12th June, Thursday – Napa Valley, San Francisco
Day 13
Today’s the much awaited day for both of us – for very different reasons though. O_O For Sirui, cos he’s quite the wine person, and me, cos it’s the first time I’m gonna drive overseas.
Well, driving overseas isn’t supposed to be a big deal, except for the fact that it’s a left-hand drive in America, and Singapore is right-hand? O_O so everything’s in reverse.. Yikes!
Our car rental was done rather hastily, leaving much to be desired. The quest for the cheapest car rental and convenience was indeed a delicate balance. Sigh. Anyway, so we ended up with:
Uhuh. Small enough, but it’s a sedan! And I’ve only driven hatch-backs around in Singapore (well, I suppose the sedan in the driving school 4 years ago doesn’t count anymore.) Yeah, so you can probably imagine that I was getting palpitations just sitting behind the wheel, suddenly realising that the gear stick was on the right, and all your signal switches were swopped to the opposite side - so that everytime I try to signal left or right, i flick on the windscreen wipers.. -_-" And yeah, you drive on the opposite side of the road.
And, to get to our destination, I had to navigate hectic San Francisco’s early morning traffic with the busy interstate traffic. Eeps. Not to mention that I was the only driver?!@#$% -_-“”
And the stupid GPS which we rented kept giving us circuitous directions, kept asking us to go off the interstate, only to get back on it 5 seconds later. -_-“ Gosh I hate technology.
Sigh. Odds heavily stacked against.
Well, may I shamelessly say that I did alright – considering that I arrived back in 1 piece – but boy, that driving experience will probably stick in my mind for a long time.
Anyway, on to slightly happier things – slightly, cos wine isn’t exactly my cup of tea?
So off we reached Napa Valley, after close to 3 hours of driving and stopping at the visitors centre to ask for directions. (one thing about driving in America, is that places are so darn far apart, so get antsy after just 45 minutes of driving and not reaching your destination – cos you’re too used to reaching wherever you need to go in 30minutes back home in Singapore)
Copia – which contained vineyards, gardens, and wine tasting facilities.
Just for the record, I didn’t drink and drive.
Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the “attractions”.. They had this really beautiful edible-garden, where almost all the plants – fruits or leaves – were actually edible! =)
Our next stop, Sutter Home, where the guys did more wine tasting.. I settled for tasting some of the homemade sauces – they had rather interesting sauces, such as apricot salsa sauce, which I was rather tempted to buy back, except that I couldn’t carry it, and that I don’t eat chips at home -_-".
And photo-whoring with the fake props in the wineries.. =P
Took a picnic stop at the Sattui winery! Nice place!
And guess who I met at the Sattui winery?
Joann! =) haha, such a coincidence!
Next stop: Somona vineyards! On the way, I was shown exactly how not to drive in the states..
Cos the route wound through the hills, the curves were way sharp - the speed limit was like 25mph (miles per hour).. And there i was, getting tail-gated through a large part of the journey, even though i was travelling faster than that on the curves.. Urgh. I don't know which was more scary - getting tail-gated, or travelling at such speeds through the curves.. Ack. Never again. Needless to say, as soon as I found a slip road to let that idiot over take me, I could travel at a much safer speed.. Phew.
Yes, so we reached our destination in Somona Valley safely.. Wah. Stressful.
Vineyard in Somona!
Headed back to downtown SF after the vineyard tours!
On the way, passed through the Golden Gate Bridge..
Note the thick fog shrouding the bridge!
Tried to go up to Lincoln Park to try to catch a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, but we forgot about the stupid fog, which literally shrouded most of SF bay, so that we couldn't see the bridge at all! O_O
On top of the hill, at Lincoln Park..
Since we couldn't see the bridge, decided to take a drive through downtown SF.. And drove down the curvaceous Lombard Street! =P Quite exciting.. Heehee..
Wanted to try to drop by some other attractions, but everywhere's closed since its past 5pm! So we decided to return the vehicle and call it a day.. Save petrol too.. Heh. =P But what a trying experience this day has been!
Today’s the much awaited day for both of us – for very different reasons though. O_O For Sirui, cos he’s quite the wine person, and me, cos it’s the first time I’m gonna drive overseas.
Well, driving overseas isn’t supposed to be a big deal, except for the fact that it’s a left-hand drive in America, and Singapore is right-hand? O_O so everything’s in reverse.. Yikes!
Our car rental was done rather hastily, leaving much to be desired. The quest for the cheapest car rental and convenience was indeed a delicate balance. Sigh. Anyway, so we ended up with:
Uhuh. Small enough, but it’s a sedan! And I’ve only driven hatch-backs around in Singapore (well, I suppose the sedan in the driving school 4 years ago doesn’t count anymore.) Yeah, so you can probably imagine that I was getting palpitations just sitting behind the wheel, suddenly realising that the gear stick was on the right, and all your signal switches were swopped to the opposite side - so that everytime I try to signal left or right, i flick on the windscreen wipers.. -_-" And yeah, you drive on the opposite side of the road.
And, to get to our destination, I had to navigate hectic San Francisco’s early morning traffic with the busy interstate traffic. Eeps. Not to mention that I was the only driver?!@#$% -_-“”
And the stupid GPS which we rented kept giving us circuitous directions, kept asking us to go off the interstate, only to get back on it 5 seconds later. -_-“ Gosh I hate technology.
Sigh. Odds heavily stacked against.
Well, may I shamelessly say that I did alright – considering that I arrived back in 1 piece – but boy, that driving experience will probably stick in my mind for a long time.
Anyway, on to slightly happier things – slightly, cos wine isn’t exactly my cup of tea?
So off we reached Napa Valley, after close to 3 hours of driving and stopping at the visitors centre to ask for directions. (one thing about driving in America, is that places are so darn far apart, so get antsy after just 45 minutes of driving and not reaching your destination – cos you’re too used to reaching wherever you need to go in 30minutes back home in Singapore)
Copia – which contained vineyards, gardens, and wine tasting facilities.
Just for the record, I didn’t drink and drive.
Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the “attractions”.. They had this really beautiful edible-garden, where almost all the plants – fruits or leaves – were actually edible! =)
Our next stop, Sutter Home, where the guys did more wine tasting.. I settled for tasting some of the homemade sauces – they had rather interesting sauces, such as apricot salsa sauce, which I was rather tempted to buy back, except that I couldn’t carry it, and that I don’t eat chips at home -_-".
And photo-whoring with the fake props in the wineries.. =P
Took a picnic stop at the Sattui winery! Nice place!
And guess who I met at the Sattui winery?
Joann! =) haha, such a coincidence!
Next stop: Somona vineyards! On the way, I was shown exactly how not to drive in the states..
Cos the route wound through the hills, the curves were way sharp - the speed limit was like 25mph (miles per hour).. And there i was, getting tail-gated through a large part of the journey, even though i was travelling faster than that on the curves.. Urgh. I don't know which was more scary - getting tail-gated, or travelling at such speeds through the curves.. Ack. Never again. Needless to say, as soon as I found a slip road to let that idiot over take me, I could travel at a much safer speed.. Phew.
Yes, so we reached our destination in Somona Valley safely.. Wah. Stressful.
Vineyard in Somona!
Headed back to downtown SF after the vineyard tours!
On the way, passed through the Golden Gate Bridge..
Note the thick fog shrouding the bridge!
Tried to go up to Lincoln Park to try to catch a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, but we forgot about the stupid fog, which literally shrouded most of SF bay, so that we couldn't see the bridge at all! O_O
On top of the hill, at Lincoln Park..
Since we couldn't see the bridge, decided to take a drive through downtown SF.. And drove down the curvaceous Lombard Street! =P Quite exciting.. Heehee..
Wanted to try to drop by some other attractions, but everywhere's closed since its past 5pm! So we decided to return the vehicle and call it a day.. Save petrol too.. Heh. =P But what a trying experience this day has been!
penned in the diary of memories by Alvin at
10:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home