Thursday, July 30, 2009

Last Night in San Francisco


On our last night in San Francisco we stayed at the Le Meridian Hotel in the financial district. This was a beautiful hotel with an amazing view of the city. The famous pyramidal TransAmerica building is reflected in the building across from us. Each room had angled corner windows which allowed for a near panoramic view. These first two pictures were taken upon our arrival in the mid-afternoon. As outstanding as this hotel was, it was not as nice as our first two nights at the Omni. The Omni's view wasn't as nice, but the staff was incredible. The housekeeping staff left milk and cookies for the kids. The concierge, "Lex" got us VIP tickets to the King Tut exhibit. The door men greeted us enthusiastically and would not let us open a single door.
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You can see the Bay Bridge from this window.


Our daughters were thrilled with the rooftop gardens. We don't see much of these in York County, PA. I tried to take some pictures at night but they didn't come out very well. I promise I will invest in a good camera!


I got up at dawn. I was quite excited to discover the Bay Bridge surrounded by a delightful pink bay! From this you can get some idea of the night view.



A little more pink bay.
We booked all of our San Francisco and Santa Cruz rooms through Priceline. Our bid was $100.00 (USD). These rooms would normally go for over $200.00. Our rooms were outstanding, clean and comfortable. I would highly recommend using Priceline. Please be aware, however, that they only guarantee one bed. If you are traveling with children or others that could be a problem. In our case, we asked the front desk for a room with two beds and the upgrade was made. No problem. We noticed that there were lots of empty rooms at the Le Meridian. Priceline is providing a service by filling up rooms that would otherwise go empty. In Santa Cruz, we bid on the Chaminade Resort and Spa for three nights. We got a two bed room for the first two nights. They did move us on the third night because it was Fourth of July weekend, a Friday, and they had a wedding booked.
No problem. We sent the girls to stay with my brother for the night and we had a room to ourselves!
BTW I could not wait to get a new post up here. The writing thing was fun but took me way out of my comfort zone. I promise to post paintings soon. I am working on two simultaneously. One is ready to photograph as a WIP. I just need to let it dry a bit.




5 comments:

Tom said...

I've enjoyed all of your entries from your Cali trip. Thanks for the postings and it was great to see all of you.

dive said...

Lovely photos, Neetzy. The reflection of the Transamerica and the pics of the Bay Bridge have got me all excited about my trip there.

I shan't be using Priceline as I've got a pretty good deal from Katieline, though it'll probably involve me doing some of the washing up.

neetzy said...

Hi Tom,

Thanks for stopping by! We had an awesome time with you. I'm glad you've enjoyed the Cali postings. I only posted a very small amount. I didn't even get to Yosemite yet! You definitely live in a beautiful area.

Dive,
I'm glad you liked them. It is truly a beautiful city. I'm sure Katie will take great care of you! Even if it does meaning washing up!

Katie said...

Great photos of SF Neetzy! And the funniest thing is that the rooftop garden photo is of my old building! My law firm used to work in the Old Fed, next door to your hotel. We used to have little parties up on that roof! And it was a nice place to sit for a quick afternoon break. (Granted, we now have a huge rooftop deck at our new building, but I do miss being right in the heart of the financial district.) Glad you had fun in SF, and got some good hotel deals! And I don't think Dive will have to do much washing up when he's visiting, as I'll have been cleaning for months before his arrival!

neetzy said...

Haha you're like me Katie! I need visitors once in a while to motivate me to clean. Dive appears to be a neat freak. (Just hide the white gloves). That is so amazing that you worked in the building with the terrace garden. My kids will be impressed. I worked on Wall Street for a while (on the 50th floor). We had amazing views but you could feel the building sway. I'm off to finish my little story for Dive's Writing Challenge.