So if you are going to San Fran Cisco....

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Not a big blog entry as we didn't get up to much in SF.

We got through the airport with a quick stop for Alicia to be sick (poor Alicia doesn't love morning sickness) then picked up our bags and took a shared shuttle van into town. Our shuttle driver drove at four millions miles an hour and got us there in decent time without too much grief.

Our bastard hotel Travelodge by the Bay wouldn't let us check-in before 3pm (regardless of the room readiness) without a $23 fee so we stored our bags and walked out for an explore. We walked up Lombard street to the top of the highest hill and enjoyed the lovely architecture of the town houses of San Francisco (SF) on the way.
From the top of Lombard street you can see down the famous crooked section which has outrageously sharp curving road on a steep slope, we got some good photos and watched the cable cars go by then walked down to the start of the waterfront.
We bought 7-day all city transport cards for $26 each ( a decent price) then wandered about a little before hopping a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge viewpoint park.

It was quite a fine bright day with clouds smattering the sky but the sun was mostly out and shining. We had fine views around the park and coast and after getting dozens of fine photos of the bridge and us at the bridge we headed down to the waterfront and pier to get some more shots. Alicia was getting cold in the breeze by the time we finally got away, with a great deal of fine photos. The views were excellent though and we loved it, it was nice to see such a famous, major landmark.

Back home at the hotel we got checked in then, with basically no clean clothes and a staggeringly good opportunity to wash because our hotel had a coin operated laundromat (!), we decided to have an afternoon and night in and get it done. Alicia was not so sure on the plan but I lobbied for it since we got up so incredibly early and I knew the tiredness would hit us soon which it certainly did. We got the washing in then retired to the room which allowed me to watch Thursday night football and call family on Skype. After getting all the clothes dry and seeing the local 49ers thrashed mercilessly in the football we ordered a local Chinese for free delivery via their internet website and it arrived within 15 mins which was impressive. We got to bed exhausted soon after as our early wake-up caught up to us.

We were right to have gone Golden Gate viewing the day before as when we made it out the next morning it was overcast and misting rain, Alicia fought the nausea as we climbed up the steep hill again to get to the cable car stop.
We arrived just as a cable car was going by and jumped aboard, no-one seems to care about us having our travel ticket. The cable car ride down hill was odd but a good fun experience, the whole vehicle is open with sideways facing seats so we looked out at oncoming traffic and other fine views around town, the rain didn't get in on us thankfully. The ride downhill was very controlled and it seemed the driver was always pumping away energetically on brake levers, not as fast, reckless and exciting as it could have been.

Down at the waterfront we wanted to get a little something to keep Alicia full and found a very yummy milkshake place 'Nathans' where I had a very rich chocolate shake and Alicia a great banana one, almost as good as the brilliant ones we had in Ireland in July.
We walked the piers and eventually made our way to Pier 39 with the rain stopped but still threatening, we saw a few of the famous sea lions clambering about, lying on one another, playing, and making barking noises on the floating pontoons which was excellent. I didn't know they'd be so active around midday and felt lucky to see them in action.

That afternoon we hopped a bus to the Marina district to see the Palace of Fine Arts and the Exploratorium museum. Unfortunately the best part of the museum the 'tactile dome' was sold out, so we decided to give it miss, a shame as this attraction was meant to be walking through a pitch dark exhibition where you have to really on your other senses to explore which sounded pretty different.
Walking the streets around the Palace we had views through the rain of the lovely palace architecture and of the rich and impressive houses in the neighborhood, it was a very nice place indeed.

Since the rain was still pouring and most of my sight-seeing plans for SF were outdoors I suggested a movie to keep Alicia happy and she readily jumped at the chance so we bused home, dropped off my camera and then headed out to catch a bus to the theatre. The bus took bloody ages to arrive but we finally got down there, missing our proposed movie time by 25 mins, but there was another movie on in 45 mins so we bought tickets for that then popped into a little American style Diner. Inside the pleasant diner, where the staff wore old style uniforms and hats and it was like being in the fifties, we had some chips and gravy, (surprising to get that outside of oz!) anchor steam beer for me, and delicious fresh juice for Alicia. After enjoying our little diner experience we moved on to the movies and watched 'The Fighter' which wasn't too bad

We headed home for a rest and to Skype Alicia's family after the movie, Alicia's nausea is progressively ramping up over the last couple of weeks and she feels queasy and poorly most of the time nowadays.
We made it out to dinner to a decent looking pub the 'Bell Tower' and ended up having a good meal there, Alicia had a Hawaiin pizza and I had a delicious NY Strip steak with creamy spinach and fries. I came home very full. The USA has not been good for my health, I've eaten too many large portions of fairly unhealthy foods and have visibly put on weight around my face and stomach. I'm looking forward to being able to get back into jogging.

Our next day in San Francisco we moved to a new hostel but generally Alicia was feeling awful all day and we didn't do anything apart from a little grocery shopping and discovering that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is very nice. I cooked dinner in our hostel kitchen which was fabulously appointed with an industrial style layout of stainless steel counters, sinks, and stoves.

The next day Alicia's morning sickness was still bad but not as bad as yesterday, we made it out to a
cafe breakfast near the hostel and had very large pancakes and gigantic potato rostis served with my Eggs Benedict; a truly American sized breakfast.
Wanting to appreciate more of the lovely architecture of the houses around San Francisco we walked quite a way across town to a major park. On the way we saw some pretty clear evidence of California's high unemployment rate and the national recession: walking past a soup kitchen we saw millions of hobos along the street. I wasn't pleased we'd inadvertently wandered Alicia and our new unborn child into that neighborhood. It was a very clear and poignant reminder that there are plenty of people in the USA in poverty and doing it tough, not quite what you expect to see in a charming city like SF.

We headed to the Alamo park to see famous big SF houses by the park which were nice. We also enjoyed the pretty housing and architecture all around town which could be seen from the heights of the park.
Next we walked through the Castro and Mission districts and sampled fine food we'd researched along the way. Alicia had a tasty tart at a good bakery, then we got some good ice cream topped with hot chocolate fudge. Hungry for lunch I got an expensive but pretty good pastrami sandwich (not up to New York standards) and Alicia eventually found some pasta to suit her.
The Castro district was supposed to be the famous gay quarter of SF and we did see a few rainbow flags flying about but nothing else remarkable. We think our problem exploring is we got sidetracked traveling to the wrong streets in these quarters and may have missed the best bits. In spite of everything we still found a good toy shop for some souvenirs and saw more of the charming housing around SF.
With Alicia flagging and needing rest we took a tram home (we love SF's trams and cable cars) and wading through another million bums on another street we walked home. On the way we found a shop selling cheap sweets and I bought millions of Junior Mints (which are as delicious as they say in Seinfeld) and another sour fruit lolly I've loved for years but have trouble finding anywhere.
We made it home soon after for R&R and leftovers for dinner.

Awoke to moderate rain on our final day in SF. Alicia's morning sickness was eventually under control and we went for a brief wander about in overcast skies with occasional light rain.
First we headed down to the piers to ride the cable cars again and to shop around for some souvenirs. We managed to find a couple of gifts then looked into the free mechanical museum Musee Mechanique (1*) which was a huge collection of old coin operated amusements. They were only old style ones with things like ''Love testers', arm wrestling machines, and all sorts of crazy old mechanical things.
We watched one were a little mechanical priest gave a condemned man last rights then he was hung! Some of the very old style amusements were equally odd!

After a cheap and nasty lunch we made our way home via the cable car going up the steep hills. Alicia was hanging right off the edge of the cable car and being bumped by the brakes man every time he yanked the big brake lever which helped massively reduce her love for cable cars!

After resting at home all afternoon we popped over the road for a fair Italian restaurant dinner. Not much of a day with the rain and poor Alicia being so queasy, we're looking forward to getting home.

Our last day in the USA we got up for a quick wander around San Fran to get Alicia out into the fresh air and to buy a book or two for Christmas gifts. We then took our midday transfer to the airport and without too much grief flew to LA successfully.
We got the hotel transfer back to the cheap and cheerful Travelodge near the LAX airport then ordered pizza delivery for dinner and rested for 3-4 hours before returning to the airport for our flight to Sydney, Australia.
It was a good idea to stop into the hotel for a rest. A lie down and shower certainly gave us the best possible preparation for the flight. I didn't sleep though as I was hoping that if I was tired enough on the plane I'd sleep then.
We weren't sure if we were going to have to go through a body scanner at LAX airport and Alicia was preparing to protest her pregnancy if necessary but they weren't sending many through it and we went through the normal metal scanner instead and off into the airport.
To our amazement LAX airport terminal had only a tiny duty free shop after security so we couldn't buy the Toblerones we'd planned, it was astounding such a major international airport had such a dud shopping and dining setup post security!
Before boarding we watched one mother distribute Tylenols to her large family to help them sleep, we wish we'd remembered to get some sleeping tablets but too late!

Our flight was a little delayed for takeoff so we didn't get on and out until after midnight, we were pretty tired and keen to be away by this time and dismayed to hear they intended to feed us in the first 2 hours of flight i.e. 2am.....
The flight was a bit rough, the Qantas in flight entertainment system was poor with no really decent movies or TV, the seats weren't too comfy and the cabin was very noisy from the engines and A/C. Even ear plugs couldn't keep the noise out. We tried to sleep without much success after our 2am dinner, I think we dozed for a few hours fitfully and unhappily. Alicia was sick three times throughout the flight, thankfully since the plane was so noisy and the crowd so drowsy she didn't suffer the indignity of an audience, no-one really noticed. The staff did a decent job of supplying her demands for water, ice, and sick bags so it could have been worse.

We finally arrived in Sydney and were hugely dismayed to see enormous customs lines, I couldn't understand why Sydney airport was doing such a wretched slow job of getting us through!

We finally got out with no real grief in quarantine and saw the family, it's good to be home.

The next blog entry, the postscript, should be the final entry for this trip blog. It will cover 'Bests & Worsts', random thoughts, some stats, and probably some rants about how wonderful Australia is'.

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Photos

Street cars on the steep hills
Love this shot, really a beautiful SF scene