Hop on Hop off ...

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Today Akela has a plan... we should discover San Francisco in all it’s beauty and the reality of life within by public transport and we set out early to catch the first tram of the day with a rover ticket which allowed us access to all the transport options.

We bought our tickets and sat on the tram heading downtown for breakfast, it was misty and cold which is the norm early doors apparantly. The old tram is operated by cables and is iconic in any travel brochures for SF. It pulled its way up the steep hills and down the other side with the guy behind operating the huge brakes and telling Mike all about the engineering side. This was the first tram of the day and yet by the time we hit town trams coming the other was already had the hangers (people hanging of the side of a very full tram). We found a place called Lefty O Donal or something similar and sat down for a cooked breakfast egg n bacon style.. and a nice cuppa tea!! not...the tea over here is yuk.. weak and warm.. they bring a cup of hot water to the table and give you a tea bag from a brand I hadn’t heard of before. It is as weak as dishwater and I was dying to show them how to make a proper cup of English tea... when the waiter asked if we wanted more tea I couldn’t hold back.. this isn’t English tea you need to put the teabag in boiling water.. he came back with some odd shaped carafes and some Lipton yellow tea.. not PG tips but close enough.. he must have thought we were crazy when I put 3 tea bags in his water pot but to be honest I didn’t care I needed a fix and everyone had a nice mug of tea.... that’s better!.. you can’t have bacon and eggs without a cuppa tea.. I know I said I was fussy and my over easy eggs were still runny around the edges.. I’m not keen on eggs at the best of times but when you can still see the uncooked white it’s never going to pass my lips and I know Jackie can’t deal with that either.. my toast was the usual still white with a hint of a tan at the corners so I sent it back to have another go round the toasting machine and when it came back it was burnt.....but I ate it anway



I have decided I could make a fortune travelling the world holding master classes on how to make a good English Breakfast as we do have the best breakfasts in the world...

Nothing could have been nicer then than the fact that Mike found the free wifi code and I managed to Skype home to see Nick with Tammy Nathan and Nan together and we had a lovely chat seeing them really made my day....

The next few hours were spent hopping on hopping off, walking around the local area getting a flavour of life in San Francisco ..finding the next bus stops... getting lost...and more hopping and walking and hopping and walking and trying to decipher the road maps...OMG my knee and feet were so sore and it felt like we had walked for miles even with my new Nike Air Max trainers

We saw some places we were keen to get out of quickly and some we would have happily stayed in. Some dubious characters - watched a guy off his face get on a bike and ride it into the side of a bus just stopping in time, I think the big rainbow and blue elephants in his head must have obscure his view!! ..We saw some amazing homes a nice guy with a stretch Hummer invited us to have a look in side. Martin saw yet more trucks he wanted to buy when he strikes it lucky in Vegas next week.

In search of a bathroom we found the Golden Gate Park and used the facilities .. my biggest fear is public toilets... I can’t bear them and it was very reluctantly but without a choice that we nipped in quickly... I realised too late that there was no paper but luckily Jackie was next door...“Jackie.. I shouted ..”Omg there’s no paper in here and it’s too late to change”.. “Dont worry I have some you can share mine”.. she said (talking about the packet of tissues in her Inspector Gadget fanny pack..) .. I love you hun I thought.. but I’m not doing that!... at least we had a good giggle about my misunderstanding as we always do on holidays... my sister is funny and I will take to my grave one of the most precious things in my life ... her eyes when she laughs... beautiful

Martin had an equally unsettling experience in the gents.. drilled out holes in the wall of his cubicle stuffed with toilet paper he couldn’t get out quick enough!! hilarious...

We decided a little stroll (Little stroll Murley style...jeez) ... through the park, we wandered around the lake and saw a squirrel. A crazy woman walked past us and clambered up onto the bridge where I was busy trying to encourage the squirrel to come down and take my bait of a Werthers original so I could get a good picture of him when the dopey woman got stuck and Mike kindly (ahem...) offered my husband’s help... Martin being a gent held out his hands to help her get down but she decide she was coming down bum first and backed straight into his arms!! I turned round to see my husband with his arms around another woman... nothing new there eh?

I used Jackie as my model and made Martin lift her up in a quirky shaped tree to take a photo..secretly thinking what a funny pic it would be if she fell off!!!...

We had walked and walked and asked directions through the park and a ranger helped us directing us through a rose garden and to a bus stop which took us to The Golden Gate Bridge. The bus was packed and I was sat in between a little old Chinese couple he fell asleep and his little head was falling forward and I kept thinking he was about to hit the deck and I needed to be ready to catch him..

A heavy mist sat blocked our view of the bridge and it was disappointing that we could only see the first part of the supporting structure, still we made our way to the road and made sure we stepped along so we could say we did walk on the Golden Gate Bridge!..

We hopped on and hopped off got lost some more and eventually found our way home... Pool Bunny was sunning herself poolside in no time and me...I crashed out of my big soft bed with my feet in a bucket of ice...bliss

A couple of hours later we walked to Pier 33 as Mike had arranged tickets for the night boat to Alkatraz! He had done his homework and found out that on arrival at the other side it was a steep climb up to the Cell House and organised for me to pre board and get on the electric buggy they use to help the mobility impaired up the hill what is equivalent to 13 flights on stairs- just as well as I would never have managed it especially as my feet were raw from all the days walking.

Before we left we had a bowl of chilli in a huge sour dough roll at the landing stage cafe... again not for me sour dough bread is a local delicacy...it has a unique taste - like sour bread!!

The Alcatraz night tour was exceptional. Well organised informative well timed and really interesting. They really do deserve praise for the whole experience. I didn’t think I would be as impressed as I was.. We walked the audio tour with our headphones and stopped and viewed the cells... the 7 x 5 x 9 foot cells and it was shocking to see how small they were. Jackie was quite emotional at first sight. Too much to say so I have added some photos, we have decide that back home we will buy the Birdman and Escape from Alcatraz dvd’s and have a family film night were we can relay our experience to the kids

Back to the hotel quick pit stop for Martin to get a Mackie D’s.. and to bed, in our Jungle room ready to move on... to Cartmel and the drive along the Big Sur

San Francisco... not what I expected I have never seen so many vagrants sleeping on the streets or so many people young and old walking the streets off their heads eyes glazed talking to themselves or dancing alone to the beat going on inside their heads... some looked like they had been here in the sixties and in their heads they were stlll there and many looked like they needed a good meal and a certainly a bloody good wash, but it was an experience and once again i wouldn't have missed it

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