San Rafael

The day off started with good intentions, following the frisson of our first earthquake in the early hours. We would travel by bus further into the East Bay (where Berkeley is situated) where we would then stop for breakfast before catching another bus into San Francisco, bypassing the city and travelling to San Rafael, past the famed San Quentin prison. We knew not what lay in San Rafael but TT simply wanted the excitement of the trip so off we toddled, catching two buses before we realized we were passing through Albany, a place we had investigated earlier in the week.

I love these retro signs, although Club Mallard looked a tad forbidding in daylight

I had hoped for the sake of my Aussie mates that BevMo (Beverages and More) was an inspiration exclusive to this area but I'm disappointed to discover it is a successful chain.

Long story short, we eventually become hopelessly lost in a seedy and sparsely habited wasteland marked by dug up roads and ghost malls after scrupulously following the Google Maps instructions to the end of the trainline, unable to find the bus stop that would then take us on to San Rafael. After walking around the same three blocks no less than three times, TT decides to throw in the towel and give up on the San Rafael idea as we were by now in danger of fainting from lack of food. So we boarded the San Francisco bound train that would take us out of our purgatory, mocked by a now too familiar road sign outside the station...

However, after only one stop we rallied, jumped off the train and once more set off in search of the frustratingly elusive bus line. And after almost another hour we found it...at an unmarked bus stop which a quick call to the transit hotline declared did not even exist. Nevertheless our bus eventually arrived, charged us $9.60 for the privilege of boarding and then, hilariously, drove us straight back past our favourite three blocks where hordes of people mysteriously boarded at more unmarked bus stops, all looking just as confused and irritable as we were. SAN RAFAEL here we come!

I'm happy to say we loved it at first sight.

Food was the immediate requisite

and after quick consideration we decided on....

Another retro delight.

This bench is a Porsche, by the way

Happily, the food was delicious, too, and gave us the strength to wander the streets for a short while.