Thur 27 July - San Francisco

Day 2 in San Francisco and we were up and at 'em at a respectable 9am.  Not bad given the busyness of yesterday.  I seem to have managed to avoid jet lag altogether, but Dad wasn't as successful at snoozing on the plane and is feeling it a bit, plus he's 86 so I guess it all makes sense.

Anyway - after a teensy breakfast we were off on a custom-made tour of the SF sights courtesy of young Eric (who by the way has a Tesla, quiet as a mouse with a lot of get up and go, although San Fran has a stop sign about every 100m so there's a bit more whoa than go!)

First was a cruise through the SF equivalent of New York's Central Park.  A pretty fine chunk of real estate that has managed to avoid being built out despite several attempts by developers.  There's a golf course and a bunch of excellent looking museums within the park precinct - that'll be for next visit!

Did I mention San Francisco is not warm!  It was about 19C when we were there, but the wind was nippy, so it wasn't surprising that the vast Ocean Beach was deserted. 

We saw the bridge from the other side of the harbour, a ritzy suburb called Sea Cliff (reminded me of Vaucluse) and The Painted Ladies - a row of houses featured in numerous movies including Bicentennial Man.  Robin Williams grew up in the San Francisco area and when he died the tunnel connecting the city and Sausalito was renamed The Robin Williams Tunnel in his honour.

Interesting too is the fog, and here's what Google has to say about it...

Why is San Francisco foggy in the summer?
San Francisco is a climate anomaly. In the summer, when most of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly California, is baking, the average July high for San Francisco is 67 degrees Fahrenheit, with evening temperatures dipping into the 50s. (July is one of the foggiest months). Locals routinely refer to the fog as "Karl" — a reference to Tim Burton 2003 film "Big Fish". In the film, Karl was the misunderstood giant. Everyone was afraid of him and thought he would eat them or kill them, but in fact he was just hungry and lonely.

We saw the Golden Gate on several occasions when we were here and it was 'Karled' the whole time. 😀

Top shot was earlier and taken with Eric, bottom one was about 3 hours later with a bit less
fog but way more tourists.

In the afternoon we headed out on a pre-booked tour to Muir Woods, the home of Coastal Redwoods averaging between 600 - 800 years old and up to 80 metres tall (that's roughly the height of a 20 storey building).  It was warm and peaceful and good for the soul.  

On the way back to the city we stopped at the coastal town of Sausalito and nearly missed the bus as we may have got distracted doing a bit of wine tasting! 😝

And the reason we were wine tasting is so that we'd have something to take to Eric's house for dinner!  Eric, Liza and son Aidan (and for the moment cousin Simon too) live about 30 minutes out of the city in Orinda. Their house sits on around 3/4 of an acre on the top of a hill and it is beautiful.  We had the most delicious dinner, sitting in a wonderful outdoor space, complete with a fireplace.  

I think I ate too much and definitely drank too much Napa Valley wine! We stayed until 11pm and the time just flew by! Thanks so much for your generous hospitality Eric and Liza - now pop Australia on the travel list so we can spoil you right back!