Sarah's blogging and Alan's commenting in green.
We had a lovely night in our new hotel. Very comfortable bed and nice squishy pillows. It's great to have a king size bed for a change because Sarah doesn't roll all over me. It was a little noisy this morning with trucks on the street so we were up and moving by 9am. We went down to Pier 39 as we'd seen really nice crepes coming out of a store there yesterday. Thankfully they were open and we each had an extremely large strawberry crepe with whipped cream for breakfast.
Rain was predicted for today and as the clouds rolled in we thought they might be right. We decided to embark on a 2.5 hour bus tour of San Francisco anyway which started at 10.45am. We were dressed reasonably warmly so we sat in the open section, but as we rounded the first bend we were immediately hit by a chilly wind. We very quickly moved inside the trolley bus where it was a bit warmer. We rode through the very steep streets of San Francisco with the driver pointing out various areas of interest. Our first stop was the Palace of the Fine Arts. We then moved down to below the Golden Gate Bridge where we had another photo stop. We went past the smallest cemetery which is right near the Bridge, which was a pet cemetery.
We then stopped by the side of the Bridge and we had half an hour to do whatever we wanted. As you can see from the photos, Alan decided to climb over a display and be in everyone else's photos. I had to be very quick because a bridge security patrol cruised by, followed by a California Highway Patrol going by the opposite way. We learned many facts, most of which will appear in Alan's comments. We went to Union Square, The Presidio, Chinatown, Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral and Washington Square. However I can say that neither would I want to live here or ever be able to afford to live here. To buy is way out of our price range and we couldn't even make the rent, let alone have a car we can't park. It's a very nice city and the people are extremely friendly, but it's far too cold here for my liking. Very few houses have garages and parking on the street is virtually impossible.
After our return to Pier 39, we ventured in to one of the many food places and I had a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. I had to have one before I left here and I wasn't disappointed. Alan just had some boring calamari. Um hello..... Sarah had boring calamari for dinner tonight.
We were due to meet Kay and Jim at their hotel at 2pm but before doing so, Alan needed to return to the room to add another jumper to his clothing. I seem to recall that Sarah changed into something warmer as well. We arrived just a little late to find that Kay had taken a tumble down the stairs and had hurt her hand pretty badly. We returned to their room to ice it and while deciding what we were going to do, there was a knock on the door. The hotel had sent up a free breakfast voucher for the two of them because of the fall. If Alan had known that earlier, he would have been tripping me up all over the USA. Sarah's clumsy enough that I don't need to trip her up.
Jim and Kay had been up to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world earlier in the day and asked whether we would like to see it. Alan and I were actually going to suggest it to them. Kay stayed in the room and I probably should have elected to stay with her. There were three large hills to climb to get there, each one worse than the previous one. The third was a killer. It wasn't a bad walk at all. Just a few little hills. I was ready to die when we reached the bottom of Lombard St and elected NOT to climb the large number of stairs to the top with Alan and Jim.
Whilst recovering I heard a lady behind me say "my heart is going to beat out of my chest". I recognised the Australian accent and came face to face with two sisters with their husbands from Brisbane.
We returned to their hotel room (going down the steep hills was much easier) and sat around and chatted for a while. We returned to the room briefly to do a bit of packing and met them for dinner down by the Pier. Before saying our goodbyes we ventured back to the chocolate shop. I think Jim and Alan were trying to outdo each other on who could buy the most. Alan just now said behind me "I think I bought too much chocolate". I already knew that.
It was then time to bid Kay and Jim farewell. We love them so much and it's so hard when we live so far away from each other. It was hard to say goodbye to Christie and Steve too in Las Vegas but I chat with Christie at least once a week on the internet. Jim has to go out and buy a new computer with a large screen so Kay can email more often.
So tonight we pack again for the second last time. Tomorrow it is hello Honolulu. I've enjoyed my time in San Francisco. Still, as I write this, it hasn't rained today. However we are looking forward to a bit warmer weather. Today it reached a maximum of 17 with a cold wind coming off the water. Glad we are leaving now as Friday it will only be a maximum of 13. The prediction for our three days in Honolulu is partly cloudy and 30. Sounds good to me. It sounds like it's just started to rain now, after 10pm.
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