You could
also buy a new Royal Enfield motorcycle, if you were keen to get back to 1950’s
motoring.
We picked
up an important piece of merchandise on that outing, Ann’s birthday cake. We also walked into a Wholefoods Store that had a very nice cheese display. I’ve been
missing my 'Cheese of the Week' purchases at Maison Vauron in Auckland, so loaded up with a
few cheeses and some wine which would undoubtedly find an occasion on which to grace
the table.
For Ann’s 75th
birthday dinner we gathered at Canela, a local bistro and tapas venue. We had
a lovely evening with some very good food and wine. The wine cellar was quite a
feature, an all-glass affair, well stocked with beautiful wines. I tried to get
myself locked in there. We headed home for our dessert, another slice of birthday cake.
Napa Valley
Next outing was a trip to the Napa Valley, one of California’s renowned wine-producing
regions. We’d been here on a previous trip, and struck a beautiful day for this return visit.
We left SF on the Oakland Bridge and started the day with a muffin bun breakfast at the famous Napa Model Bakery first opened in 1908. This is a highly recommended spot for any future travellers.
Our first tasting appointment was Miner Family Wines. It was early in the day but we were surprised to be the only group tasting at 11 00 am. Just one more group turned up in the time we were there, in fact the Napa Valley was pretty
quiet overall. Perhaps this is a part of the tourism drop associated with the
Trump administration's anti everyone who is not a card-carrying Republican. We tasted some very nice wines, all served in the appropriate Riedel glasses, and with the tasting cost at $30 per head, it was
nice to see that charge dropped when wines were purchased.
Next port
of call was Silver Oak Vineyard where we sampled just two reds, a Napa and a
Sonoma vintage. We had some a good conversations there with our host who was
planning a NZ trip a little later this year. There is obviously a wine interest there and we gave them the recommendation while
in Auckland to visit Kumeu Valley Wines to taste some of the world’s best chardonnays.
We lunched at Gott’s Roadside, an iconic spot that’s been running for 25+ years. Ann and I
shared an Ahi Burger; California does a really good job on tuna.
The tasting 'coup de grace' was a visit to Mumm; a lovely tasting and some great views out over the
vineyards from the patio. It was a bit busier here, but apparently still a lot
quieter than when another group of Bruce's NZ friends came for a visit at this
time last year. We splurged with the Legacy Selection tasting at US$55: a Brut Reserve, 2020 LH Edition Blanc de Blanc, 2016 DVX, 2017 DVX Rose and another complimentary taster. A great end to the day!!
Capitola By the Sea
For the next adventure we headed
for a weekend at Capitola, with a visit to the Livermore Outlet Stores en
route. Ann needed some new gear for walking, so we visited each of the sports-focussed outlets and a few more just for interest. A lot of dross but purchase was achieved, so that
at least made the visit worthwhile.
It was the first time
we’ve visited Capitola where Bruce and Alan bought a property about 10 years
ago.
This weekend happened to be the seaside town’s annual Beach Festival so we
had a bit of entertainment built in.
On the drive
into Capitola we called into Point Butcher Shop on Portola Drive to get some
meat for a BBQ. The New York cut steaks looked very good so we got a couple of
nice chunky ones for dinner. I cooked these on Bruce’s electric BBQ and they
were sensational!
We did a
lot of sightseeing walks in the village. The town has a long pier (rebuilt since terrible storms in 2023 took out a restaurant and the middle section of the construction). Like Santa Cruz pier, it is complete with
resident sea lions.
The waters close to shore have areas of kelp forest that are
hunting grounds for sea lions and sea otters and the seabirds. There was quite
a bit of bird activity within sight of the pier and lots of birds diving to get
a feed of anchovies.
The town
has a small river, the Soquel Creek, that has it's delta artificially sealed off
by sand for the summer months. This creates a lagoon that is an integral part
of the town activities.
The walk along the creek is lovely and all the riverside houses have patio areas right next to the water. The old high railway bridge whose future is under discussion at present, may end up being part of a cycleway.
The town
has an interesting mix of architectures and housing styles, the multi-coloured
houses of Venetian Court sit alongside
the lagoon and some pay the price of a little bit of flooding impacting the
buildings from time to time. Built in 1924, this development is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The houses
along the cliff tops leading back towards Santa Cruz are often very classy
joints, but many are obviously threatened by coastal retreat of the foreshore cliffs.
This is a
great little town and a fantastic retreat spot for Bruce and Alan and the
family. Their Gilroy St home comes with resident and itinerant squirrels and
racoons and also some lovely friendly neighbours whom we met in the two weekends we stayed.
The beach festival provided plenty of entertainment, with an evening of 'light boats' (decorated barges) parading down the river and a Lighted Drone Show which was very professional .
If you go toYou-Tube and search for Capitola Festival 2025 Light show, you will
get to share the event we saw. You’ll even see the 'light boats'!
Saturday
morning at Capitola is Farmers' Market time. There is a great array of fruit and
vegetables and provides an opportunity to stock up for the week. Lots of
beautiful produce, strawberries, pluots and plums plus lots of veggies, flowers and other produce.
We had an
introduction to the guilt-ridden joys of Gayles Bakery, a celebrated local supplier of bread, pastries, cakes and other delightful things. My birthday
cake was ordered from here, but we are going to have to come back for next
weekend to pick that up and deal to it.
As part of
our festival wandering around the town we coffeed, relaxed and listened to
the local ukelele band playing their festival contribution with plenty of dance opportunities. We could also watch
a few Mums and Dads teaching their kids to surf in the gentle onshore break
behind the Ukelele Orchestra Bandstand.
After a
very pleasant few days at Capitola Alan took us back to SF, along the scenic
coastal route, with a brief stop at the Pigeon Point lighthouse and then a
photo-op at Half Moon Bay for the fields of Halloween pumpkins.
San Francisco Tourists
Back in
SF we planned the next day to do the Barbary Coast walk which taking us
through Union Square, Chinatown, and Maiden Lane, in the past a street of many
brothels. Then through Jackson Square at the top of Chinatown with lots of card-playing elderly Chinese enjoying the outdoors in the sun. 
On then to City Lights Bookshop, home of the beat poets, and Café Trieste,
the first espresso coffee house in the West (1956) for lunch.
We enjoyed our pizza and a pastry at Café Trieste, surrounded by the walls of photos celebrating its long history, and then paid a visit to the cathedral of St Peter and St John in Washington Square, where Marilyn Munro married Joe DiMaggio many years ago. Then past Coit Tower and down onto the Embarcadero and home on the F-Line tram, almost to the door of Bruce's house on 17th Ave in the Castro district. An epic walk!
The major takings from the walk: firstly it was great to revisit some of the areas and places we’ve been to before. Chinatown was very quiet with not many people around. Macys Department Store on Union Square was a mere shadow of its former self, in fact half the store has already closed down and everyone is expecting the same fate for the part that’s still operating. Retail in San Francisco is very hard work these days. But Christmas is approaching!!
The following day, after a visit to de Young Museum, Bruce loaded the tourists on board and took us on a tour of San Francisco Park to see
the bison, around Sutro Heights Park, the scene of a spectacular bathing
facility in a bygone age, to Lincoln Park to view the Golden Gate bridge and into the
Presidio, an old military area to see the Palace of Fine Arts.
Our trip
home from that took us to the 16th Ave ceramic staircase and some very
good city viewing.
Canela had a
tapas and cocktail promotion for the week and Bruce had scored an invitation. So we all turned up to support this worthwhile
innovation. The event was sponsored by Hendriks Gin promoting their Oasium labelled
product. Bruce’s school and university friend Rose had arrived to stay at 17th
Ave early due to an inclement weather fore-shortened
kayaking trip in Canada. So we had a very convivial gathering as yet another follow up to Ann’s 75th. Or was it a precursor for Steve's big day!
The following day we did
another city walk taking the MUNI into the city and a tram up to Nob Hill to explore some of the lovely homes and history
of the area.
This coincided with Steve's American birthday and we were permitted to walk the labyrinth in the vestibule of Grace Cathedral with free entry as it was a 'spiritual experience'.
Sausilito and the Harbour
On another revisit of past trips, we caught
the MUNI into the Embarcadero, found a ferry ticket and a coffee and
then enjoyed the ride across the harbour past the notorious Alcatraz prison that
has featured in the news lately with the President looking to reopen
the current tourist attraction as a working prison.
Great views of the city and the
Golden Gate Bridge.
We had a very pleasant morning wandering around the shops
of Sausilito and ferried back home early in the afternoon after a shared sandwich and glass of wine (not shared) for lunch.
Then with
another birthday coming up it was time to make another move back to Capitola.
Capitola: Take 2
This trip included
a visit to Shadowbrook Restaurant on the banks of Soquel Creek where we had last
week watched the light boat display and lighted drone show. An ex–New York
City taxicab picked us up in all our finery for the short trip to Shadowbrook.
This rambling building sits on the steep side of Soquel Creek. It has many
levels and is an iconic local gathering place. There were plenty of tables of
guests and also a wedding party on the level down from us. Curtiss joined us
having driven down specially for the event which was very good of him. The
event by the way was 76 years for me from 1949 to 2025.
The food
was lovely and the wine also very good, a local Pinot Noir from Santa Cruz
Mountain Vineyards. Back home after dinner we enjoyed a Gayles Bakery Chocolate
and Salted Caramel Cake. Not a calorie to be found in it!! Curtiss had done a great
job with that order and once again we were hosted by Bruce and Alan.
We visited
the Farmers Market again for some more beautiful fruit and veggies, and then
took a tour to Monterey and Carmel Beach. The tour of Carmel Beach and village
was a highlight, with some amazing and quite quirky real estate around the beach road at Carmel-by-the-sea. (The second house on the point above the reef) below was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and sold for US$22m 2 years ago.)
We did some
further tourist walking back at Capitola along the shore from Pleasure Point heading in the
Santa Cruz direction. Lots of surfers in the water, more kelp forests
evident and plenty of people out and about enjoying the beaches. We even saw the O'Neill house perched on the cliff where the famous local, Jack O'Neill, perfected his surfboard and wetsuit range.
A visit to
Nicholsons Vineyard in the Santa Cruz hills was another highlight. We were joined by Nina and Dan, and Brent, friends
of Bruce and Alan and dined on a great
picnic sourced from the previously mentioned Gayles. On a beautiful sunny day, we sat under the trees beside the vines in the Day Valley vineyard and enjoyed a very pleasant tasting. Fabrice Leger would have been proud of us. In our 2018 canal boating visit to Bourgogne, we had a a very convivial winetasting at the vineyard Leger et Fils at Tonnere. The first bit of wisdom imparted by Fabrice, and there were many bits, was that you can't taste wine without enjoying some food.
Ater dinner
at home we spent some time chatting with Amy and John, neighbours over the
road, sitting in the glow and warmth of their outdoor fireplace.
Back in San Francisco
We headed
back to San Francisco for our final few days. The Castro Street Festival provided the first entertainment when we got back. The festival closes off the
Castro central streets for the locals to get out and about in their finery (or
not). Armed with a beer in my case and a seriously alcoholic G & T for Ann and Rose, we wandered among the sights and stalls and happy people.
This was a lively
friendly gathering of the like-minded community with everyone having a bit of
fun. It also serves as a fundraiser to help those in the community needing help on
addiction or other issues. This fundraising was spearheaded by the very acrobatic Cheer San Francisco squad.
With
departure getting closer we ticked off a few more of the 'haven’t done that yet' things and the night trip to Twin Peaks produced some quite good pictures of
San Francisco by night.
Galleries
We had a
trip to the de Young Gallery in San Francisco Park which featured a collection
of the thousands of photos taken by Paul McCartney on tours in USA and England in the early years of the
Beatles' success story. Called 'Paul McCartney 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm' it gave a glimpse of Beetlemania and some intimate and fun insights behind the scene. The photos certainly add a dimension to the realities of the life of these young men catapulted into fame. While not necessarily brilliant, or works of art, this is a great record of the times, and was an excellent opportunity to view this unique collection.
Alongside this was The Art of the Manga exhibition, featuring original artists from the 1970's.
We had
planned to revisit MOMA, and spent a morning working our way through the five
floors of displays in this great gallery. This is another 'pictures are better
than words' occasion. On advice we went straight to the top level which featured a retrospective of Shirley Jackson's art entitled 'What is Love'. It was fascinating to see the development of her work from water colour to 3D collage hanging pieces.
The following floors held more challenging art: German Art after 1960, reflected the personal turmoil artists and German society experienced,
an amazing light tunnel over the gallery void and an installation where the viewers were incendiarised, fortunately only on the screen which captured your image as you walked into this display!!
and finally a small but challenging photographic exhibition which among other pieces had an image of Nona Faustine (a famous Black photographer) on a Wall Street intersection entitled 'From her body came their greatest wealth'. Who knew Wall Street first served as a slave market!
Yerba Buena
park is just across the road from MOMA, and we were keen to revisit the Martin
Luther King memorial under the waterfall in the park. The memorial is a great
recognition of the contribution of the man to improving the status of Black Americans in the US, and the quotes on the wall behind the fountain from his speeches still seem particularly apt for America today .
SFGMC
On our
final evening we went to listen to the San Francisco Gay Men Chorus - this is one of Bruce's loves and anchors
him in SF.
We
experienced a ride to the practice in a Waymo, a driverless car, which in our case happened to be
a very nice Jaguar. It is quite an eerie feeling when the car just trundles
along with an empty driver’s seat. It never gave us any reason to doubt the "drivers" capabilities.
We were
introduced to conductor Jake and assistant conductor Mitch, and warmly
greeted by everyone as we listened to some beautiful singing. It is
quite something to be welcomed as visitors by 300 mainly men singing the Irish
Welcome Greeting.
On the walk
home we visited Martunis for a farewell drink with Rose who, like us, was heading
off the next day. Martunis is a piano bar, very dark and absolutely jam-packed, and the cocktails were delicious.
We spent
part of our final day doing quick visits to take in everything we hadn’t yet managed
to see, first walking in the area to admire local architecture and a great 'bumper sticker' on a bike!
Then a drive with Bruce. This took in the Seven Sisters, Alamo Square, Pacific Heights and a visit to Coit Tower with its wonderful murals of San Francisco in the 1930's and finally Lombard St with its twisty and steep drive.
All in all a wonderful
visit to a great city. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
