We've made it to San Francisco...at last.

Hola Everybody

We are in San Francisco now - here is the story of our journey and of the last couple of days we've spent in the city so far (I've attached a bunch of photos which, again, are unfortunately arranged in a very random order! Hope you can work out which photo relates to specific parts of the text.).

Saturday
We left Pismo Beach after a great breakfast with hoardes of people who were at the hotel for a wedding. It was misty/foggy again - I hope things cleared up before the service! We drove north and were fascinated by the massive changes in temperatures depending on where we were and what direction we were travelling in. Whilst we were on the coast the temp was around 65 degrees but, as soon as the road turned and headed inland, the temps soared to the mid-90s - then back down again as the coast came back into view! Not far out of Pismo was a "tourist" sign on the road showing a "vista point" where we were supposed to be able to spot seals. Martin screeched to a halt (at my insistance!) and we got out the binoculars hoping to spot some wildlife. We soon saw seals playing/fighting in the water - which was great - and then went for a short walk further along the beach. There was a huge seal just flopped on the sand, flicking sand over himself and rolling about! A quick look round and we spotted another, then another and then hundreds of them all lying together and on top of each other in a quiet cove further along the beach (I've tried to attach a pic of one of the seals on the beach but I suspect it won't show very much!). Amazing sight!
We drove on and made a short stop at a place called Gorda. It was shrouded in fog but, we were told, less than half a mile inland the temperature had reached 100 degrees - very weird (Pic of Gorda in the mist attached).
We made another stop at Monterey (famous for its jazz festival I think) and spotted a couple of the strangest signs we've ever seen - one was a very long-winded way to say "Don't eat raccoon poo" and the other...well....we just can't even begin to guess - see pics.
We eventually made it to San Francisco after just a little of the inevitable getting lost once we hit the city streets. But it wasn't too painful and we checked in to our room with no problems. The room is much smaller than the ones at our previous hotels (it's only ONE room for a start - we were beginning to get used to suites of rooms!) but it is really nicely furnished with a huge flat screen TV on the wall facing the massive bed. The room is still a good size for a city centre hotel and we're in a great location - close to plenty of toursity stuff including the very twisty street everyone recognises and the cable cars, and we can also hear the fog horns on ships in the bay. We set out for a short walk and a very good meal in the Little Italy area of SF then sleep.

Sunday
The hotel doesn't serve breakfast so we headed off to find some. We are staying on Columbus Ave and all the streets off here are the really steep ones that we all imagine when we think of SF, but our walk was pretty much on the flat. We found a great cafe called Pelegrino's who serve eggs, bacon, sausages, etc and the most enormous waffles we've ever seen! There was a big bloke in the cafe who had ordered a waffle but the waffle won easily - he could only get through half of it! We settled for omelettes and orange juice and set off to explore.
We found that we are only a couple of blocks from the area called Fisherman's Wharf - loads of shops, bars, restaurants, etc - but we passed on by and headed out to the park and the harbour. We walked for a fair few miles before turning back and making tracks for a shop called Ghirardelli's - famous for chocolate! We both had ice creams with fresh fruit and chocolate sauce (see pic - which is, I admit, a little deceiving...the ice cream really isn't as big as it looks in the pic - it's just in the foreground...honest!) - delicious!
We then wandered to the far end of Fisherman's Wharf and walked out to a huge tourist called Pier 39 - more shops, eating places, etc but it also has a huge colony of resident seals! There were hundreds (maybe more) of them all lying around on rafts tethered in the wharf (see pic) - they looked fantastic but they didn't smell as good. They were great to see though.
We had been seeing the island of Alcatraz for much of the day across the short stretch of water (when it wasn't covered in fog!) but we were taking the evening tour across the bay to see the prison up close. We got on our boat and sailed at 6.45pm...sailing into the fog. The prison is the most desolate, bleak place but we had a great trip with a short guided tour followed by a self guided section using headsets for an audio tour before being given a short demo of all the cell doors being slammed shut by the warders - very creepy and atmospheric! (see pics) We got back to shore by 10pm and wandered back to the hotel - shattered again (we're getting old, you know...).

Monday
Breakfast again at the same cafe then headed to a local pick-up point for a bus tour. We were being taken across the Golden Gate Bridge and to other key sites around the bay area. It was again very warm and sunny...until we hit the bridge. The temperatures dropped, the wind whipped up and the fog descended meaning we couldn't see a thing! Once on the other side of the bridge the fog disappeared again and the sun was allowed through - this place isn't called Fog City for nothing! We endured the cold and fog again on the way back across the bridge and then emerged again into the sunshine...very strange.
We then headed back to Pier 39 to treat ourselves to something we'd spotted yesterday - a trip on the Rocket Boat! It is a huge powerboat which takes passengers out into the bay and then flings them around at ridiculous speeds, getting them wet and seasick whilst blasting their eardrums with loud rock music! We were among the first people onboard and got seats near the front - it was fantastic! We didn't get wet really but we had a great time(see pic) and saw some new views of the city into the bargain - when we weren't screaming or laughing!
Lunch was at an old style American diner called Johnny Rockett's - burgers and hot dogs fit the bill nicely.
We were heading back along the wharf when we were surprised by a talking bush - well, it was a shouting bush really! A bloke (called Greg, I believe) seems to hide himself in a bit of shrubbery he's nicked from someone's garden or the park and then jumps out, shouting at unsuspecting passers-by! What's even more weird is that we were told this guy manages to earn $70,000 a year doing this - we must be doing something wrong!
We took a second bus tour this evening to see the city "downtown". SF is a very beautiful and elegant city but isn't too easy to navigate around for strangers. We are planning to head back to the centre tomorrow to see what we can find...watch this space...

Will be back with more stuff in a couple of days or so if you're still interested.
See you then!

Take care

D&M
xx