Day 5 – Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
The Marriott, the hotel we stayed inWe had breakfast still in the Marriott, meeting up with each others in our team and other teams, saying farewell to several of them who would go back home that day. We also met several TQ Live staffs and said thanks and farewell. It's gone too fast.
That day Carol and her family would depart for Las Vegas starting their five-week journey across America. We gathered a while with the rest of the team saying the last many words that otherwise can’t be uttered face to face as soon as we become separated again. Anneke and Dirk-Jan would also on their flights home that day too.
I got several more OpenWorld shirts and another ThinkQuest jacket, as they had an excess of them and offered us to bring home some more.
Geary St. junction viewed from
the Union SquareAfter a while we checked out at 11am and moved to another hotel at our own expense, the Renoir Hotel just several blocks from the Marriott located in the McAllister St., in a triangle junction side by side to the Market St. This was the hotel where Carol and her family stayed for a couple of days earlier before TQ Live. It’s a nice hotel anyway to stay for one night. Our flight home will be on 00.10am, Friday December 10th. So we have one day and a half to explore more of San Francisco at our own.
On our own
The giant christmas tree
in Union SquareWe started our journey walking down the squarish streets of the downtown. We went to streets like Geary, Post, Leavenworth. I couldn’t remember the rest. But we visited the Union Square park, where they placed a giant Christmas tree. The tree was a gift of Macy’s, a department store located just across the street.
Climbing up the Victorian housesWhen walking, we accidentally found an Indonesian restaurant and spontaneously entered and took a seat. I had nasi rames, (a meal of rice and several different complements like meat, vegetables and all, sauced with Indonesian spices), and it tasted great! You know, often when you have a bit of your traditional dishes on foreign lands, they won’t taste just right – but this was surprising. The restaurant is owned and operated by Indonesians, so we had a good talk for an hour. Well, I can tell it’s funny why we came to the US just to taste the delicacies we can find easily back home. But can you resist the temptation of having your own kind of meals far from home?
Starting the cable car journeyWe spent the rest of the evening doing the $3 cable car riding past Lombard “The Crookedest” Street and an array of Victorian houses, to finally end in Fisherman’s Wharf. We went to a souvenir shop and did our bulk souvenir shopping there for everyone back home. We were just about to leave for a return ride on the cable car when I saw the Golden Gate Bridge hid behind the hovering fog.