Honeymoon Day 11 - San Francisco: 49 mile Drive / Union Square

We were supposed to go to Yosemite National Park which is about 4 hours drive from San Francisco early this morning. After the stressful drive the day/night before, we had second thoughts about driving long distance again.

We woke up that morning, switched on the TV and saw that it was already snowing at Yosemite National Park. Apparently, all cars driving into the National Park needs to be equipped with a snow chain. The car rental company didn't provide for one...there is nowhere that rents which means we had to buy one - it is pretty costly. Considering that we didn't have the experience to drive under those weather conditions, and that it would be a stressful, long drive, we decided to give up going to Yosemite....a pretty difficult decision for us becos we were so looking forward to it. This also meant that we had to give up the hotel stay there which we had prepaid for and search for another hotel to stay for that night.

We decided to go back to Hotel Whitcomb, the last hotel which we stayed with the tour group as that was much better than the one we stayed at on our own the night before - Union Square Plaza Hotel - cheap but pathetic.

Checking out of the hotel ...

Picking up our car at the carpark .... it was pretty expensive to park the car overnight in the city....this was just about the cheapest place we found....at US$20 for the night.

After depositing our luggages at the hotel, we went driving on the 49 mile drive, a scenic route around San Francisco....it was pretty awesome.....we got the hang of the left hand drive and it was easier to drive within the city center as compared to the highways becos we don't have to speed that much, don't have to be constantly mindful of the exits and also we could take short breaks and switch driver seats as and when.

Couldn't bear to return the car but we had to becos it was too expensive to keep the car within the city center....not needed as well....


It was voting day for the President of the United States that day ... Of cos we all know now that President Obama had won! We were glad to be part of this exciting day and being in the US then to experience it.

Outside one of the voting stations:

Getting a free Ben & Jerry's Cone as part of the celebrations:

Even the retail shops were all decorated that day just for the voting:

We had fun shopping around Union Square that day and also went to the Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco. Had another round of awesome cheesecake!

Awesome view of the Union Square from the Cheesecake Factory at Macy's:

After all that eating and shopping, we headed back to the hotel ...for a comfortable night's rest, the last night at our favourite Hotel Whitcomb.

And oh by the way, the results for the voting was close to final when we were walking back to the hotel...everyone was cheering and shouting for Obama on the streets....we didn't have to watch news to know he won the Presidency seat :)