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Published: February 3rd 2012
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Saturday night in San Francisco soon rolled around & we had only a few days left before we had to set off for our California road trip. Our Ipad has been fantastic when scouting the best places to go, directions & highly rated accomodation. So with it on hand we booked up a beautiful restaurant for that evening which was right on the seafront & where we had been previously for 'happy hour' when I got a little too merry. I think the selling point was a chocolate mudslide cocktail the barman had made me a few nights previously and the seafood looked lovely. We couldn't go to San Francisco and not cycle the bridge or do Alactraz so we made it our mission to tick one off today, cycling the Golden Gate Bridge!
Concious of the luggage weight restrictions I'd left my running shoes at home, so we had to go shopping again as I had about 20 pairs of flip flops but no 'sensible' shoes...at least shoe shopping never gets dull..! After i'd kitted myself out with some cute running shoes we made our way for breakfast in town! We'd walked past a mexican place every day, which
was offering 2x breakfast burritos, yes breakfast burritos, for $3 which is just over £1.50! Curiousity had gotten the best of Mitch at this point so we went in to try them. Well $3 really is $3 too much for this 'delight!' it really wasn't nice at all!! I had one bite and wanted to hurl but it just shows how available food is and how cheap it is. I know that goes for most of the western world, but it feels odd to think of $3 breakfast for two then you step out to a street where homeless people are rummaging the bins (we were in market street at this point!) It cheapens it & makes you feel quite wasteful & yes i would be saying this if they were nice!
By this point we hadn't ridden a cable car, we'd walked all the hills of San Fran so we had buns of steel by this point & i think we were the only tourists to not use public transport! Catching the cable car midway up meant we missed the queues, but it was still rammed, so we had to hang on the outside of them which i
was hoping for! It was fantastic! You do go very fast & suprisingly close to the other cable cars coming the other way. I tried to high five them but thought i might lose a limb whilst in the process! We were suprised they allowed it due to the where there's blame there's claim culture!
After our ride to the Wharf we jumped on the bikes and set off on our route to the bridge! We were both really looking forward to doing this & with it being on both our Bucket Lists was a must do for us! The route to the bridge took us through some stunning parks, imaculate gardens & ran parralel to the coast. It was beautiful. Not sure if i've said but we were in a unexpected heat wave & everything from the weather to the route was perfect! It was the weekend and everyone was out running, walking their dogs or in the park bbq-ing or having picnics, it was beautiful and you would not see it in the UK that's for sure! We had to cycle up a few hills on the way to the bridge (London to Brighton flashbacks for me!!)
and it was quite a long cycle, but we didn't even think much of it at the time as it was such good fun! We stopped midway sitting on the edge of a fishing dock dangling our feet into the water (I actually sang Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay - It was written in San Fran!) whilst havinga smoothie. Soon we were at the end of the bridge ready to go across. It was amazing! I think we grinned the whole journey & back! The cycle path was quite narrow & we wanted to cycle next to eachother but it had to be single file & a few lycra clad cyclists weren't having it! You can stop half way, not as its far, but for the view, which we did & we saw hundreds of yachts on the sea & eagles flying ahead! I think we were also yet to see a cloud in the sky during the trip so far & today was no exception! The route goes beyond the brdige for a few miles through to the Muir Woods where the tallest trees in the world are but with dinner reservations early evening we cycled back
across knowing we would do it with the rental car or on our road trip part two! We made it in great time, there and back & just loved it!
Showered & spiffed up we headed out to dinner in Gharidelli square. Halloween weekend meant it was very busy out & there were lots of people dressed up out & about. Dinner was lovely but the portions were huge!! It really took some getting used to! We sank a bottle of wine before hitting Goldies again, which was totally rammed with people! Once again we worked our way down the cocktail list and took advantage of the super cheap champers on offer! Soon we had done it again & had had a few too many so stumbled back to the hotel, waking up a little bleary the next morning.
Sunday morning was my turn to feel hungover...it was horrible! It took me forever to get up & going! I literally rolled out of bed into some clean clothes, bit of make up & we were soon at the Wharf for the ferry to Alcatraz Island - we didn't walk this time! I managed to hold it together with
sea sickness & epic hangover combined, also the journey was only 15 mins, but it was a bit touch and go for a second!
Alcatraz was amazing, it was fascinating to see & to know that these guys had lived there & then escaped! The tour allows you to go in the cells, solitary confinement, go in the shower area & see the attempts of the alleged escape routes. It was amazing & highly recommended. There is a proper headset guided tour, but we have quite low attention spans and after about 30 minutes of learning we were mucking around in the cells and doing our own route! Much more fun that way! Also Mitch had booked to have a traditional shave at a shaving shop at midday, which he has always wanted to do, but unfortunately we were running to behind to get everything done and were stranded on the island waiting for a ferry back so he missed it, which was a pain, but we'll find him one on America part deux!
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Mummy Kuske
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Mummy Kuske
Awwww, so lovely, xxxxx. Love you, take care and have fun, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx