Keris Stainton's Blog, page 70
July 22, 2011
San Francisco: 22 July 2001
Really good day yesterday. Got up and got doughnuts and coffee then got the cable car downtown. Much better this time – less crowded.
We got the bus to Haight and met the walking tour. Saw Alamo Square (Postcard Row) and some beautiful houses, but first we went into a house owned by a man named Richard Reutlinger, who collects Victoriana (I googled him and found this article with wonderful photos). It was weird being in a Victorian parlour in San Francisco. He had some beautiful things, but then took us down to the basement 'ballroom' which was filled with player pianos. One was a 'vianola' which was a piano and violin, one had stained glass in the doors and recreated a 6-piece orchestra, the last one (that he showed us, he had more) was used in silent movie houses and had bells you could pull for tom-toms, train whistles, etc. It was fantastic.
We had lunch in Alamo Park then got the bus to Golden Gate Park. The whole area was lovely, David got sick of me saying "It's so beautiful!" over and over.
We changed buses at Golden Gate Park and got another up to the Bridge, through the Presidio, which looked quite wild and smelled of pine trees. The Bridge looked amazing – it was a really clear day – and we walked over it (1.7 miles) and then probably a further 2 miles to Sausalito (the guidebook made it sound like a bit of a stroll, but it was murder). We had a mooch around then sat in a park reading, before getting the ferry back.
For dinner we went again to Pizzelle and I had 'Aglio e Olio' which tasted like, as D said, liquified garlic, so I'm sure I must reek this morning. Then we had a look around City Lights bookstore before home to bed.
Slurp
I was telling Harry that our bodies are 60% water.
He asked, "Even me?!"
I told him yes.
"Even Joe?!"
Yep.
"Well. Next time I'm thirsty, I'll stick a straw in Joe and drink him!"
July 21, 2011
San Francisco: 21 July 2001
When I got to the queue for Alcatraz it was already enormous – at 7.30am! I was almost the last person to get a ticket. Got coffee and doughnuts cos it was freezing and came back to wake D up.
After breakfast we walked to Union Square to get a travel pass then tried to get a bus to Golden Gate Park, but ended up in a really dodgy area. Loads of drunks and druggies – it felt like I imagined New York to be in the 70s. V creepy. Legged it back to safety and got the cable car back to North Beach.
The cable car was disappointing cos we were wedged inside and so couldn't really see – we'll go on again though. Got a sub for lunch and sat eating near Fisherman's Wharf. An enormous seagull landed just in front of us with an enormous fish in its mouth.
Walked down to Victoria Park and read for a while then got the boat to "The Rock". It wasn't as creepy as I had expected – although it was still pretty creepy, especially when we went inside a cell. Got the boat back and had a mooch around Pier 39 then went to Safeway to get some dinner. Got a little stressed – everything's more expensive than expected.
Had a picnic tea in the hotel, a bath in the enormous Victorian roll-top they've got here and then I fell asleep. Think I was dehydrated – I'll have to be more careful – and also I've got sunburned across the tops of my eyebrows. Gorgeous.
Reading: East of the Mountains – David Guterson
Win a trip to New York
Did that get your attention? Sorry, have been meaning to mention it for ages and kept forgetting. I've also added a link at the top of the page and next to that you'll see another link to the shiny new Jessie Hearts NYC page I've been slaving over. I'm doing a Della Says: OMG! one too, but that one isn't quite ready yet. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see. I'm going to be adding some book background and extras when I get a chance, but in the meantime I'm just trying to get up to date before school hols start… tomorrow. Creeps up on me every year.
July 20, 2011
San Francisco: 20 July 2001
Yesterday was cloudy so we had coffee and a danish* then walked up to a little park with a great view that the receptionist had told us about. Then we went to get tickets for Alcatraz and found they were sold out until next week. They release some each day so I'm going to go and try later. We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch – clam chowder in a sourdough bowl. We came back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before deciding to take one of the free walking tours at Telegraph Hill, which was wonderful – all little streets and steps with gardens and beautiful houses and views. After that, at about 7.30, we went to an Italian place for pasta and red wine.
* Only our second day and we were already horrified by the prices. We'd budgeted assuming an exchange rate between $1.50 and $2 to the £ (which is what the guidebooks had been based on, and what we'd got when we went to New York the previous year) but the actual exchange rate was about $1.33. Not to sound Bros-esque, but I hadn't realised what a massive difference it would make…
Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill
{Just realised that I tended to write this diary the following morning – probably because I was always up earlier than David – so it will actually always be a day behind, but I'm not changing it. It's easier this way.}
July 19, 2011
San Francisco: 19 July 2001
We got a bus into downtown San Francisco from the airport and stupidly decided to walk to the hotel, which was at least a couple of miles and up and down some of the steepest hills I've ever seen. The hotel (the San Remo) is lovely and right near Fisherman's Wharf.
We had a wander round the hotel, then went to Pier 39 and had chicken burger and chips for tea. Crossing the road on the way back, a man stopped me and said he was giving me a ticket. I immediately panicked, thinking I'd broken some law I wasn't even aware of, but the ticket was actually a sticker with a picture of the Cheshire Cat and 'I luv your smile.'
Back at the hotel we were in bed by 9, having been up for 24 hours.
A writing course… with me!
I'm hosting my first writing course with the wonderful Winning Words website next month and if you sign up with the early bird price this week you effectively get a week for free.
On this six week course you'll learn:
What teen fiction actually is (and how to decide what age group you actually want to write for)
How to come up with inspired ideas
How to create kick-ass characters
How to write convincing dialogue
How to grab readers right from the first page and keep them hooked to the last
The teen fiction cliches you may want to avoid (or not!)
And the reading list is pretty fabulous too.
I'm a bit nervous, so it would be lovely to have some friendly faces there – even if I can't see them, cos it's an online course…
July 18, 2011
10 years ago today…
I wrote this in my diary:
We got up at 4.45am and were at Manchester Airport for 6.20. When we checked in we were told our flight was delayed and we'd miss our connection so they put us on an earlier flight – which was also delayed. It got us in slightly earlier than the original would have. We're now on the San Francisco plane, where we've been for about 6 hours with 4 more to go! I've been reading English Passengers and watched The Mexican.
Wow. Gripping stuff, eh? Not the most exciting first entry into the diary of our Big Trip… We'd planned to spend three months in America, travelling up and down the west coast before getting a train across the top and then travelling down the east coast. Unfortunately, the exchange rate was a complete bastard and we realised fairly early on that our money wasn't going to last, but we had six completely fabulous weeks. I can't quite believe it was ten years ago (but also, in the way of memories, I absolutely can) and I really hope we get to do something similar in the relatively near future (this time with two small-ish boys in tow, obviously).
Anyway, I'm going to try to transfer everything from my diary (and David's "notes", assuming I can read them) on to here, with accompanying photos. I've been meaning to do that for years, so the 10 year anniversary is probably as good a time as any. I'll try not to bore you all too much…
{The photo is the inside front page of the notebook I took with me: stupid pic of me and D, my sister and eldest nephew, Christopher Eccleston (what?!), graduation pic with my friends Caroline and Kathryn [and awful glasses] and one of me and Mum.}
Happy Monday
A month or so ago I discovered this advert and I watched it over and over again. (I've just noticed it's had 33million views. They weren't ALL me…):
And now, thanks to lovely Pollypoptart, I've just watched this:
Just another example of why Sesame Street is the best children's TV show of all time.
