07/04/1998   English German
  Edition # 9  
San Francisco, 07-04-1998

Travel Rewards

Michael To ceremoniously end the book stress, Angelika had planned two trips for us: First, driving to Napa Valley in a rental car, where we visited some wine producers that were still unknown to us during the day (there aren't many left, as we already know most of them) and checked into a small, cozy hotel with an open fireplace in the room. In the evening, we went to "Terra," one of the best restaurants on this planet: a kind of Californian cuisine with an Asian twist. The salmon marinated in sake (Japanese rice wine) was so good that I almost fell off my chair, and the dessert, strawberries in Sauvignon Blanc, was certainly one of the top three dishes of my life. We added a bottle of wine from the excellent Hess Collection, and although the credit card winced in pain, the evening was truly an experience.

On the second reward trip, we went to the Los Angeles area: not by car, but by the Amtrak train "Starlight Express," which runs from Seattle to San Diego along the west coast of the USA and therefore also passes by Big Sur, south of San Francisco.
Figure [1]: At the train station in Oakland, where the Amtrak train from Seattle to Los Angeles passes through.

Train travel is completely unpopular in America -- those who want to travel prefer to take a plane due to the large distances. At Amtrak, a conductor approaches you on the platform, shows you where you can board, and another worker places a small bridge at the door so you don't injure yourself on the 20cm high step. The seats in "Coach" (standard train car) are significantly wider than the first-class seats in Germany, and are spaced so far apart that you can comfortably stretch out your legs, completely! Of course, there are dining cars and, as a special feature, an observation car where the seats are not facing forward but towards the floor-to-ceiling side windows. There, with a bottle of wine again, we spent several hours just watching as the Pacific waves were crashing against the cliffs.

Figure [2]: The Amtrak train winding along the coast. On board: Angelika and Michael.

Upon arriving in Oxnard (near L.A.), we spent the night at a motel and the next day we crossed over to the Channel Islands, offshore islands that are completely uninhabited and where you can enjoy hiking. We were brought ashore from the ship with a dinghy.

Figure [3]: Abandoned with the inflatable boat on the Channel Islands

The boat tour there takes just 2 hours, and we saw a Fin whale that was surely 10 meters long and dozens of cute dolphins that swam alongside the boat and jumped around in the bow waves. The next day, we took the Amtrak back -- after all, it was just a weekend trip. With the ten days of vacation per year that you get here in America, we have to be frugal.

Figure [4]: Photographed from a moving train at a station along the route

After Angelika is "totally" stressed out because of her many courses, she can't contribute anything this time! The fine lady has even taken a photography course with darkroom experience at Berkeley University and has already developed her first black-and-white film.

With her eyes closed, she practiced at home over and over again how to open the film canister and load the exposed film onto a developing reel, because in the darkroom, there's no light for this task. At the university, she is now allowed to use a lab and work with chemicals as long as the course lasts, until finally the first black-and-white prints are produced. Of course, it's not entirely without risk: the other day, she ended up with a bump on her head because she ran into a wall in the dark, hahaaaa ... In the meantime, the first prints are already finished, and they turned out really well, yes indeed, the lady photographer, soon to be seen at the Ansel Adams Museum... That's it for today! Take care! Keep in touch!

Angelika and Michael

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