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Today Elsa and I will take the Amtrak to the City and meet up with Grandma at the Embarcadero BART Station. Our goal is lunch at the La Mediterrannee Restaurant who has Middle Eastern cuisine. La Mediterrannee Restaurant Web Site
Gobo and Patti have previous engagements and will not make this trip and miss out on a great day.
It is a cold, wet morning in Stockton. We have umbrellas ready. Warm jackets and winter gloves.
Stockton Amtrak Station
I-680 bridge in the back. A tanker on the river.
Elsa and I board the Amtrak bus for a ride over the Bay Bridge. The bus is nice and high and I can take a few photos of the new Bay Bridge that is being built adjacent to the current Bay Bridge.
The new Bay Bridge which is in progress
The 1 bus is a straight shot up Sacramento Street. We get off the bus at Fillmore and the restaurant is across the street and about three doors to the north.
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The restaurant
Mediterranean Meza (for 2 or more) — 15.95 per personThe cold dishes
An assortment of 10 house specialties & appetizers including Lamb Lule, Chicken Pomegranate, Spinach & Chicken Fillos,
Dolma, Hummos, Baba Ghanoush, Tabuleh & much more.
What's left of the hot dishes
Diners alfresco
The little blonde haired girl's lunch
It is amazing how compact and varied the San Francisco neighborhoods are. North Beach the hang out for the 1950's Beat Generation is just across Columbus Avenue from Chinatown. In fact Upper Grant Avenue was a popular address for the Beatniks. Whereas Grant Avenue is the heart of Chinatown.
Across the street from the restaurant is the refurbished old Clay Theatre
The 3 bus eventually heads to down town on Post Street and we get off at the Powell Street intersection at one corner of Union Square.
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The obligatory cable car photo
Nordstrom's on Market Street. This is a seven floor building open in the center.
For dessert we get Red Beard cream puffs at Blomingdale's basement eatery court
The train is 10 minutes late but we make up some of that time until just before we get to Antioch. There is a broken down train on the tracks that delays us another 40 minutes before it can be repaired enough to move it out of the way. The train is crowded and we are talking to a mother and daughter who is just a few years younger than us from Fresno so the time passes fairly quickly. Taking Amtrak is not for those on a schedule, but the Lunch Bunch are all retirees who are no longer in a big hurry. :-)
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