Milwaukee to San Francisco

Today was a travel day, but without a game too - the Giants are playing a day game, and I'm not due to arrive until early evening. The train journey back to Chicago was easy and I'd ensured that I left 3 hours to get to the airport, expecting it to take one to one and a half at the most, which turned out to be accurate. Chicago was hot today and fortunately the aircon was working on the Blue Train as it trundled out to O'Hare airport.

Unfortunately, this plane had also been changed, I think, because this time I found myself in an exit row, which means that the seats are narrower than normal, which was a problem as I ended up somewhat wedged into the middle of the three seats for the scheduled 4 hour flight. However, when you see men in grubby hi-vis jackets walking around the inside of the aircraft sticking duct tape to things, you start to wonder. This was an old Continental 757-200 which desperately requires refurbishment, I think. In the end, once all the paperwork was sorted out, we left 30 minutes left - and we arrived 30 minutes late into San Francisco after a smooth flight. As I was in the exit row, I was the first off the plane, but that doesn't really do you much good as you then get to spend longer waiting at he baggage carousel. I bought my BART ticket and got to my hotel just after 8pm local time, desperate for some food (there wasn't any on the plane) so I decided to use the hotel's own restaurant, although I now think it may be twinned with Fawlty Towers, as my experience could have come right out of that series with a bit of two soups thrown in too.

The unwelcomingly chilly reception from the lady host who sat me in a corner after we'd walked past a large number of perfectly servicable tables was just the start, unfortunately. It wasn't a Chinese restaurant, but the entire staff were Chinese or Chinese American, and all had strong accents, which I often have trouble understanding, but their English wasn't altogether very good either. There was a waiter who tried to be efficient and helpful, but sometimes it was difficult to get his attention, another man who refilled glasses of water very occasionally, and finally a man who can be best described as an oriental-looking version of Manuel, but not from Barcelona, who would shuffle-run about. As I'd not eaten anything since the oatmeal for breakfast, I decided to have a starter and a main, and see what size everything came as before deciding on a pudding or not. The main course came with a choice of two side dishes, so I chose chips and a salad. The first dish to arrive was the salad, not the starter. Once I'd finished the salad, barely having put the knife and fork down, the plate was whipped away and the starter was presented. The salad was nice and the pork sliders with onion rings were nice too - I just wish they'd come the other way around.