Mom and I are back from San Francisco.  We had an excellent time and will spend tomorrow recuperating and doing laundry before I go back to work.  If you've never been to San Francisco before, here are some suggestions:


1. Buy the City Pass.  Your public transportation, admission to all the major museums, a cruise, discount coupons from Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39 (which are good for two years, cos there is no way you will use them all unless you have ten stomachs), and a free piece of Ghiradelli's chocolate are all yours with City Pass, just $42.  Considering that the cruise alone is $42, it's a great bargain.

2.  Unless you are just passing through San Francisco, don't bother renting a car.  Public transportation gets you anywhere, including to Berkeley and San Jose if you want to go that far.

3. Get a flight/hotel combination package.  We stayed at the Cartwright Hotel in Union Square for an extremely reasonable price with a package from travelocity.com.  Everything was perfect.

Anyway...it was a good trip for an old lady who loves to shop and can walk, but can't walk too much. She had a great time. In other news, British food historian Andrew Dalby responded to my email asking for assistance with cardamom research. He asked me a lot of questions in return. This is great. I'm just glad that Mom is having a good time. I was concerned that she would be a bit crankier, but she is a nice guest and makes buddies everywhere she goes. We just have a few more days with her, and so we have to enjoy them while we can.