NIGHT STROLL

Tonight again we headed out into the warm evening with daylight to stroll about the area round our hotel.

Here is Robert outside our hotel, the Hilton near Union Square.

I got all The Mama and the Papas nostalgic when I saw this across the street.  

"Welcome to The Hotel California!"

San Francisco has such a range of buildings that catch my eye.  A lot of the residential ones appear only about this wide.

We sat in the fading light in Union Square a while, listening to the strains of a saxophone player busking, across from the Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany buildings one side and Macy's behind us.

A relaxing way to spend some time.

ALCATRAZ

We caught the ferry to Alcatraz Island.  Strange how all prisoners housed inside one building, with several lines of three tiers of cells, back to back.  Audio tour was informative.  No privacy there, as front of each cell just bars.  Plus cells so small: 9 feet long, 5 feet wide and 7 feet high.  They were cold and damp places.

Next we toured round on top of the Hop On Hop Off bus, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  So windy there.  Most San Francisco streets are very narrow.  Went into the centre of 1960s Hippy Culture, the famed Haight Ashby area.

Some residential areas command monthly rents of $10,000 per month - very exclusive areas.

San Francisco still regarded as Most Liberal City in USA.  Provided it is part of an official event it seems it is legal to be naked in public.

We drove past one famous High School which had produced many famous students and were told the football ground had once been named after OJ Simpson, and some records he set on there have not been beaten.  But the ground has been renamed since.  Understandable.

These houses had a false front on the top which looked attractive from the front but slightly weird from the side angle.

And I had my first "Po boy fried shrimp sandwich" which I was looking forward too and the shrimp were delicious.  But I just ate them and left the slabs of I buttered roll.  

PHOTOS

 Chinatown on our long walk home to hotel.

Below mid afternoon beer and marguerita.

 The famous Pier 39 was a buzzing with tourists, buskers, bars and cafés, a merry ground and tourist shops.

The famous Bay Bridge.

Room view

I am having frustrating teeth problems.  I will try to publish this photo again.

LA TO SAN FRANCISCO

We flew out of Tullamarine about 10:30 am on Monday 3rd August.  But we landed at LAX around 7:30 am on Monday 3rd August.  Talk about fast!!

You hear stories about Homeland Security and Border Patrol but we had no issues.  No one asked to see in our suitcases.  There was some small issues, eventually sorted, on how we connected to San Francisco.  We had to leave one building and walk up to the next terminal, to American Airlines.

At San Francisco, we walked down O'Farrell Street then down Market to the Wharf Ferry building.  This is pier one and it looked a long, long walk to the famous Pier 39.  We opted to hire a pedicab to pedal us down.

Here we glimpsed Alcatraz across the choppy water, the Golden Gate in the near distance, and lots of sea lions lazing in the sun.

We walked back via Chinatown and Union Square, but it took 90 minutes.  Here is what we see from 18th floor of The Hilton.

THE WEDDING

So here is a photo of how our gorgeous our two daughters looked on the day of the wedding.

Jenna (on left) proved to be an incredible Maid of Honour to her sister Delanie.

This is posted as a way of me getting to know the blog again.  Poor Delanie is being most patient in instructing me, but we think Google has updated and it is proving not as user friendly as in 2012.

USA: HERE WE COME (AT LAST)

So the blog title is misleading, as we are heading, in just over a week, to the USA, not Europe.  But it made sense to just continue using the blog we set up in 2012.

So after three years, during which our daughter Delanie got married, we are off again, albeit only for six weeks this time.

We hope you can share our adventure.