I’m not sure if it’s all the windows, or if it’s poorly isolated, but it’s a bit cold in my room, to the extent that I use the thermostat to get heating instead of cooling 🙂
At 8:00, I was at Hertz to pick up the car I had reserved. The staff asked for a driver’s license, a credit card, and an ID, like a passport. I didn’t need to show the passport on the two previous occasions, so that was left in the safe in the hotel room. I handed him my Swedish national identity card, which he wasn’t impressed by, but then realized I was a Gold Member (which sounds fancier than it is, I think). Then he found my reservation prepped in a shelf, and all was good, no passport needed. We crossed the street, and apparently someone had forgotten to clean the vehicle because there was a cardboard box for bottles in the passenger seat. Easily fixed though.
I got in, set up the seat, and discovered that it had Android Auto, so I connected my phone and started the navigation for the Computer History Museum. Estimated time about 1:20. A little bit longer than I had expected, but I guess I was going in rush traffic. Soon, I realized that the car did not have adaptive cruise control, which, during this ride, would have been awesome! Speeds between 5 and 65 mph the whole ride. On a few occasions, I could punch in the cruise control.
I arrived at the museum, found a parking spot, and started to look for some breakfast. Across the street, there was a 7-Eleven, where I bought two hot dogs and a Coke. It would have to suffice.
I entered the museum and showed my ticket to the staff. A friendly guy asked if it was the first time and explained the layout. I liked the layout, pretty easy to follow around, and lots of stuff to look at, not only pictures but actual machines!
It took me two hours to get through their exhibition “The First 2000 Years of Computing”.
After that, I thought of getting some lunch in their cafeteria, but there was some sort of event on the upper floor, and they were apparently on a lunch break because the line was very long. So I continued to the next exhibit instead. It seems like they have two different setups of old machines that are in working condition. However, they only did demos a couple of times a month, and today was of course not one of them 🙁
The last exhibit was more current, including cellular communication, software, games (a section about World of Warcraft), and a car crash simulation.
I spent about three hours before moving on. When I exited the museum, I was stopped by an Asian woman who asked for my name and wondered if we hadn’t met earlier. She named a conference and seemed a bit sceptical when I told her I’m from Sweden and here on vacation.
I checked, and Googleplex was just a few minutes away, and they had a visitor’s center, so I went there. It wasn’t more than a cafe, a store, and some art. But I got some light lunch, I got to complain a bit about the lesser service to Workspace accounts to a Google employee (not that he can do much about it), and I got a couple of photos.
Next up was an Intel Museum. Here you could follow the development of microchips, and get some insight into how they are produced. It’s an insane amount of stuff in an incredibly small volume. Fascinating!
I continued to Walmart to get some supplies for tomorrow; however, I couldn’t find any suitable lunch to bring (was looking for a salad or similar). I’ll see what I can come up with. I then went back to the hotel, took about 1:45. I found a parking spot just behind the hotel, but when I was trying to figure out the parking meter, a guy behind me said it wasn’t necessary, because I wasn’t allowed to park there before it was free (in 10 minutes). He had just parked in front of me and was just waiting for the clock to turn 18, and if a parking attendant showed up before, jump in the car and take a lap around the block.
So I waited, no one showed, and back to my room. Changed clothes and then went back to the same block for some dinner at Ti Piacera, an Italian restaurant. Ordered some bread and pasta Bolognese along with a mocktail. The restaurant was about half full, with a duo playing live music, so the sound level was quite high, and people were having way too much fun for a Thursday evening.
I got my bread and my pasta, but not my drink. When I pointed it out, the waiter apologized and actually took it off the bill. Very nice gesture!
One thing I wanted to do in San Francisco was to ride a driverless car. However, both Waymo and Zoox require a US-based phone, so I can’t install the app. And, according to Google Gemini, even if I managed to install the app, it will probably require a US phone number. Darnit!