Our Wedding

May 22nd will, from now on, always be our special day.  Darren and I have been together for thirteen years and decided, only in the last month or so, that it would be nice to be married while we were away.  So we did....

The Chapel was a perfect setting.  It was beautiful, peaceful and reverent and the minister who married us was very nice and really helped make us a little less nervous than we were feeling prior to the service.  The service only took about 15 minutes - ending with a spiritual blessing and a few words about our family and friends back home, which was nice.  Our immediate family and a few close friends knew of our plan to marry while in Vegas, other than that everyone was in for a big surprise :)  This was just how we wanted to do it and it all worked out so beautifully.  

We chose two songs for our service - the timeless Elton John 'Your Song' and also 'Meant to Be' by OShea.  We've danced, often, over the years to Your Song and that was my choice right from the start.

By 4.30pm we were married and headed up to our room to get changed and then have some more champas.  It was just such a relaxing time our wedding of 2013 - definitely stress free and....perfect.  All that's needed now to end this little post are some photos.  

Darren Smith I love you xx   

 

 

 

  

Wedding eve

* I'm writing the rest of my holiday blog now safe and sound at home in Toowoomba.  It's taken a few days to get the energy to put the rest of my memories down on 'paper' *

  

My post 'Monday Day 2 in Vegas'  was incomplete - added to that we also had to venture into the city to purchase our Marriage Licence.  We had decided what a nice place to be married - in Vegas and now had to get a move on to organise everything.  I had applied for the licence online a few weeks prior and had received a reference number which made the process so simple.  We showed our passports, gave divorce dates and we were out of there in about 5 minutes and were free to marry anytime from then on.  We decided the beautiful chapel at The Luxor would be a nice venue...just beautiful...small but beautiful.  So before lunch we had that booked, Darren's tie and my shoes purchased and we were almost there.  I had already bought my dress at Macys when we were in San Francisco.

 

Tuesday began after a small sleep-in and at 11am I had my hair cut and styled (trial for Wednesday) and it was really lovely - just how I would normally wear it only a little more blow dried.  It would be perfect.  The 'beauty spas' in these hotels/casinos are incredible.  They go forever and are something you would see in a Cleopatra movie.  Absolutely stunning and massive WOW factor.

We were happy just to do a lot of walking this day - checking out our casino out and taking the free trains from one to the other.  Lunch time again and here in Vegas, like San Francisco, it was very difficult to find a really nice red (along with coffee!).  Most, if not all the bars, only have a very ordinary one called Louis Martini.  Yes, it sounds pretty flash, but very very ordinary.  Well eventually we found a lovely little steak house tucked away near the main entrance that had an awesome wine list  - Napa and Sonoma Valley wines, we were to learn, were the way to go.  Unfortunately our time in San Fran. was mainly for Darren's work so we didn't get to take a tour up to these famous valleys.  Next time....

Day 2 in the Casino City

Monday day 2 Vegas and it was a busy day just exploring and organising our wedding that was going to be a surprise to most people.  More about that later...

One thing Darren and I both commented on when we drove through Vegas for the first few days - the roads are so much newer here than San Francisco.  Was such a big difference.  It was like the roads in S.F. had been there for two hundred years and hardly touched whereas Vegas (and out to Boulder City) were like brand new.  

This particular Monday morning we had brekky downstairs...in the Pyramid Cafe.  I must say I definitely don't like the idea of leaving 'tips' on the table when you leave. There was a $5 note floating around on our table when we sat down. I decided to make the effort to take up the mandatory gratuity to the girls desk.  It's a bit different if you are paying by credit card/traveller card then cash wouldn't be left but a lot of the time we did pay cash.   

I am not sure if Mum was saying extra prayers or maybe God was just on our side.... but the weather in Vegas was superb considering only a few weeks ago when we booked our trip it was topping 40!  We were  so lucky.  For those of you who are on Facebook (and most of you are) you would have seen my status referring to the fact that I hate the smoking over here. I suppose it's probably ten years or more since we, in Australia, have been able to smoke in hotels etc. and it was really awful! having your clothes smell of smoke, your hair smell of smoke and more importantly walk around near people smoking their heads off!  Anyway, I guess after a few days we did get used to it.

The Luxor is located at the very end of the southern tip of the Las Vegas Strip.  There is only one other (The Mandalay) further down.  Our hotel and The Mandalay and The Excalibur were all linked by walkways  and shopping malls. Yes, it was confusing for a while - trying to find the correct exit from our hotel! But by the time we were to come home, we knew it all backwards :)  

Back to Monday morning breakfast....on our way back to our room there was a lift full of Chinese people that got out at our level.  We laughed, again, as they were all women (about twelve of them) and then right at the back was a bloke; a very small, shy looking bloke. They were obviously all in the same group. For some reason we felt a bit sorry for this poor soul...

Sunday - Las Vegas

An early start as the annual 'Bay to Breakers' fun run was on and cabs and shuttles were going  to be few and very far between (or so we were told).  It turned out that we had no problems whatsoever and after checking out of 'Le Meridien' we were leaving this city that had been home for the past week.  Our time there was just wonderful.

We didn't have any worries checking in at the airport and before too long we were on a small plane bound for the city of casinos and wedding chapels.  What we found interesting at the San Francisco airport was that it seemed people who had booked tickets etc. weren't necessarily guaranteed a seat?? Maybe those of you who have flown in and out of the United States could explain this more to us.  A guy was on a microphone continually asking for people to come up and give their flight away (postpone until a later one) so that others could have the seat. In return they were offered 300 flight credits??  It was all rather confusing....and I can imagine quite stressful for any passengers involved.
  

Our flight to Nevada was okay, but rather bumpy for the last half hour or so.  The ascent and descent on a plane seem to be so much steeper than in Australia - we've noticed also that escalators are so much steeper too.  Hmmmm....

Las Vegas airport was no drama...pokies (sorry, slot machines) throughout did make us chuckle though.  It seemed a quiet airport or maybe it was just the time of day, or time of year, I'm not sure.  It was very easy to get around and a shuttle took us promptly from one terminal to the other to collect our bags.

We had a really cool cab driver - his name was James and was in for a big chat - hip hop singer/performer and seemed like a great bloke.  He gave us a few tips for our time in Vegas and on the way to our hotel pointed out the very big MGM hotel where the American Billboard Awards were to be held that evening.  

James dropped us off at The Luxor and gee the WOW factor was huge right from the start.  I'm sure all the other casinos on 'The Strip' were as good, and better, and it looked like there was a connecting tram between different hotels.  This would be fun to try.  Check-in was easy and the lady helping us gave us an upgrade from the Pyramid to the Tower, which we'd heard was a great thing if it was offered to us.  This hotel was buzzing (no that's probably not the right word, but you get my drift).  By the time we'd made it to The Luxor it had been about eight hours since a meal, so we wandered through the huge!! casino area and found a buffet restaurant.  

That night it was time to 'phone home E.T' and gave Mum a call to let her know we were all safe and sound.  Our week in Vegas had begun.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz is something we all see on the movies and gee it was really great to stand on that infamous island on Saturday.  We took one of the many cruise boats over from Pier 33 at 10am and did the self-paced audio tour.  This was fantastic.  The sounds, music, voices etc coming through the headphones made the history of Alcatraz all seem very real indeed.  The tour took about an hour and a half and it was worth it that's for sure.

 

 

 

Back on land, lunch was at Pier 39 (this is the area where the famous seals live).  It's an interesting story how they came to be there.  Once again I had another typically American salad.  I love how they seem to put anything and everything together and the flavours don't seem weird at all.  Their love of blue cheese, as I've mentioned before, and it's addition to many dishes is quite quirky I think and I really like it.  I'm not fussed though on this strong, vinegar-like dressing that I've tasted a few times.  I'm really unsure what it is...maybe Stacey you can tell me :)

Lombard Street is where we headed to next.  Most of us know it as the street in San Francisco that is famous for its one-way one-block section consisting of eight very tight hair-pin turns.  We took a cab to the top then walked all the way down as cabs are unable to do the drive.  Darren took a few photos that are just perfect - much better than mine.  This was so cool walking down and just watching everyone doing their own thing (taking photos or simply admiring the street).  I wonder what the residents of Lombard Street think of all this melodrama.

The end of our second last day in 'the bay area' as it's called....on the news anyway....was so much fun in so many ways.  We headed over to MarketBar again for dinner and on the way (walking up the piers once again) we saw the coolest kid playing the coolest music on the trumpet.  I ended up dancing with him and we had a few photos.  Good on you little boy, you made my night!

 

MACYS

Friday - two days to go and we headed off to Macys again after lunch.  Darren had his last meetings in the morning and I just did MY normal morning-thing - update blog and not rush to do anything.  This doesn't happen very often  :)  

Macys is  amazing....there is one store for men and one store for women here!  Maybe that is how it is in every city?  Darren needed jeans like I needed shoes the other day so that was our priority.  Two pair of Levi's (for less than the price of one at home), a pair of shoes and a jumper for Benjamin and we were out of there.  You could stay there for hours - JUST in the men's part alone.  

We then ventured across the road (managed to, somehow, make our way through all the road works) to the Ladies store and I bought a really lovely dress.  Something on par with the 'Mr. K' brand but once again, prices half of what I'm used to, thank goodness!

Dinner that evening (after a loooooooong detour in a taxi - bit of a language barrier really) was at the Americano restaurant along the Embarcadero.  It was like a typical Friday arvo at Fitzy's - for Toowoomba people you will know how hectic that can be.  Thankfully the restaurant part was separated somewhat from the main bar area, so was nice and quiet (albeit very dark in the corner where we were sitting - my eyesight is definitely not as good as it used to be, so I'm now one of those people who struggle to read a menu without holding it four mile out in front of me).

 

Taxis were few and far between after dinner, so we decided to wander up along the piers on the off chance we could find one near the ferry building.  Well! the chilly wind got to us after about 10 minutes of waiting so we headed into the nearest bar, MarketBar to escape the cold.  Our idea was to have another wine, (Darren actually tried a cognac for the first time) warm up, then phone for a taxi once we were done.  This little bar/restaurant turned out be just superb - so much so, after our quick drink, we booked to have our last dinner in S.F  the following night.

Big Red Bus

There are many ways to see this beautiful city and, after a marathon search for my travel card (was inside my passport thankfully), we decided to buy the twenty four hour pass and see the sights on the big red bus.  The 'thing' sticking out of the top of the bus is the top of the city hall which was directly behind the bus at Stop 7 of our journey.

We saw everything from the very sad and deprived suburb of the Tenderloin to the beautiful city hall and eventually made the incredibly windy and icey cold trip across the Golden Gate.  Once we got to the other side it was definitely a tad warmer.  Only then did our hilarious (although very informed) tour guide tell us we were going BACK over the bridge and that it would be even colder. Yes, he was right. Even though it was quite foggy, the view across the bay, Alcatraz  and on to the city was great.  We got off at Pier 39 and had lunch and then headed off to find the Bubba Gump Shrimp shop :)    Some of you know that Darren loves Tom Hanks so this shop was a 'must see'.   

Once we had thawed out back at the hotel we decided to take another taxi driver's advice and off we went to Rose Pistola - Italian restaurant in our favourite suburb of North Beach.  Complete with live jazz, AND, at a decent level so you could hear each other speak, Rose Pistola ended our day on a beautiful note.  

(A few more photos below - ending with one of the the lovely restaurant).

Windy Wednesday

First thing Wednesday morning (well, it was 11.30am, but that was 'first thing) I decided to find the walkway that linked Le Meridien to the famous Embarcadero Centre.  This centre is made up of four towers all linked by walkways and spans almost four blocks (fortunately a block over here doesn't seem near as big as at home).  Once at E. One you know you are almost at what is commonly called 'The Embarcadero' - the eastern waterfront and roadway that takes you all the way from AT&T Park down to Fisherman's Wharf - lots of different piers with shopping, dining etc.  The Alcatraz cruise leaves from Pier 33 so we know where we are going on Saturday.

After lunch Darren and I took one of the famous Cable Cars and it was fun... up AND down one of the super-steep hills here.  We really didn't care which one we were on as long as we had a ride...and that we did.   There are three different lines and fortunately for us, the one we took (the California Line) is the quietest - no lining up, just find out where to catch it and hop on.  The photo below is 'our' car at the end of the line - sitting patiently for the next tourists.

Macys was our next stop-off point, after catching a cab from the hotel - Tim and Sarah, we couldn't help but think of your little puppy :)   I have badly needed new shoes for ages so went to see if Macys was anything like our shoe department in Toowoomba - nope, nothing like it.  Many, many staff, mostly older men and this shoe section seemed to go forever.  I didn't recognise any of the brands, but that's nothing out of the extraordinary as I'm really not a 'shoe person'.  I left there with two lovely pair...was fun...

By about 7pm (the sun still well up) we were getting peckish so headed back to the hotel.  Outside Macys, in Union Square, was the coolest band playing...easy listening...just lovely.  A five-piece band made up of over forty (actually over fifty and sixty!) musos.  Unfortunately it was just too chilly to hang around too long, but was a really nice atmosphere and could of hung around for ages.

One thing we've learnt since being away is that the taxi drivers know THE best, reasonably priced, restaurants.  This night we ended up at North Beach (Fisherman's Wharf end of the city) and only about a ten minute drive away.   We had dinner at Sotto Mare and it was one of the busiest, tiniest! little Italian restaurants we've ever seen (me, pictured below, looking like I'm paying the parking meter!)  The prawns and scallops were almost as good as those we had in Albany (W.A) a few years ago.  Another huge meal and we were ready to head 'home'.

 

 

Day 4

Up early Tuesday and headed for Le Meridien.... we moved into the city  as the Marriott was booked out for the rest of the week and hokey smokes! checking in was amazing.  (I know I am using that word a lot....but this trip is the biggest buzz I have ever had).  This hotel was indeed a big step up from the Marriott and we started smiling and as I'm writing, haven't stopped smiling :)

The San Francisco Bay Bridge is equally as stunning as The Golden Gate.  We have a glimpse of it from one of our windows and at night it looks so beautiful.  I took this photo yesterday afternoon and I just love it - so much warmth and character.

Once again we weren't sure about the lack of a kettle, but finally realised that we were to boil the water in the coffee maker/machine.  No little milks in the fridge but coffee/tea whitener sachets were what we were to use - tasted fine but just a little strange.  Another quirky little thing is the light switches - opposite to ours at home and, in particular, the lights at Le Meridien took quite some time to work out! You nearly need a degree to turn these on.  Turn to the right, then turn a bit more, then turn back to the left once and the light might come on if you're lucky.  Funny things to keep us amused.  Amused, I'm sure the staff were (and are) as I'm trying to not use the term "I'm right thanks" however it slips out all the time.  I think by the end of the week I may have adjusted.

Darren headed off to work and I spent an hour or so unpacking and listening to the news on the TV. Yes, how boring I know.  Then I decided to switch it to the movie channel and heard "Hi, I'm Jack Reacher".  Was quite tempted to sit down and watch this movie....looked good....but instead decided a snooze was on the cards, before I went downstairs to get some info from concierge.  My mate 'Don' was lovely...chatted for ages. He loves Aussie tourists but not fussed on the French.  He was also describing his six week visit to Sydney and Cairns some time ago and he said he couldn't believe how expensive food, and petrol was.  (Here at the moment petrol is approximately 92 cents/litre).  Just as I was leaving 'Fur Elise' started playing on a guy's phone next to me.  Was nice.... so many of my students ask me to learn this and it almost felt like the kids were right here with me.

Stroooooong Coffee!

Strong coffee is the order of the day....once more....

again we had corned beef hash and again it was huge.  Food and wine portions are so much bigger over here.  Most people who order a salad 'to go' for lunch walk out of the cafe with a meal the size of two in Australia. (I asked for a 'take away' order today....... nice bloke called Leonardi advised that 'to go' is the wording over here).  

Darren headed into the main part of town for work mid-morning while I took a walk down, and through, Fisherman's Wharf.  I had my first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge (typically almost covered in fog) and then just out from Hyde Street Pier, where I was standing,  was the island we all associate with the handsome Mr. Connery.  We will be visiting Alcatraz on Saturday and are looking forward to that immensely.  

An interesting experience at Hyde Street Pier watching people order, and get delivered, live awesome-sized crabs wallowing in the many tanks available for people to view at their leisure.  The smell was amazing (for seafood lovers that is) and the kids were so intrigued by it all.  

Later that afternoon Darren and I headed into the city to purchase pre-paid phones and some internet access.  Cool sales assistant, with that strange surname of 'Smith' served us, and an hour later out we went with el-cheapo flip phones and little 'mi-fi' things! that finally meant we could use the net at a reasonable cost.

Darren had a conference that evening and I decided to go downstairs and soak up some of the atmosphere in the bar/lounge area.  I was again thinking how nice all the wait staff are - then again it's in their best interest to be or the tips won't be too forthcoming.

This was our last night at Marriott Fisherman's Wharf.  Thanks guys. It's been fun.

(This post and the previous one are in the wrong order...comes with being a bit weary late at night when typing).

San Francisco Giants!

Sleep- in til 11am....WOW!  Oh but it was a great sleep indeed.  Baseball at 1pm so needed to get a hurry on.  Had breakfast at a cute little (very hot!...heaters on full blast) cafe called Pergamino's just down the hill.  We were really looking forward to a good coffee (you know the kind I mean Deb).  Alas it was not meant to be.  Apart from Starbucks we can NOT seem to get a decent coffee that doesn't taste stroooooong and like it has been sitting and brewing all day. Darren isn't usually fussy and drinks whatever he's given (unlike me) and I'd think he'd agree with me on this one.  We don't think you ask for a cappuccino expecting it to have chocolate on top, because two waitresses have told us so far that it doesn't come like that. Ah well... Apart from this, the food was awesome.  I ordered corned beef hash and it certainly was 'just like Mamma used to make'.  Oh Dad, if you were here, you would have been in your element!  It was a very big serving and really hit the spot.  The waitress was super, super cool...had something to do with the name we think.  'Denise'  :)

BASEBALL!! (hence the orange font people...Giants colours) 

I've always thought how cool and amazing it would be to go to the baseball over here.  Well, yep, that it was.  I bought a 'Giants' cap at the entrance stand and then we proceeded to walk up to the first tier.  Can't tell you how incredible it was to walk out there and just see this stadium that was packed to capacity.  187 consecutive sell-out games for AT& T Stadium and you can understand why once you've been there and experienced the atmosphere that IS baseball American-style.  It was a great few hours and we left at the bottom of the 8th just to get out before 42000 other fans who would certainly know where they were going...we didn't...so a head start seemed a good idea.   

 

Our first stop was Powell Street station.  At the time we had no idea where it was, but we were there and ended up at a Westfield Shopping Centre, containing Nordstrum, Bloomingdale's etc.  A pleasant surprise awaited us at the ladies shoe section in Bloomingdale's - mostly male sales assistants and all dressed in a suit and tie.  It looked great.  The prices are really superb, as a lot of people had previously told me, but unfortunately no size seven and a half in the bright red sports shoes.  Damn...

Second stop - upstairs to floor four and we had entered Nordstrum.  It seemed similar to Bloomingdale's, but really we didn't have a big look around - we were mainly heading for a bar/bistro that the elevator sign said was on this floor.  Found it!!  So interesting.... a very large-ish restaurant in a department store.  Maybe that is the norm over here.  We had a few wines and nibblies (lovely waitress again who was very accommodating and helpful when she knew we were not from here - she had to deal with a very rude guy behind us who was not impressed with something.  His face said maybe he was a rum drinker and had probably consumed way too many this afternoon.  It was nice when he said he was leaving).
 
That was it for our Sunday.... spent Mothers' Day at the baseball and loved it.  My one observation, even at the baseball, was that so many many women over here have BIG hair...like long and blow-dried to the max and BIG!  Farrah lives on...

 

San Francisco Bay Mister Clapton

Saturday morning, May 11, we were in Sydney at 11am and, magically!, we ended up in San Francisco on Saturday at 11am.  For the first time ever Darren and I experienced the joys (and not-so joys) of time zone differences.  Jet lag got us good and proper for about 24 hours then all was fine.

We flew out of Brisbane at 9.25am this day (flight delayed by an hour, but that was okay as it meant less time to wait around once in Sydney).  Good ol' Qantas ensured that the start of our little working holiday was uneventful and pleasant.  An easy trip down to the harbour city and then it was a transfer across to the international terminal where we waited for only a couple of hours.  My gosh, it is so big! Shopping galore!   After a change of clothes and more I.D checks we finally boarded United Airways flight 870 at 3pm.  There were four hundred + people on board.  This was indeed a huuuuuge aircraft!  The man who was to sit on my right for the entire trip introduced himself as 'Victor' and he also should have mentioned that where he came from they didn't use deodorant.  Ah well.... a few hours into the flight I think we all just got used to it.  

This would be the longest haul ever! The furthest we had flown was Perth to Brisbane and this turned out to be almost 13 hours non-stop.  United Airlines was pretty good but for such a long flight there wasn't a lot of food given that's for sure.  The stewards/stewardesses were pleasant and for such a cheap price paid we were happy.  Darren slept for about four hours all up but I wasn't so lucky.  Every hour I would wander down the back and have a chat with anyone else who was up to stretch their legs.  Yep... long haul is an understatement.

Then somehow we made it....somehow....San Francisco International Airport was in sight AND the monitor above said '10 minutes til landing'. Everyone on the plane got a second wind I think.  This airport - security measures etc - was much less daunting than Sydney.  Customs proved to be super easy and we finally made it outside to some fresh air for the first time in 14 hours.  We were actually here :)

Our first impression as we drove this long journey in from San Fran. South was one of a little disappointment I guess.  Everything seemed like it was being transmitted through a black and white television.  No colour - hardly any trees - old roads - all buildings were the same - windows same rectangular size.  Not much appeal whatsoever.  Thankfully this would change...

We checked in to the Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf and although quite small and nowhere near the standard we have in Australia, the service was, and continued to be, excellent!  By this time we were starting to notice little differences in our cultures and the way we do things and say things differently.  Maybe Americans in general don't drink much tea because in our room there were two teabags and no kettle.  We did eventually ask downstairs if we could have one. Not sure if they thought we were weird??   There was no cutlery whatsoever, only stirring sticks and takeaway cups.  Darren thought maybe these were a security measure.

Our first 'munchie' was something called 'crab mud sliders'.  They were such beautiful home-made little crab fritters in what was like a little tiny hamburger bun....three of them... plus some sort of sauce and of course, french fries. This coupled with THE nicest cab. sauv was divine!  At the end of this we would have our first conversation with an American about tipping, and tipping correctly :)

The weather here is very similar to ours in Toowoomba at the moment only for us it's Autumn and here in California it's the middle of Spring.  Interesting.  I'm not complaining.  The coolness is so refreshing.

That first night we walked down to the wharf, which is only five minutes away and ate at a lovely big! Italian restaurant. First impression - the people were loud!! Like really loud!!  I ordered a garden salad with fresh shrimp.  Well...well...well...the shrimp was awesome and the garden salad also was so yummy.  This garden salad was made up of lettuce, cucumber, blue cheese, honey pecans and chilli.  Different combination but beautiful.  No wine that night... instead...cranberry, pineapple and gingerale crush.  Our waitress had lived in Melbourne some time ago, so had a quick chat to her and she said she thought I was from Britain??  Nope...I definitely don't sound British, but funnily enough on day two another lady at Bloomingdale's said the same thing.  

A wander back up that hill (one of many! hills) and we were to head to bed.  The sun didn't set until after 8.30pm.  We went to sleep to the sound of cable cars, buses etc clattering around, but had THE best sleep ever. Woke at 11am the next day....and that meant it was to be BASEBALL DAY!!!