narrow heel, very high arch, and accommodate my broken toes and shoe inserts. (And have you noticed that pointy shoes are back in style?) While there I made my “every ten years” makeup purchase, getting under eye concealer (yes, I needed it before I knew I was ill) a new lipstick, and samples of several facial creams. And their current gift, which includes a real jar of one of the creams, mascara, a couple of lipsticks – and for once in colors I could use, if the mood struck me. And a nice faux crocodile carrying case! Clinque no longer makes the sensitive eye makeup remover I have used forever, but when I described the bottle to the staffer, she promptly went over to one makeup remover and said: “This is what I started using after they discontinued the sensitive one. It’s also for sensitives. I use it every day, and no problems.” The bottle was a small fortune, and if I keep it in the fridge, it will probably last me 20 years.
On the other hand – Nordstrom has made tiny snap containers of plastic that can be used by various companies to give samples. Since one of the reasons I’ve never gone to these people before is because no samples for VERY expensive product, Nordstrom may lead me to a higher level of facial cream. (I hope also a better one – we’ll see.)
There was an even more expensive store with samples of an awesome light lotion/SPF and an SPF 40 solution, too. L’Occitane. We’re talking megabucks – like $54 for a small jar of cream. I find it interesting that a young girl selling dance supplies buys $$$ skin care stuff. But, if it works, she’s ahead of the game.
( have used the Honey Cream for two nights, and their break-the-bank SPF 40 day cream for two days. No red flashes, and it feels pretty good.)
Huh. We will think deep, dark thoughts about our face being better dressed than our body… .
We also buzzed Write with Style. It was tiny but had a nice assortment of pens, and friendly people. They let us try everything they could, once I explained my needs. They apologized for not having a left-handed nib to try (we can order one for you!) and when I admitted that weight was a big factor, they pulled out a darling Mont Blac that was WAY over budget – but light and wrote well. They also told us that Sensa was being discontinued. (Was told it was too heavy…) The Nitiki (sp?) Falcon was a wonderful pen, lightweight and flowed brilliantly.
Yes, the pen store was all
tia_tarina’s fault!We decided it was late to be going to the waterfront, so we went to Macy’s (who also had a sea of shoes) but not one salesperson we would find. I think there was a clutch of them behind the checkout kiosk, but I’ve never gotten good service from someone I had to pry out of a chat. We went downstairs and had dinner at the Boudin Bistro. I liked the chicken walnut, dried cranberries and apple salad. I also nibbled the corner of what may be a whole grain sourdough – interesting and tasty. (Yes – I was going to try tiny amounts of sourdough. I packed clothes to deal with things.) W had half a sandwich and clam chowder. He pronounced the chowder as “Good flavor, not enough clams”.
We then went to Haagen-Dazs, and W had Mexican chocolate and double chocolate chip (both quite good) while I had the Mexican chocolate and raspberry sorbet. Sorbet good but rich – the chocolate very good. The dangerous one was a Light Dulce de Leche I sampled while she made up my small cup. I could have eaten a large of it and not cared for the consequences! If the places we eat do not have good desserts for me, we’re coming back. And it was Low-Fat! (Granted, it probably had enough sugar to put me to sleep. But oh, what a way to go!)
Returned home to find out that the pool closes at 9 pm. This will become a constant note in my life -- no large tubs of whirling water...) Crashed pretty quickly, after doing some TaiChi – We got up awfully early that morning!
no subject
no subject
If you really like the L'Occitane, the Sephora store in Barton Creek Mall -- alas! -- carries that brand. (alas! for the future damage to my bank account...)
Shoes! Augh! they are such picky things!
no subject
Lots of that going around...