Before breakfast we decided it was prudent to do a last laundry load before home, and with a late checkout (12pm) it was ideal. Then down to breakfast - waffles no less! - and packed up the car ready to head to SF. We arrived at our motel on Lombard St early morning. Luckily our room was ready, so we could dump our stuff and head out for lunch. A nice couple gave us their two "all day transport passes" as we checked in - funnily enough it was a girl that Karina had tried to photograph on the way down [View Full Entry]

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Back in my running and jogging days, I ran in several editions of the Bay to Breakers Footrace in San Francisco. Back then, the race often experienced record numbers of entrants, and lived up to its name as the world's largest footrace. It begins at the foot of San Francisco Bay, then winds through the streets of the City, through Golden Gate Park, and finally onto the Great Highway and the Pacific Ocean (ie the breakers). The first race, known as the Cross City Race, began in 1912, as a precursor to the world class events planned for the 1915 Panama [View Full Entry]

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samstag, 16.05.09 der flug von christchurch über auckland nach los angeles war recht angenehm, obwohl die zweite etappe ganze 12 stunden dauerte. ich glücklicher mensch konnte ungefähr 5 stunden davon schlafen - das ist bei weitem ein neuer rekord für einen so langen flug! zudem war das flugi wieder recht gut ausgestattet mit entertainment system und privatem lcd-screen, air new zealand rules! die ankunft in los angeles war dann aber sehr ernüchternd. trotz sonnenschein und angenehmen 25 grad fühle ich mich etwas verloren - und das ist wohl ein understatement... zehnspurige freewa [View Full Entry]

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Well, we actually left our Arroyo Grande home on May 2 and drove to Cupertino, California, to spend a few days with Rick's mom. We had a very nice time, and took her out to run a few errands, and of course have ice cream for lunch. On May 5, our anniversary, we drove to San Francisco, did some shopping in Union Square, then checked in to the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero Plaza. The rotating restaurant on top of the hotel is where Rick proposed to Cindy 30-1/2 years ago. We were offered an upgrade to a balcony (view) room, and [View Full Entry]

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Just before leaving New Zealand I found out that one of the guys I'd been doing the kiwi experience with, Aaron, was going to be on the same flight as me and even more coincidentally he was also spending four days there before heading north to Seattle. So that was cool and we both wanted to see the same sights so after settling into our respective hostels, having just travelled back in time on the flight, we met up in Union Square to kick things off (we worked out that with the time difference and flight time that day lasted 44 [View Full Entry]

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Today we took a bus tour over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was spectacular needless to say. Our guide was a humerous local who along the way over and back pointed out various places of interest through different parts of the city of San Francisco. It was quite amazing to drive over the bridge, the wind going over the bridge was quite unbelievable . I dont think I've ever experienced wind like it before and thats saying something for someone who lives in Ireland! It was amazing to look back on the bridge from the other side and to get sucha [View Full Entry]

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This morning we went to Pier 33 to catch our 10am ferry to Alcatraz Island. It was a relatively short journey out to the island1.5 miles from the mainland. Upon arrival we were met by one of the park rangers who gives an introduction to the island after which we wandered up to the main building and took the audio guided tour. I thought the tour was done very well. I liked the idea of the self guided audio tour rather than being herded around in a big group. The tour lasted around an hour or so and was thoroughly informative [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 3rd May 2009 Had breakfast today in the Café Pescatore in our hotel. We intended to go to AT&T Park today to see the Giants play the Rockies but after a continually rainy morning we decided to change plans. The prospect of spending the afternoon sitting in ponchos getting wet didn’t really appeal so instead we took a walk through Chinatown on our way downtown. Chinatown was quite amazing to see, I believe it’s the second biggest Chinatown outside mainland China and our walk through it this morning was quite an experience. It was buzzing this morning with lots of [View Full Entry]

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This morning we went to a packed IHOP in Fishermans Wharf joining a large number of families enjoying a long breakfast there. After pancakes, complete with 4 different kinds of maple syrup available, and coffee we felt ready to tackle the day ahead. I love the 'diner' style breakfast experience when I travel in the US something we don't really have at home. We walked around the Wharf again for a while, it was still raining at this stage so we decided to take a bus tour of the city with the intention of hopping off at Union Square. After we [View Full Entry]

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The first mention of the words swine flu we heard were while watching TV in an airport hotel en route to Mexico via Los Angeles. Flicking through the mainly US TV news channels it was difficult in the moment to try and disseminate the facts from the scare mongering terminology they love to use in these situations. I was thinking back to bird flu and SARS, both of which at the time would have us all dead and buried by Christmas according to the media. That didn't happen though, after the initial media supernova both of those stories faded away within [View Full Entry]

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