Our last week in San Francisco:

The last week in San Francisco was a constant list of things we needed to do for the move and amazing dinners.

Wednesday night, TJ’s 35th birthday, we had dinner with 6 friends at Kokkari: http://www.kokkari.com/
We had been trying to go there for a long time, as Jon and Mags used to tell us how much they loved it, and what a great place it was for a large group. The food was fantastic, very flavorful Greek. We brought some large-format wines – starting with a magnum of R, and then one of Davis Bynum Pinot Noir, and a Bennet Lane Zinfandel.

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We walked to the restaurant from the hotel, (we checked into it that night, as the packers packed and moved our belongings into storage that day,) the Hotel Vitale. It was fun being sort of tourists in San Francisco- and created a wonderful transition between being in the house and leaving the city.

And our last meal in California was at the one place we had always wanted to go- but could never keep a reservation, The French Laundry. I tried making a reservation for TJ’s birthday, and while out getting lunch for the movers on Wednesday, they called to ask if we wanted to come up that night. Frantically- I tried explaining to them that we had reservations for 8 people that night- were moving to London that week – that it was my husband’s birthday – and please, if there was anything they could do, could we possibly come another night before we left. They randomly had availability for us on Friday night! I don’t know if it was the desperate tone of my voice, or speed-talking that did it.

The experience was elegant and relaxing. 9 courses plus a few extra with some amuse bouche, and a seemingly endless stream of desserts. There was so much food, I actually sighed once I saw the waiter coming with house-made truffles.

My favorite courses were these small cones of salmon tartare, in an ice-cream cone looking sesame crisp; the lobster “mitts”, and a domestic kobe-raised beef. The stemware, plates and amazingly-purposed silver serving pieces created a fantastic table. We peaked into the kitchen, (it was off of the main ‘house’ that had the 3 dining areas, and connected by a service hallway) for awhile through windows outside before we left. It was spectacular to seeing the calm but constant stream of preparations – I watched one chef prepare something in a small silver bowl- and imagined him preparing one sauce, for one dish, for one person – and how many times he must do that each night. And then the next night, it all changes.

A beautiful way to celebrate our last night in San Francisco; we are very lucky.

Arrival

We’re here! We arrived on Sunday afternoon, 17 bags in tow. A little tired, but very excited about starting this adventure in London. We spent part of our first night, last night, in a pub watching Arsenal! (Somehow life is not too different – Sundays watching football.)

Our schedule:
-Hotel until Wednesday.

-Corporate Housing: Wednesday, January 31st through February 28th, at the Nell Gwynn House, in Chelsea. You can get an idea of what the apartments/rooms look like here: http://www.londonservicedapartments.co.uk/economy/nell-gwynn-house.htm. (Rumor has it, they are so small, you can turn the tv in the “living room” off with your big toe from the bedroom.)

-After March 1, we’ll will have found an apartment and will spend the next few weeks looking for one mainly in Marylebone: http://www.marylebonevillage.com/index.cfm/pcms/site.home/.

We are reachable via our current cell phone numbers, (we’ll have to change numbers at some point,) and of course email, - I hope to start writing about this experience and will send a link soon.

The move was filled with many stories of people showing us great kindness. From the moving company going through each of our just-packed boxes looking for the inadvertently packed brand-new laptop, to the wine shipping store staying open after they normally closed as we rushed up to Napa with 15 cases that needed to get to their new home in Florida, to the French Laundry accommodating us as we scrambled and failed to find two other people to join us in last-minute reservations.

We closed the door on the house, thinking of all the wonderful moments we had there, starting with the rehearsal dinner, and ending with both of our parents celebrating Thanksgiving with us – the house, and San Francisco have brought us a lot of joy – and we cannot wait to experience London and the travels we will do from here!

Much love!
-Rachel (and TJ)