A few days in San Francisco; Wine tour and new hotel

Monday

Got up early, returned the Alamo rental car, and picked up Starbucks breakfast on my way back to the hotel. It was time to leave the Sir Francis Drake hotel and their nicely (weirdly?) dressed guards... Checked out and put the luggage in their baggage room.

So, this was the wine tour day. Me and Jenny had booked a full day tour in Napa and Sonoma with City Sightseeing San Francisco for 65 USD per person. The "small groups" caught our eyes - would be more personal than going with a big bus.

A really nice and talkative retired AT&T guy acting wine tour driver and wine connoisseur picked us up at the hotel. We were the last ones on the pickup tour in the city. Left the city going north - driver plus six persons in a spacey SUV. On our way to Sonoma we were told stories about the city and its surroundings - the bridge, Sausalito village, San Quentin state prison with California's death row.

First stop was Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, Sonoma.

Jacuzzi had some really great wines, complimentary tasting of course... The Moscato Bianco, Alexander Valley, 2007, was just superb. Red ones worth mentioning is Primitivo, Lake County, 2006, and Barbera, North Coast, 2006 with a taste of tobacco and cherry.

It's a "strong" wine...

Happy taster at Jacuzzi.

The Benziger Family Winery was another excellent stop. Benziger has an ecological and biodynamic approach to wine making - more about that here.

A selection of Benziger wines.

The Benziger cave and its fortune.

Mr USA himself. Supervised our Benziger tour and the grand final complimentary tasting.

Where to next?! Open a larger version of the picture to see map details.

Jenny tasting at Half Moon Valley.

We also stopped at the Artesa Winery in Napa Valley and the Cline Vineyard.

A great full-day tour! Definitely worth going on!

Once back in San Francisco we dragged our luggage from Sir Francis Drake to Hotel Palomar and got a suite for the rest of our stay.

A few days in San Francisco; Alamo rental and Muir Woods

Sunday

Busy morning; made a few calls to rental firms in the area and finally found a free car at Alamo, Bush St. Booked it and went down to the reception and booked a wine tour as well - more about that in a later blog post. We picked up the car after a breakfast at the Starbucks next to the hotel. Hadn't made any plans more than to go to Muir Woods and check out Highway 1 north of San Francisco.

The stop at Muir Woods was great. We stayed for three to four hours.

Lost?!

It's definitely worth a trip with its gigantic trees and nice trails.

After Muir Woods we continued on the Highway 1 beach trail going north. Stopped for lunch at the Parkside Cafe at sleepy Stinson Beach Park. Great food, mostly locals hanging out in the backside serving area.

We took the road to Petaluma but didn't stop at the village's premium outlet. Had to get back to San Francisco and return the car.

Well, ten minutes late... Alamo Rentals closed. Oops. Both me and Jenny are time optimists, but this was all my fault. Shouldn't have tried to squeeze in Petaluma. Well, no worries. Found a garage at Sutter and Stockton - returning the car tomorrow.

Closed the day with a dinner at Sanraku, Sutter and Taylor St - best sushi in San Francisco?!

A few days in San Francisco; cable cars and Alcatraz

Saturday

Breakfast at Starbucks, Grant and Bush. Outside a man is trying to collect a few bucks from by-passers. A common sight in San Francisco. He and his appearance was a bit different though - this guy seemed genuinely happy with life, and approached people in a really nice way.

Time for a ride. We took the cable car from Powell Street to the Cable Car Museum, Washington and Mason.

It's an interesting stop with tech details on the inner workings of the cable car system. All cables from all the San Francisco cable car lines go through the building. Right next to the museum is a nice small local cafe with great broccoli pie...

We spent the afternoon / evening on Alcatraz Island with Alcatraz Cruises, touring and shooting pictures.

Visit it at least once if you get the chance - the audio tour is great.

A few days in San Francisco; Lombard St and Uncle Vito's

Friday

So, this is my chance to guide Jenny in and around San Francisco. I have stayed here a few times before and know parts of the city and its surroundings, but it's Jenny's first trip to the west coast. We have a few days before and in between the Google I/O and JavaOne conferences to get to know the area...

Spent the first day walking around in the city. Had to visit Lombard Street...

Found a few interesting pieces of vintage arcade gaming machines in the harbor area.

On the way back to the city center we went through Chinatown and its crowded shops, picked up a few bananas and cherries for the road. Ross was our next stop, me going through the size 13 shoe wall and male shirts, Jenny checking the female sections - shoes are a girls best friend...

We topped of the day with a visit to Uncle Vito's Pizza, Powell St. This is one of my favorite pizza joints in San Francisco.

Sir Francis Drake, our hotel for the first four nights. The corner room has a nice view covering both Powell Street and Union Square.

Ice cream and slide in Malmö

Therese and Åsmund, Västra Hamnen, Malmö.

Days of powder II

Yet another great week in Chamonix, France.

Stayed at the Argèntiere UCPA center together with Markus and Per. Me and my brother was in the same offpist group as Magnus and Henrik from last year - doing steep coloirs, forest runs, untouched fields, ...

More pics here.

Fruktbröd

In Swedish

Recept från Saltå Kvarns paket med Krossat Linfrö. 4 bröd.

• 1 liter vatten
• 50 g jäst
• 4 tsk salt
• 17 dl vetemjöl
• 4,5 dl grahamsmjöl
• 2 dl rågmjöl
• 1 dl krossat linfrö
• 3 dl blötlagda fikon
• 3 dl russin
  

1. Skär de blötlagda fikonen i mindre bitar.
2. Blanda allt utom vetemjölet och låt jäsa i 20 minuter.
3. Blanda i vetemjölet och låt jäsa i 20 minuter till.
4. Dela degen, knåda och forma till 4 runda bröd.
5. Jäs på plåt i ytterliggare ca 30 minuter.
6. Sätt in i ugnen på 250 grader, sänk temperaturen till 200 grader och grädda i ca 25 minuter.