Back in SFO

Out of the cities that I like the best, San Francisco has to be at the top - at least in the US :-) This time it seemed that even the airport loked more friendly, at least the domestic one, having all kinds of interesting things on display. And even the weather was fine when I arrived on Friday evening, March 17th.


I had been booked for one night at the Hilton Financial District, which I later found out had opened only two months ago. You could actually see that if you looked "under the hood". Very business-like and a little sterile in my opinion, but also some nice details like the flowers in the lobby, and the chairs at breakfast. The continental breakfast itself was the poorest I've had, it wasn't worth it although I got it for free... But one night was OK, I'd move to the Hilton SFO after that.


Watching the view from the window the next day, looking from left, center, to right, I decided to take a morning walk up on Telegraph Hill to see that Coit Towers I saw from my window.


I started walking up Montgomery, saw some apartments with magnificient views, some really big houses, castles (at least the name was Julius Castle), and just some really nice places. There was a road from the other side up to Coit, where you could come with a car, but walking up Montgomory was a good choice.


Anyway, got up to Coit Towers at last and I even have the address documented. The inside was actually even more interesting that the outside. But the view wasn't bad, either. A popular place, so lots of tourists inside the towers, but just walking up there and down on another side of the hill is really worthwhile.


There was another way down called the Filbert Steps, which was really steep, so I was glad walking down, not up. It was a surprisingly lush environment, and you could see houses with gardens in the middle of it, cats, and it felt almost like being in the countryside. After that I walked back on the "seaside" of Telepgraph Hill, where I saw saw old houses mixed with new, as well as a nice sign. And then in the Finacial District there was this very distint landmark.


Continued to Chinatown where I saw this guy playing this traditional Chinese intstrument. It was somehow funny to hear that very distinctive "pling" music outside a Chinese restaurant, and interesting to see it performed live. No, I still don't think I'd buy a record with this kind of music...


I grabbed a taxi (no, not this taxi) at noon and moved from one Hilton to another (the Hilton SFO), but they didn't have any rooms ready, so a walked around for a while, had a cup of coffee, checked óut some march against Bush with all the cops involved, found out that somebody loves you, and then walked back to the hotel. But no, no room ready, so I checked their piano that had been on the road with lots of artists, and had a complimentary coffee, waiting for the room.


So, the weather was great, and I was in no real hurry, but I had finally waited 2.5 hours for the room, which I mentioned to the check-in lady in a friendly tone. I also mentioned that I had stayed at two Hiltons already during this trip. So the lady decided to upgrade me to a Junior Suite - which turned out huge. I was about 40m2 big, first when you came in there was the traditional bed, then turning to the right there was (at the end of the big room) a living room type of area. and still to the right a separate business area. And even a (real) plant. Definitely worth the waiting!


And in addition, I had received 4 tickets for complimentary bottles of water. When it turned out that there was no minibar in the room where I get them from, I called housekeeping and told them the situation. They sent up a guy with a tray of bottles, from which I took 4, and the result was that the tray with the remaining bottles fell to the floor. To my surprise the guy took all 8 bottles and put them on the table in my room. Apparently they thought it was such a bad service from their side otiginally, that they brought me a double dose of bottles. Amazing!

Grungin' Seattle

Next stop was Settle, flying there on Match 15th. It was my first time in Seattle, the home of Starbucks, but I must say I liked the city. Especially after New York, which I don't like, because it's too big and hectic for me. OK, lots of attractions, I can't deny that. Seattle is small, manageable, people are nice, and there's still a lot to see.


It was raining when I walked to the Public Market, but that's the way it should be. After all, this was Seattle - famous also for the rain. It was my first time in Seattle, and I must say I liked it, especially because of the great seafood available, but also for the other attractions and shops. But seafood, yum, yum! I walked along 1st street, the back along the piers, and back to the hotel.


Seattle has some strange looking buildings, another just next to my splendid Mayflower hotel, and most famous of them is probably the Space Needle. Here you get really magnificient views of Seattle - and probably even better on a sunny day... Oh, another strange building. I had dinner at Dahlia Lounge, where the food was great, (allthough not cheap), but the place was so dark that no photos of the food was taken. I should upgrade my phone...

And what about the grunge? Well, nothing this time, although I have to admit I asked some guys for places with hard rock bands and/or good guitar players. And nothing on a Thursday, apparently. Well, maybe next time...

New York, New York

I spent a few days in NYC starting on March 11th, this time staying at the Hilton New York, at the corner of 6th and 53rd st (I believe), so walking around I saw some other things than last time (when I stayed at Times Square). It was raining when I arrived (boooring), so adding the jetlag to that I wasn't in high spirits. No concert that I'd be interested in at Radio City Hall, BTW.


I thought I'd spend some time inside, but many people had the same idea. In addition it was Spring Brake, so the city was flooded with people. So no Museum of Modern Art for me this time. Passed by the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway, saw the stock market data pass by on the Morgan Stanley Building, and got the impression that tickets to Broadway shows are quite popular. Lehman Brothers has nice neon lights on their building, too.


Swatch had nice ads in their shop, and Toys'r'us had a carousel inside theirs. Nobody was skating at Rockefeller center, since it was about +10C. It had changed from full winter within a week. Stepped in to the NBC Experience Store, but didn't go up to check the sights (due to the bad weather).


The work week started with a meeting close to Union Square, and since it was sunny and nice I walked around a bit. At least the dogs seemed to have quite a good time - well, everybody else seemed to enjoy the sunny day, too. I used the Subway extensively, and with that you can pop and in all kinds of places, like City Hall.


When you're in NYC I guess you should see at least one celebrity. I heard lots of screaming outside my hotel and went out to check what was going on. Apparently Liza Minelli was promoting her show, so there were zillions of people in the street, the traffic was totally stuck, but nobody seemed to care. Looks like Liza is still very popular - at least in New York.


With some time after the meeting the next day, I took the subway to City Hall (again) and walked to/on the Brooklyn Bridge. Great view towards Manhattan Bridge and the Financial District. After that I used the Subway quite extensively for a while - i.e. I was totally lost (not the Subway's fault) a few times...


...but the plan was to check out East Village. And I made it, getting off at Astor Plaza. It was an interesting area with quite weird shops (actually, why don't you check the pic in bigger size), a very hippie-like feeling over it, retro massive burger ads, and so on. But also good restaurants, serving among other cousine Spanish tapas, like at Yuca Bar.


And then back towards Central Park and "home". Before getting there I passed 5th street and some landmark shops like the NBA, with it's interesting doors. But also luxury shops like Cartier. And also the offices of a company that I had to document, but only for my buddies :-)

Finding a Saturday that fits everybody's calendar

We met Helge and Pia last Summer, when Anttu & Sari arranged their great (and big) party. I had met Helge like 20 years ago, but not stayed in touch. This time we agreed, that we'll have to meet again, and we had dinner at their place a few months ago. But finding a date for them coming to our place was tough, and due to people's dynamic schedules with travelling and such, we had to postpone this for a while. But finally we found a date, and had some time to chat over good food and listening to good music.

Crazy Finns

As you saw from the story I wrote about Nuuksio, people here in Finland want to try to swim in a hole in the ice. Sirpa actually hasn't only tried it, but she also likes it, so she does it every Monday. And she has done it for a few weeks, now. It's pretty professional, where you have specific shoes that you use when you walk from the sauna, and the hole is actually quite big, so you don't have to squeeze yourself into the water. Pretty "cool".