Hotel Zephyr, San Francisco (8 April)

All the hotel bookings for our trip were made by the travel agent - we didn't choose which hotel to stay in - we just said where we wanted to be and when, and set the budget.  So far we've stayed in chain hotels (Best Western); the modest, independently-run View Hotel in Monument Valley, and the enormous, brash Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.  I certainly didn't expect to blog specifically about a hotel, but this is no ordinary hotel!

The frontage of the Hotel Zephyr on Beach Street in the Fisherman's Wharf district of San Francisco  is pretty unassuming: modern, looking more like an office building than a hotel.  Inside though, we realised that it was more than a bit quirky and eccentric.  Here's the reception and lounge area:

Tom loved lounging in one of the big padded portholes:

Given this start, we wondered what our room might look like!

The maritime theme continued, with the great addition of a (magnetic) dart-board. Luckily our room is at the end of the corridor, so there's no-one on the other side of the wall to hear the thud-thud-thud of the darts!

Outside, there's an amazing courtyard garden, complete with cylindrical ping-pong table (far right):

There was the biggest set of Connect 4 I've ever seen, including special poles to lift up the pieces:

And then there was the fire-pit, for when the evenings get chilly:

There is also a games room with a pool table; a long, polished table for a "shove ha'penny" type game, along with chess, board games and more.  Finally, I should perhaps mention that the bar that adjoins the courtyard garden serves 24 craft beers.  We've truly landed on our feet with this one!