A Very Good View of San Francisco

San Francisco marked the half-way point of our trip around America. It was also the week of Thanksgiving and we hadn't spent more than three nights in one place up to that point. We were likely to be exhausted. Knowing all this in advance we decided to splurge, to treat ourselves a little in a style befitting a honeymoon.

The Fairmont is to San Francisco what the Savoy is to London. It sits atop Nob Hill, which should really be called Nob Mountain, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002. In fact, the United Nations Charter was drafted at the Fairmont in 1945. The famed Penthouse Suite has been the San Fransisco residence for every U.S. president since William Howard Taft. It's simply iconic, and a perfect choice for a honeymoon.

The Fairmont Hotel

We decided to counter all of our Motel 6 rooms by booking a Tower Suite for six nights, pulling the honeymoon card in the hope they would look after us. And they did. There are two parts to the hotel. The main building is eight stories high, but the Presidential Suite occupies the whole top floor. Then there's the tower, which was added in the sixties. It has twenty-four stories, but the very top one is a function room with its own elevator. Our room was on the twenty-third floor. I tell you what, there's nothing like getting in an elevator with some pompous old geezer who looks down his nose at your sneakers, waiting for him to press the button to his mid-level floor and then smiling at him while selecting the highest floor on the panel. Joy.

The room was set up for our arrival, with the lights on and classic Christmas music playing softly. It was nearly sunset and with one look at the view we realised we weren't going to see much of San Francisco. At least not up close. 

From the Golden Gate to Alcatraz

From Alcatraz to Embarcadero

I remember Mum or Dad asking me during a phone call why we weren't out and about seeing the sights, to which we replied that we could see them all from our room. The inside of our room was equally lovely. Just being able to sit on a couch was luxury enough, let alone being able unpack all our stuff. We even had our very own entrance hallway. The bathroom was marble and there was a separate area with a dressing table. I've always wanted a dressing table.

Apologies for the mess, but I think it took us all of ten minutes to spread our stuff everywhere. It took us a hell of a lot longer to pack it all up at the end of the week, but it was so worth it.