Going Hungry at the Fairmont

Joop wanted Yanni to see his new bike.





We had a full day yesterday. We started off at the Winchester mansion. A descent into the madness of a woman 100 years ago. It was quite fascinating. The woman was a widow of one of the Winchester rifle descendants, as such she inherited a lot of money - too much probably for her state of mind. For some reason after the death of her husband (proceeded by the death of her only infant 12 years before) she consulted a pyschic who informed her she would only achieve eternal life if she avenged the deaths of all those victims of the Winchester rifle by continuously building a house. For some reason she left Connecticut for San Jose and began to build a house that was continuously added on to for 30 plus years ( 24 hours per day). She had such an exaggerated view of her responsibility for these rifle deaths that she had a seance every night to consult with the victim's spirits and slept in a different room every night so the spirits couldn't find her. The house ended up having over 2o0 rooms. Not having a clear design in mind, doors and staircases were everywhere going nowhere. This is a woman that believed the 1906 earthquake was a personal message for her from the spirits, so she shut down 30 rooms immediately. One of the highlights was that she changed most of the staircases into easy risers - risers only an inch high, so that she could still wander about with her severe arthritis. I adored those staircases. Even though the price for the tour was quite steep, and I initially thought - how could it be worth it? I enjoyed the tour very much.

Afterwards we headed up into the hills between San Jose and Santa Cruz in order to see Big Basin Redwood state park. The drive up into the mountains was steep and windy. The vegetation became very dense quickly and often the road was only one lane wide. We paused for lunch in a small redwood grove. Very quiet and I felt devoid of mammalian life, although Kyr insisted that there were squirrels that he had read about or seen on Planet earth. A mature forest is a silent thing.

We encountered some of the big redwoods near the park headquarters. I had read that some are 1500 years old. I'm not sure how old the ones were that we were hugging. We look like minature people next to them.

After the taxing drive up into the hills and the intense commuter traffic along the connecting highways we settled in at the pool for a relaxing swim before supper. It was still in the high 80's at 6:30. We were optimistic about eating in the lounge with the duelling pianos. It was not to be. No amount of flagging down the waitress for any type of service resulted in any food orders for over 45 minutes, everyone around us was getting served though. Finally in frustration, and complete irritation with the waitress who had been rude to us our first night we left in search of room service. I complained to the reception staff while the boys went up to the room. Let us just say after 2 1/2 hours of searching for food in the fairmont it was not forthcoming. Both Kyr and Joop were umbraged and with Kyr on the phone multiple times and Joop consulting the night manager, we finally managed a partial order close to 11:30pm. Not what one expects as a platinum member. I hope that we receive some compensation for our weariness and hunger, and Joop's anguish because he is not to eat after 9pm without it causing grievous physical discomfort.

Today we move on the the illustrious Fairmont in San Francisco.