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Where do I begin? It's been a busy couple of days on the road, but now we're in the city of San Francisco! As you may recall from my previous blog entry, the night before last, a bee stung me on my leg in Yosemite Park. When I woke up, my foot was swollen like a football and it really hurt! I could barely muster the strength to hobble to the restroom in the morning and then spent another hour lying on the deflated air mattress dozing in and out of sleep. I felt exhausted and was worried about the swelling. Slowly, I packed away all the tent equipment as Wendy had gone to her horse-riding expedition. After I picked her up at the stables, she drove me to the park's clinic.
It took a while to get seen to. The clinic would not accept travel insurance and I had to pay them first before they could attend to me! Had to then pre-authorise the treatment with my travel insurance first. That's why I prefer to live in Europe - medical system there is much better and cheaper than in the US. Anyways, the doctor was nice. Explained that I was suffering from a large local reaction to a bee sting. There were 2 options. The first was to leave it and the swelling would gradually subside after 5-10 days. The second option would be to take steroids which would bring the swelling down far more rapidly but there would be associated side effects. I opted for the medication option, with doctor's orders to keep my foot up and not walk around - at least for a day.
Having been seen to, we left Yosemite for the long drive to Napa Valley. It took far longer than the suggested 3,5 hours. It probably took us closer to 6 hours... Any ways, we finally got to Napa Valley and spent a small fortune staying at a hotel last night as we couldn't face trying to find a campground with no map and no idea of where we were and how to get anywhere. I skyped my family at night and when it got too late, continued the conversation with them in the morning. Spoke to my gran and she said that getting stung by a bee is a good thing as it helps your immune system and helps get rid of arthritic pains! My foot is still swollen from the bee sting, although not as bad as before. Still, can't walk around on it too much and it has started itching like hell!
Today, we decided to sniff out a few wine estates so we headed out to the Robert Mondavi Estate with its extensive art collection, garden sculptures, cellar tours, wine tastings and gift shop. It's a wonder they actually find the time to make wine! Lunch was at V.Sattui where the over-stocked deli had mountains of cheese, meats and salads. Wine tasting here was a more modest $10 - as opposed to the $25 (and up) that most other places charge. But, as I was in medication and Wendy was driving, we both couldn't drink! So, no point in hanging around for too long - onwards to San Francisco!
Accommodation was at the centrally situated HI Downtown, which I'd stayed at during my previous visit to San Fran. We asked the guys at reception where they would recommend good seafood and they said we should try Sotto Mare in Little Italy - a steep walk up one of the many SF hills, but worth the hobble! Tried their Boston Clam Chowder - yum! And the Seafood Linguine was one of the best outside of Italy - for $17 it incl: succulent giant prawns, juicy mussels, clams, scallops, squid and shrimp! Their slogan should be "more seafood than pasta" because that is certainly the case! We got chatting to the chef - a Mexican guy - who's worked there for over 4 years. He did a great job but, boy is he tired!
Afterwards, we rolled out of there and went for aperitifs at the Burritt Room, in the tastefully decorated Mystic Hotel, for craft cocktails of the highest quality. Wendy had the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, whereas I asked the barman to rustle up a fruity number. He surprised me with a "Monkey's Gland" consisting of gin, pomegranate, orange juice, Absinthe and orange bitters! I've never had absinthe before. The cocktail was created in the 1920's by Harry McElhone, owner of Harry's New York Bar in Paris. The aroma alone was intoxicating, nevermind the drink - I loved it! This has been a great first night in San Fran - fine food AND fine drinks.
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