San Francisco - City by the Bay

We have arrived in San Francisco with only a week left of the trip and it's still an exciting adventure, which we are loving.... no Tony Bennett to serenade us in to the city where he left his heart... in the City by the Bay! We thought the windy city was "Chicago" - San Francisco must come a close second!

We continue as "tourists" and take overselves on a Cable Car down to Fisherman's Wharf to get on a very windy cruise of the Bay - and catch our first glimpse of the city from boat, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the part of the approach road of the Bay Bridge which we had seen so graphically on the newsreels - with the two levels falling apart in the 1989 Earthquake. The weather was lovely - bright winter sunshine, but quite a strong, cool breeze, but perfect weather for long walks exploring this great city. We also took a tour of the city on a motorised cable car, travelled on a genuine street car... not named "Desire" but it is still in the fleet. San Francisco was smaller than we had thought - and very manageable, but we still didn't see everything and would love to go back one day.. hopefully soonish!

Our tour of Alcatraz was really amazing. We learned all about the inmates and the prison officers, some of the escape plots, etc all of which were very interesting and insightful ... we even locked Doug away in solitarty for a few minutes... and he said it was not at all nice! They slammed the door after him, it was pitch black and the sound of the keys turning.... help!

Whilst we have been on this trip we received the best possible news from Alex & Mags.... a baby is due at the end of June! But by the time we got to San Francisco we knew that we are to have a grandson and we had full permission to shop for his wardrobe. No further encouragement to shop was needed.... needless to say we had to buy another small suitcase! The American kids' clothes are gorgeous - so Baby Gap, Osh Kosh, The Children's Place, H & M, Old Navy and Ralph Lauren all became part of the San Francisco Tour!

Just one more stop before we are home to see Mags' bump! So let's see if we can win enough money in Las Vegas to pay for this wonderful tour.... but we are not holding our breath!