LL-L "Travels" 2009.04.08 (07) [E]

Wed Apr 8 18:22:21 UTC 2009

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L O W L A N D S - L - 08 April 2009 - Volume 06
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Travels" 2009.03.29 (01) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Travels

> ...As for *San Francisco*, Iâ€™m familiar with the situation and can give
you my bit on it.

Thanks for all suggestions on the list, as well as for the mails some
members have sent me directly.

This is for giving some feedback.

1 - I basically travelled for free, using my Delta frequent flyer points. It
costed 75000 points, but for 5000 points more I got a businness upgrade to
SFO (not on the return flight though).

The total price of the ticket was not 0 though  302.25 euro, including
airport taxes, 20 euro "partner airline handling charge", 57.87 euro
redemption fee.

The best alternative I had from the Belgian Connections travel
agency website was 448.75 euro all included with United in coach class. So
with my (75.000 or) 80.000 frequent flyer points I just saved 50 euro on the
trip.

Question is: is it still worthwhile to focus on collecting ff-points.

I usually take coach class. On some airlines as "Jet Aitlines India" the
food in coach class is bether than what you get in business with Delta.

I was afraid I would miss my first connection in ATL (Atlanta). I had to
queue for about an our at the immigration pasport control. Now they scan all
fingers (4 steps + picture of your face) and start interviewing intensively
again. I also had to queue at the customs gate, though in despite of a long
queue it went rapidly. And finally the security check went smoothly and
rapidly too. When I arrived in terminal A for the connection to LAX (Los
Angeles), boarding was already going on.

In LAX the terminals are not connected. Since I had to continue with Alaska
Airlines I had to take the bus to the proper terminal (and queue again for
security check). The service in first class at Alaska let you choose between
free crackers and free pindas, while in coach class people have to pay in
case they are short of snack food. The personnel of Alaska has its own
style: they are making fun and telling jokes all the time, even during the
safety instruction.

My luggage was lost. I'm used to that and filed a claim at the Alaska desk.
Transfer to the BART railway station toke some extra time, since the blue
airport train was out of service and the red line was redirected over the
cargo and rental cars lot. I guess I got about the last BART train to
downtown. It stopped for about 30 minutes at South-San-Francisco since there
was a medical emergency incident at Powell and the train was hold up for
that. At Powell there is I direct stairway to Stockton St and it toke me
just a couple of minutes for walking to the hotel.

2 - Next day I was a bit hidden in a quiet corner at a conference (in travel
clothes and travel underwear) and phoned several times to Alaska and Delta.
Delta told they had handed over the luggage in LAX. Alaska told they never
got it from Delta. I also understood from Alaska luggage tags are only
scanned on international flights, not on domestic flights.

I started threatening with my European ticket covered by AIG-Europe, and
this made decide them to put my stuff on an American Airlines flight they do
codesharing with. (Alaska had no flight on Wednesday and clearly wanted to
keep the luggage for a flight of their own, one of the next days). So
Wednesday night, after 24 hrs of waiting, I finally got my luggage. It
costed me several tips to the hotel concierges during the day and in the
night for keeping them alert.

3 - Breakfast omelettes were coming out of my ears. At the conference they
offered free breakfast: omelettes in a croissant the first day and omelettes
in a wrap the second day. On Saturday I went to Borders for breakfasting:
guess what they had: an omelet with cheese and spinach between toast.

4 - I did some book shopping.

There is a Borders

- in the Westfield shopping center (San Francisco Shopping Center, 845
Market St, at the Powell Station)

- as well as a very large one a few blocks away at Post and Powell St. (400
Post St),

- and a Barnes and Noble at 2550 Taylor St (Fisherman's Wharf).

Street maps can be also found in the Walgreens (every 2 blocks downtown).

The best street map for readability:

- San Francisco in detail, global grahics ISBN 0-918505-21-6, with very
detailed enlargements for Fisherman's Wharf and for Golden Gate Park.

The best street map for public transportation (including bus lines):

- San Francisco Muni and Bart guide, 8th edition,

Great Pacific Recreation and Travel Maps, ISBN 978-0-938011-78-1

an alternative is:

- San Francisco Transit Map and Street map, global graphics, 0-918505-10-1

Though the busline-grid is such a mess (day lines, night lines, fast lines
etc.) that I doubt these maps are very helpfull.

We had a discussion on this list about copyrights a couple of weeks ago.

I found these interesting:

- Stephen Fishman, *The Copyright Handbook*, What every writer needs to
know, 10th edition, 2008, Nolo, ISBN 1-4133-0893-7, xii + 527 pp + CDROM
with forms, USD 39.99

- Stephen Fishman, *The Public Domain*, How to find and use copyright-free
writings, music, art & more, 4th edition, 2008, Nolo, ISBN 1-4133-0858-9,
xiii + 446 pp, USD 34.99

Needless to say that it is basically about US-law.

5 - Hiking

The street pattern is very squarely implemented on very hilly ground.
Downtown SF goes up and down between three major hills Russian Hill,
Telegraph Hill and Nob Hill, but the urban developpers didn't take that into
account and drafted strait lines for the streets. When you turn a corner you
don't know whether the next street will go up or down. So good planning when
hiking between points of departure and of destination is very important for
saving or spending calories. Unfortunately the street maps do not have
contour lines (as topographical survey maps have).

A sight from Telegraph hill in the direction of Russian Hill

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/str3.jpg

One easily recognises Lombard street with its winding pattern on top.

Lay-out of the houses is adapted

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/str1.jpg

and the sideways are often rugged for the safety of walking:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/fp.jpg

The town developped had to make some concessions though in their square
mind:

Kearny St is interrupted for the Coit tower hill

and Grant St ends with stairs at Francisco St.:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/str2.jpg

For Stocton St they solved with two levels for the length of a few blocks:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/st1.jpg

For reaching the upper level by car one needs to drive a block around.

The tunnel leads to Chinatown:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/st2.jpg

The area is very bilingual:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/cht2.jpg

and the blocks are sliced by small cosy streets:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/cht1.jpg

6 - For testing public transportation a cable car trip from Powell to
Fisherman's wharf is a must. (Attention: choose your destination: there are
2 termini: Bay&Tayler and Hyde&Beach, respectively at the East and West end
of Fisherman's Wharf).

One has to queue for about 15 to 30 minutes at each end on sunny days; add
eventually 10 more minutes for queuing at the ticket counter. It costs about
5 USD per single trip. I would rather advice to purchase a 3-day all-in card
for 18 USD, valid for all downtown transportation). Although it the
car seemingly full at departure, additional passengers are squeezed in at
intermediate stops.

A new English word I learned: a "*standee*". Each car has place for 8
standees at each side. This is just a step and one hangs on the car at the
outside similar to what one sees on trains in Mumbai.

At the end the car has to be turned manually by the personnel:

as at Powell:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/ct1.jpg

or on the turntable at Hyde&Beach

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/ct2.jpg

One sees the passengers queuing all around the turning areas.

>From Fisherman's Wharf one has a good sight on Alcatraz:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/alc.jpg

I also anjoyed the museum with old mechanical game machines (MusÃ©e
MÃ©canique)

(close to Pier 45 with the USS Pampanito Submarine)

Powell station is a very good starting point, not only for the cable car to
the North.

There are several bus, trolley and tram lines on ground level all along
Market Street,

and as well the Muni and the Bart rail systems under ground.

The food court area of the Westfield shopping center is also connected
underground.

As to the travel guide-books the turning roller stairs in this shopping
center (Nordstrom Wing) are unique:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/rst.jpg

A suggestion for a trip in an other direction: take the N or T underground
line to Folsom,

and enjoy the fresh air and sight on Bay Bridge

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/br.jpg

It is a quit alternative for the Golden Gate.

Some indications in the MUNI system are multilingual, some examples:

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/lang1.jpg

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/lang2.jpg

http://www.euro-support.be/tmp/sfo/ct3.jpg

7 - Food

At Fisherman's Wharf I had a very tasty fish chowder as appetizer (USD
4.95). Since most fish dishes were above 25 USD, I limited my budget to
14.95 USD for a fish and chips. It was no better as what you get in the
streets in London. I had additionally a glass of wine for USD 7.50

Europeans should know that prices in the US are exlusive.

In this case I see on the ticket

10 percent is added as *sales tax*

3.5 percent is added as* "SF HLTH INI" tax*

and it ends with:

    For your convenience

    *Tip *calculator

    15 perc is USD 4.66

    20 perc is USD 6.21

    25 perc is USD 7.76

Very helpfull indeed.

What is curious to me in the US is that fish is always served baked or
barbecued. Except for soupes, you never find it boiled, and served
with just a tasty sauce.

I needed some time for finding a restaurant in Chinatown.

Some restaurants are rather street eateries,

many are dim sum

I finally found one with a more normal serving.

The vegetable pieces in the soup were quite large and fell from my chop
sticks when I tried to byte them. The waiters were attentfull and gave me
some western tooling. For main dish I ordered some sweet and sour porc.It
was just sweet, very sweet, in a thick red jelly, reinforced in sweetness
with pieces of ananas.

The food I most enjoyed was just at some of the boots in the food court
under the Westfield shopping center. It is very green in a way that some
tramp-alikes are waiting for taking care of your left-overs.

8 - Return

Since I had an early flight at 6 am I toke a taxi: 40 USD incl tip (versus
USD 5.37 with the BART, but the BART is not running that early on Sundays)

Since I had a gap of 4 hrs in Atlanta I took the Marta to downtown. I did
not realize it was Sunday, which made me virtually the only one with a
Caucasian look in the streets. When returning I didn't find the stairs down
for the train at the Philips arena. An older guy was so kind to help me,
since he was going that direction. He guided me on a bridge with stairs down
to a desolated parking lot, with at the overside the Five Points station.
Since I said I wanted to continue alone, he said he was homeless and wanted
money. I gave him 3 one dollar notes, but he said it had to be at least 5
dollar. So I gave him additionally all coins I had in my pocket, got rid of
him and fortunately found an open exit at the parking lot.

I should have known. I have worked for several years for a company, based at
Norcross, NE af Atlanta.

When I finally arrived in Brussels, my luggage was missing once again.
Fortunately I got it delivered at home one day later.

Regards,

Roger

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Travels

Thanks for that report, Roger.

Just a couple of comments:

Things would have been quite different had you had more time or this wasn't
your first visit. Places like Fisherman's Wharf are tourist traps. As is
usual at such places, vendors do not count on repeat customers and are
therefore not terribly concerned about the individual's opinion about prices
and quality, just as long as there's a continuation of the queues. You
usually get better value for your money somewhere away from the thick of the
main tourist track.

Indeed, fish is usually deep-fried, pan-fried, grilled or barbecued. In
actual restaurants (i.e. not at take-away stands) you also get not only
baked fish but also steamed fish. I personally welcome the absence of boiled
fish (other than previously dried fish like *lutefisk* or *bacalau*), for
the very thought of boiled fish with mustard sauce or some other sort of
sauce fills me with childhood memories of the horrendous type. Boiling fresh
fish robs it of most nutrients and flavor. It should be outlawed. ;-) But I
realize that's a cultural matter and I may be an aberration.

I quote our reverent Lady Liberty (who started off French and thus has
impeccable taste by mere association):

 Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
The retching that will eat boiled fish no more.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
And feed them fish sticks and sushi galore.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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