Blazing Saddle Sore

Nothing could have prepared us for the gruelling regime that was in store for our legs today ... and nothing could prepare me for the curses that were to come out of Darren's mouth in my direction.

Alex and Sarah had suggested that we hire a couple of bikes and cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge. What a romantic notion was my first thought until flash backs of saddle sore came into view and I wondered whether 'biking the bridge' was worth 'sitting the sore' for 12 hours to Auckland.

'You only live once' is the conclusion I finally came to as we tossed caution to the wind (once more) and headed down to Blazing Saddles to pick up 2 of their finest push bikes (Jo- you'd have been proud!).

All was well, the sun was out and as we merrily rode along the harbour front and up onto the bridge, It was clear we'd made the right choice for today.

Sausalito is a stunning little town, North of San Francisco. Once over the bridge, it's all down hill and we got there in about 90mins with a few photo stops. From here you can catch a ferry back to SF.

While still at home, my Dad had suggested that if we got the chance, to go see the Redwood Trees. According to Blazing Saddle's handy map, a forest harbouring Redwoods was a mere 30 minutes from Sausalito and I insisted we take the trip.

30 minutes came and went with a nearby miss of us cycling down the freeway on a wrong turn, and there were no Redwoods to be seen. We took another look at the map when at this point we realised that the last ferry back to SF was in 25minutes.

It's safe to say that neither of us have ever felt cramp like it as we arrived to watch the gang plank of the ferry being removed. Nice Mister Ferry Captain took pity on our desperate hollering and the plank was reinstating and wobbly-legged, we made it onto the boat. Hooray. Good job really, Redwoods were my idea and I hadn't been Darren's favourite person as we cycled a million miles an hour over bumpy concrete to the port.

Bikes returned with 5 minutes before the deadline. Bonus.

Lou x

Beard man of Alcatraz

As today was the day we were supposed to be here, we thought it best to do some 'proper' sight seeing. Now I've always been a big fan of Clint Eastwood (no really I have!), so it seemed to make some logical sense to go visit 'The Rock' or Alcatraz to you and me and pay homage to the man himself by having a look around the place he managed to escape from.

At this point it's worth bearing in mind that Lou and I came away from Blighty travelling light. Real light. So light in fact, that we didn't really bring any warm clothes to speak of other than a thin hoody. Who needs warm clothes in Oz? It's summer there for crying out loud!

Enter a cold morning in San Francisco... a VERY cold morning in San Francisco. This is where any ounce of fashion sense is quickly thrown aside in favour of buying some frankly cheap comical 'tourist' hoodies. My weapon of choice? A charcoal grey effort with 'San Francisco' emblazoned on the front. Lou's however was far more offensive 'Alcatraz state penitentiary swimming team'. Genius.

Alcatraz itself was great (or as great as a high security prison can get) and the audio guide was wicked.

On our way out there was a grey haired old guy sitting at a book desk next to a sign that said 'meet the author'. Bless him I thought as I walked straight past him. Feeling a bit guilty, I decided I'd go back and make the old fella's day by having a chat about his book 'Alcatraz, the true end of the line'. Turns out he was an ex-inmate and had written a book about the place. Anyway, I'm stood there reading a list of all of his crimes and how much time he'd served and more importantly for what. The list was pretty scary to be honest but by this time he was looking at me and expecting a response...
"This you is it?" I said sheepishly.
"Yep" came the reply, non plussed by the bearded nutjob in front of him.
"erm... when did you get out?" Man, I was digging such hole to fall in to.
"1972" he said, now looking REALLY frustrated at my line of questioning.
Now, my final line wasn't meant as anything more than a "Oh I see" but I'm so used to saying it, I utter the line "Cool". Prat. With that, I made a hasty retreat to the ferry back to shore not stopping to see if he's chasing me.

Note to self: Not everything is 'cool'

Darren

Loving Haight Street

The morning of our first day in SF was spent meandering around a hippy sub-district, more specifically Haight Street. Darren was befriended by a rather camp old man on the Muni train station platform while he stared at the map. Until our train arrived 15 minutes later, this leather hat donning bank of information appeared before us at 3 minute itervals sharing more nuggets of his wisdom and advising us on what we should go and see. Bless.

Per square foot in San Francisco, the rate of weirdos, we think, is higher than anywhere else in the world, but you soon become acustomed to the singing-out-loud-to-your-ipod and general twitchy and tourettes-based comments of the local residents.

It's fair to say that today was more about stocking up on clothes we had refused to buy back home, than experiencing the city in it's full glory but now we had extra time here (thanks for threatening a strike BA) we could take things more in our stride.

Dinner was served at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe (owned by Green Day's Bassist) Rock and Roll \m/

Lou x

San Francisco

Well, we finally did it! Packed up and cleared off on our travels.

First stop, San Francisco. Big up my Mum for dropping us up to the aiport and word to Nikki for allowing herself to get her ear chewed the whole journey back :o)

The flight was cool and the food was surprisingly edible. Makes a change.

After landing in 'Frisco' we were met by Alex who as some of you might know is a friend of Lou's (and eventually mine) from Uni. Great guy and he even put us up for free!

After a few games on the new Wii console and full off Pizza, it was time for some shut eye.

Darren