We finished our sourdough pancakes and went to bubblegum alley. A narrow side street with walls peppered with bubble gum as far as you can see and as high as you can reach and even higher (some must bring ladders). It was equally fascinating and disgusting. We left our mark with two Extra peppermint on top of one another carefully not touching any other part of the wall. Lunch was ordered at Smash cafe and brought along on the train. Volunteers from the rail and park society told stories and guided us through the ride in the observation car. The observation car is on the top deck of the train and has windows from floor to ceiling and above you allowing for a great view in all directions. The volunteers were more or less successful in telling stories and grabbing people’s attention and one could argue that they took their task a tad too seriously but without quite picking up what really needed to be improved (don’t talk over one another or correct the new guy in training constantly). We passed desert landscapes, vineyards, vegetable fields, large oil fields, quarries, factories and a ghetto of homeless people along the tracks (the tour guides deftly ignored this last “feature”). We almost missed our connection in San Jose when the train had changed tracks but with no announcements and with train personnel who did not see the point of alerting waiting passengers. Luckily, we made it to Millbrae and the Dylan hotel. Such a shame we only got to stay there half a night. Lovely hotel at a smaller price than our hostel!