Melbourne to Shanghai

Wednesday - Thursday, July 30/31

After a hectic few days getting things organized before we left for China, we were finally packed and ready to travel once again. It was our turn to be the taxi as we had arranged to pick up Mum Walker and Heather (Al's sister) on our way to the airport. Fortunately the traffic was light and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time so we could finally start to unwind.

Tired Mum, Noelle and Heather around 11 pm at Melbourne airport

We were impressed with how efficient Cathay Pacific were with their check-in procedure, and then with the boarding and the flight crew were very friendly. Although the flight left at 11:40 pm, we still enjoyed the meal that was served after midnight. We dozed for nearly 6 hours before it was time for breakfast which again, was another nice meal.

Mum and Heather were on the 8:45 am flight to Shanghai but to a different airport to the one we were flying into so we just had time for a quick coffee (and an expensive one at that - AUD 40 for 4 coffees!) before they had to board their flight. Our Dragon Air flight wasn't leaving until 10 am so we had a bit more time to wander around HK airport. It was then time to get in line - again - and before we knew it we were off to Shanghai and our first visit to mainland China.

It was an amazing sight flying into Shanghai - it looked like Lego land with its multiple apartment buildings on block after block, and seemed to be laid out in a nice and orderly way. We could see massive freeways with very few cars on them, and high speed trains racing along.

Flying into Shanghai

Karen (the bride to be), met us at the airport which is located fairly close to the Xijiao State Guest Hotel where we are staying and where the wedding is to be held on Saturday. When we arrived at the hotel we were impressed with the expansive and beautiful gardens it is set in. We caught up with Mum and Heather again, along with Nick who had picked them up from the main Shanghai airport they had flown into? After dropping our bags in our lovely room we joined Nick and Karen for a quick lunch before they had to rush off to attend to some final wedding preparations. It was then time for us to unpack, freshen up and rest ahead of the busy schedule they have planned for us while we're here.

Karen, Nick and Mum at our first lunch in Shanghai

We had a quick look around our hote and saw photos of many important people (other than the Walker family) like the Queen & Prince Phillip, many US Presidents and Vladimir Putin who have stayed here over the years as it is the only 5 star garden hotel complex in Shanghai. Below are a few photos of the gardens and lobby.

The rest of the Walker family consisting of Al's older brother, Neville & his wife Maree, younger brother Colin & his wife Lorraine (the groom's parents) and their two daughters Claire & Rachael arrived later in the evening. Claire came with her husband Angus and brought their two daughters, Savannah (the three year old flower girl) and new bub, 6 week old Imogen Ivy. Rachael came with her partner Nick. All in all there are 14 Walkers that will be touring Shanghai on this trip. As all of Colin's family live in Sydney, it was great to all be together again. After catching up (and for some of us, meeting Imogen!), 14 tired bodies turned in for a good night's sleep in preparation for a big day tomorrow.

 

 

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Discovering Melbourne

Wednesday, July 23

Today we went to the city and along St.Kilda Road by tram to the Chinese Consulate to pick up our passports with the visas we need for our trip to Shanghai. We're all set now.

After lunch we walked down to the newly completed Emporium Melbourne and were blown away with the complex and the amazing variety of stores in it. There were a number of stores we'd seen overseas, and there were some new ones we'd never heard of. Two Japanese companies now have stores in this complex, one called Uniqlo (a clothing store) and the other was called Muji (a minimalist brand selling clothes, homewares, furniture etc), and their prices were very reasonable. This new complex now means we don't need to look in shops overseas that we now have in Melbourne, and never thought we'd have.

The other store and concept that blew us away was the Magnum shop, which had a long queue of people lining up to buy a customized Magnum ice cream. This consisted of choosing your Magnum flavor, then your melted chocolate flavor to go over it, and finally selecting 3 or 4 toppings to go on it or with it in a little tray. We couldn't believe that mid afternoon on a winters day in Melbourne there would be a continual queue for a customized ice cream - and that so many people were willing to pay A$8 for one!!

It's great being home again and making new discoveries in your home town, but we're looking forward to next weeks trip to Shanghai and some warmer weather.

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Melbourne

Thursday, July 17

As it's only 2 weeks before we fly to Shanghai we were anxious to lodge the applications for our visas for China, so we completed all the paperwork and set off for the local train station. At Flinders Street station in the city we changed to a tram which took us to the stop right outside the Chinese Consulate.

Flinders Street station in Melbourne

 

Lodging our applications went smoothly and we will be able to pick them up next Wednesday, so we were impressed with such a fast turnaround. One of the questions on the form was "Which countries have you visited in the last 12 months?" - this required a separate sheet of paper listing the 27 countries we've visited in the last 9 months of travelling!

We caught the tram back to Flinders Street, had a quick lunch and caught a train back to the station near Alan's parents to visit them. It was great seeing Dad looking so well and Mum as bright as ever.

Winter has really arrived in Melbourne, with the top temperature a chilly 12C with rain and a cold wind. We're really feeling it after so many months of warm - hot sunny weather!

 

 

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LA to Melbourne

Sunday July 13 to Tuesday July 15

We finally boarded our Virgin Australia flight and found our seats. It was good to be on an Aussie plane and the VA crew were bright and cheery, well organized and with good attitudes. It was also a nice touch to have a small bottle of water and a travel pack (eye shades, ear plugs, headphones and a pen) on our seat with the pillow and blanket.

Dinner was very good and as soon as it was over we settled down for a sleep - it was after 1.30 am! VA have water refill stations set up throughout the cabin so you can top up your water bottle as needed, and they also have things like packets of potato chips and chocolate bars at the refill stations and you can help yourself whenever you feel like it. We thought this was very effective and made it easy for both the crew and passengers throughout the night.

We slept for about 6 hours, then dozed for about 3 before breakfast was served. Again, it was another above-average airline meal and before we knew it, we were starting to descend. We transited through Sydney without any hassles and then boarded the flight to Melbourne. What a shock to our systems when we arrived! It was 11C and raining. Our good friend Angie was at the airport to drive us home and fill us in on all the news. It was strange being back home after so long away, but there really is no place like home and we were glad to finally get back.

We've had so many amazing experiences, seen and done so many things and met such fantastic people during this trip so we will cherish these memories forever. Thank you to everyone who was part of this trip and to all who have been following our travels on this blog.

Stay tuned for more posts as we're off to Shanghai in 2 weeks for the wedding of one of our nephews.

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San Francisco to LA

Sunday, July 13

After a wonderful night last night with Steve and Karen we thought we'd have a nice sleep ahead of our big travel day today. However, we didn't count on the noise in the hotel with it being a Saturday night and also being located next to a club. Unfortunately a group of girls returned from the club about 1am and spent the next hour or more running up and down the corridor outside our room, speaking on their phones, yelling at each other and squealing! Not conducive to a good nights sleep!! It finally ended at about 3:00 am.

When the alarm went at 7:30 amwe were still tired but had to get moving so we would be ready in time for our 9:30 am shuttle ride to the airport. There wasn't much traffic around so we arrived in plenty of time to check in and catch the flight to LA. After collecting our luggage in Terminal 1 we had to get to Terminal 3 to check in, so decided to get some exercise and walk there. Along the way we detoured into a terminal where there was a bar with the World Cup final on TV, so we watched the last 30 minutes of the game along with about 200 or more fellow passengers! There was quite a cheer when Germany kicked the winning goal but we think there were more Argentinian supporters in the crowd - and they were very quiet at the end.

Crowd watching World Cup final at LAX

 

After checking in at Virgin Australia we walked to the departure area in the Tom Bradley International Terminal to go through security. This process took nearly an hour but went quickly as we got chatting to a young family heading off to Europe for a month's holiday. There was an interesting light feature in the terminal which kept showing "totems" of the different destinations you can reach from LAX - it was very clever. The quality of meals in US airports has improved a lot and we enjoyed a nice late lunch before settling in for the long wait for our plane to depart at 10:15 pm. We're looking forward to a good sleep on the flight to Sydney where we have to change planes for the last leg home to Melbourne.

Light display of Sydney "totems" at LAX

 

 

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San Francisco, Day 3

Saturday, July 12

While Noelle indulged in some last minute retail therapy, I wandered along Market Street and some of the streets that run off it to see what was around. I was interested to see the variety in some of the old buildings that were constructed after the big earthquake and fire in the early 1900s. I couldn't resist a few streetscape photos to include in today's post.

The Hobart building and SF fire truck

Wells Fargo bank building

View along Market Street

After lunch we returned to our hotel to give ourselves plenty of time to pack in preparation for the flights tomorrow, one from SF to LA, and the next from LA back to Melbourne via Sydney. We wanted to get this done before we caught up with Steve and Karen, a couple we met on the first cruise who live in SF. They had contacted us a few weeks back re catching up and suggested we go to a local show called "Beach Blanket Babylon", which is the longest running musical revue in the world. The revue is renowned for the amazing and outlandish hats/headgear worn by the performers.

We met Steve and Karen in the lobby, and Steve organized a car for us using Uber to take us to the theatre. We weren't familiar with Uber even though it operates in Melbourne but were really impressed with the service. At the theatre seats are only allocated to a section but not to specific seats so it's a case of lining up to get the best seats in the section booked. Karen kindly offered to stay in line so that we could go and have a drink in Capps Corner, a famous Italian restaurant that is a real institution in SF and is right next door to the theatre. As Karen was near the front of the line, we got the best seats when the theatre opened its doors. Once in our seats, we had plenty of time before the show started to catch up on all the news from the 2 months since we were last together on the ship.

Steve, Karen, Noelle and Alan in front of the Club Fugazi

The theatre was quite small but ideal for a musical revue, and the show certainly lived up to its reputation. The music, singing, dancing and costumes were great, but the hats the performers wore topped it off (pardon the pun)! They were just amazing!! There was a cast of characters (politicians, entertainers etc) who helped Snow White find love with clever, witty, updated satirical words to go with great old recognizable tunes. Everyone loved it and it was a fabulous way to spend the last night of this incredible trip. Below is a photo of the sales brochure with 2 examples of hats worn by the performers! The extra large hat with the SF scene on it even had a little cable car. At the end of the show, the cast sang "San Francisco open your golden gate ..." and the theatre went dark and all the buildings on the hat lit up and the cable car moved forward and back along the brim - quite a hat!

After the show we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and it was really nice to spend time with our friends. Steve ordered another car through Uber (we were very impressed Steve) and after saying goodbye we returned to our room to put the finishing touches to our packing. We have a l-o-n-g day ahead of us!

 

 

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San Francisco - Day 2

Friday, July 11

I'm writing this as I wait in a very long line (in quite chilly conditions) for "a little cable car reaching halfway to the stars" - or even Downtown will do! We have had a very pleasant day down in the Fisherman's Wharf area but now, after dinner, we and most other day trippers, are wanting to get home. It was lovely and warm in the sunshine today but that is long gone now and the breeze off the water is quite cool.

We decided to catch a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf this morning. When we got to the ticket box at Market & Powell there were a couple of hundred people already in line so we joined it and had to wait 55 minutes to board a cable car. It's fortunate that they are so charming and unique otherwise the buses would do a roaring trade! Lines overseas are always interesting as you overhear other travellers' experiences as they talk amongst themselves or you try to pick the different languages you hear. In our case, we had a young Danish couple in front and a more mature French couple behind. The French couple didn't speak much English but did try and were very kind to take a photo of both of us riding the cable car. The Danish couple spoke excellent English and the girl had actually studied at the University of Queensland for one year and they had both visited on two other occasions so, with our recent visit to Copenhagen and their visits to Australia, we had lots to chat about. Needless to say, the 55 minutes passed quickly and enjoyably.

The Cable Car ticket line this morning

Manually turning the Cable Car

Finally ready for departure

When we reached Fisherman's Wharf, we were both quite peckish (what's new!) so were on the lookout for somewhere nice to eat when we spotted a store with some rather nice clothes in it. Luckily for me, the dresses fitted and suited me so, 4 dresses later, we left the store! We found a little cafe for lunch and, over lunch, decided to catch a street car back to our hotel with our shopping rather than carry it around all day. We had bought a daily transportation ticket that enabled us to use any form of transport as often as we liked until midnight so we thought it made sense to make the extra trip back to the hotel.

A vintage Street Car

The street cars are very vintage in appearance and they reminded us of the silver retro "Atomic" motor homes sometimes seen in old American movies. Sadly, when the next one arrived for us to catch, it was the modern version so we had to settle for riding in what looked like a bus on rails and just looking at the vintage street cars that we passed.

After dropping off the shopping and a quick freshen up, we lined up again for a cable car but this time, with fore knowledge, we walked a block or two and waited there rather than in the long line at the first stop. In the morning we had noticed that the cars were not totally filled at the first stop and when we had asked the driver why, he told us that they were not just for tourists but formed part of the metro transit system and so seats had to be left for passengers getting on at other stops. Aha! Definitely one for the memory bank that proved very useful for us. Only challenge was that the car we caught was only going to Chinatown - a little more than halfway to Fisherman's Wharf. We got off there and walked downhill (thankfully) to Pier 39.

No line and straight on

Pier 39 is VERY touristy and we thought it was like going to the Royal Melbourne Show without the sample bags or animals! Lots of souvenir shops, restaurants, cheap jewellery stores, gift shops, and stores selling sporting & celebrity memorabilia. The tourists were the same genre as those encountered at Disneyland, etc. We had a quick look around and took some photos.

Further along there was an excellent display on the history of Alcatraz accompanied by a great model of the island and lots of info boards and photos. The boards traced its history from a prison for Civil War sympathisers and wayward Confederate soldiers to the most heavily fortified prison in the world used to house infamous criminals like Al Capone. The last inmates were moved off the island in 1963. Another interesting aspect of the display was the focus on the lifestyles of the families of the wardens, etc. who had to live out on Alcatraz. We found it very interesting and it helped make up for the fact that we had arrived too late to get tickets to Alcatraz today.

The model of Alcatraz Island

From there we just ambled along soaking up the sunshine and holiday atmosphere. We went to Ghiradelli Square and The Cannery and by then, stores were beginning to close and the sun was going down.

We selected a good fish restaurant to have dinner and both of us chose a clam chowder for starters and the Red Snapper for the main course, and both turned out to be excellent choices. After a lovely meal, we headed for the cable car stop where this posting began.

The sun going down and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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