Trip Report: March 14 - 25, 2002
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
CULTURAL TOUR OF THE PACIFIC COAST
ARRIVAL INTO SACRAMENTO
THEN
SACRAMENTO TO SAN FRANCISCO
Day 9. Friday, March 22, 2002
My alarm goes off at 6am and I arise to shower and dress in room 1432/C of the Coast Starlight. Breakfast is served at 6:30 and we are able to enjoy it, as we are fortunately still running behind schedule. I had oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, a spinach and mushroom omelet, and bacon. Sylvia had bacon and home fries. Our waiter, Bobby, who must have been selected for his ability to serve eight tables cheerfully, is singing popular tunes again this morning. As busy as he is, he has time to go to the Parlour Car to find us some cranberry juice, which is not on the dining car menu. We arrive into Sacramento at 7:20am, one hour five minutes behind, as we are finishing breakfast. We leave our bags at the station's checkroom, the agent waives the $1.50 per bag fee, and walk over to Old Town. There is nothing in Old Town which is open at this time of morning, but this is a shortcut to the Holiday Inn, a much nicer place to wait than the Amtrak Station, and we can always count on finding a taxi to get to our appointment.
Travel Tip: If you have a long wait for Amtrak and you are close to a hotel, find out what time you must be back at the station, then move to the hotel. Here you can find clean rest rooms, a comfortable place to sit, and a helpful staff. Utilize their services. Tip the bellman to store your luggage. If the hour is right, there will be a restaurant if you are hungry or a bar if you are thirsty. If you need reading material or toiletries, they will usually have a gift and sundries shop. If you need to send a fax or an e-mail, they often have business centers where this can be accomplished for a reasonable fee. If you have a really long wait, a hotel will sometimes have a day room rate, so you would be able to take a shower and a nap, and order room service.
Our 11:10am appointment is rescheduled for 9:00am due to our earlier-than-expected arrival, and that completed, we taxi back to the station, claim our bags and await boarding of the 10:45 Capitol to Emeryville, with bus connection to San Francisco. (We had originally scheduled the 12:45pm departure.) There is a light drizzle now, and we find a bench under the platform canopy next to the waiting train. We are always slowed down by our baggage as we carry two laptops, a printer, and our "portable office" paraphernalia on our working vacations. There is no checked baggage on the Capitols, so when boarding is called, by the time we get on board, each of the tables for four are already occupied by a single passenger, except for one table on the upper level of the last car. There is something peculiarly attractive about four-seat tables to single California commuters. They all seem to want one so they can put their shoes up on the opposite seat and spread their newspaper out on the table. We like them because we can easily set up our laptops and printer. (For you readers who remember our last trip, 28 Days on the Rails, on the San Joaquin from Stockton to Bakersfield, the conductor read us the riot act because the two of us were "hogging" a table for four.)
There is a conductor on board, who takes our tickets, and an attendant in the snack car. We see no other onboard crew on this five-car train. The conductor announces that the rear car, where we are, is a "quiet car" where playing computer games and talking on cell phones is prohibited; however his station announcements over the PA system are loud enough to advise the deaf.
By the time we handle our email and check for phone messages, we're arriving in Emeryville. Since there is no crew to assist with our luggage, we have to make three trips downstairs to get it all onto the platform, and we set our course for the Thruway Bus to San Francisco. We arrive at the bus in front of the station just as the driver is closing her doors and starting to drive away, but we get her attention and she stops. While she helps us load luggage into the luggage compartment, she asks, "Why are you so late? Everybody else has been onboard for quite some time." We explain that we were delayed by getting all our luggage downstairs onto the platform ourselves as there was nobody onboard to assist us. The bus is scheduled to leave two minutes after the train arrives a reminder that this is California, and one has to move quickly.
But are in a hurry-up-and wait situation. Although it is about 12:45pm by now, there is a traffic jam as we approach the Bay Bridge. We're reminded why we moved ourselves and our travel agency out of Northern California ten years ago. But we concentrate on the view of San Francisco's famous skyline, the many ferries plying the bay, and Treasure Island, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. The bus drops us in front of the Hyatt Regency where we quickly find a taxi to the Fairmont Hotel, originally opened in 1904 atop Nob Hill.
This, to us, is the "real" Fairmont; the only one we knew about as California residents. As we enter the lobby, Sylvia feels as if she should be wearing a Gibson Girl hairdo and leg-of-mutton sleeves with a cameo brooch atop a long dress. This extravagantly elegant lobby, with marble columns, has, we find, been part of an authentic restoration to its 1907 appearance, when it was rebuilt after the earthquake and fire of 1906. Of course we've all seen black and white photos of these historic times, but being in the center of such décor in full color is breathtaking. The desk clerk, who is running the registration desk all by herself, explains that although Fairmont spent $86 million on the restoration, which includes the guestrooms, there is no money for an additional clerk to help out at the registration desk. The lamps, furniture, upholstery, and carpets are enough to transport one back nearly a hundred years a real time machine! We spend nearly an hour exploring hallways with sculptures, photos of the city after the 1906 quake, and meeting rooms with fancy chandeliers and carved marble fireplaces.
Our room 484 is in the original building, and from our window we can look right up the California Avenue cable car route to the Grace Cathedral. The hourly chimes from the cathedral tower and the periodic clang of the cable car bells provides a very unique San Francisco aural background. The more expensive rooms are in the new tower, built nearly fifty years ago, but the rooms with a view in the older building give you the more traditional old San Francisco experience. In our room, we find the winner for the most expensive honor bar's liter of drinking water on this trip: $9.00.
There are five restaurants and two separate bars in the Fairmont, but the only ones which are open are the Laurel Court Restaurant and Lounge and the Tonga Room. The Laurel Court is right off the main lobby and was originally the tea room. Tea is still served there at 4pm daily, in addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Tonga Room is two levels below the main lobby (the hotel is built on the slopes of Nob Hill) and serves Asian food along with entertainment, periodic faux thunderstorms, and dancing every evening. The Crown Room at the top of the tower is closed to the public, according to the sign on the elevator, now used for private parties only. The Cirque Bar is apparently undergoing repairs. The Mason restaurant is padlocked as is the former coffee shop. We have read in the press that San Francisco, America's most popular tourist town, is recovering more slowly than other tourist destinations after the Arab terrorist attack of 9-11.
We dine in the Laurel Court at 6pm. The setting is grand, but only three tables are occupied. The menu is quiet limited and the cuisine gets mixed reviews from us. Sylvia liked her steak, Ted thought his pasta was tasteless and the portion too small to qualify as an entrée. The service is impeccable. The prices astounding.
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