First Stop: San Francisco

DAY 1

So I have finally arrived in the beautiful Northern Californian city of - San Francisco!

• It started with a 3 hour journey from Sydney to Auckland.
• 2.5 hour wait at Auckland airport for the connecting flight. (and thanks to Dad's business class tickets, I got to go into the business lounge to wait).
• Stringent hand baggage checks on board the flight to San Francisco - Yes they still don't allow you to take on lip gloss, contact lense solution or moisturiser onto the plane! (which is what they chucked out of my bag...apparently the contact lense solution would have been ok if I had a smaller bottle!) And yes, I was disorganised enough to NOT check what items I can/cannot bring on board!
• 12 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean whereby I still managed to cram 3 movies and some sleep before touching down in the USA.

The weather today was fabulous!! Not too hot or cold, just warm enough to wear T-shirt and jeans to get around the place. It's the sunny California I have always imagined. (or more like the ones depicted in numerous movies and TV shows!). We are staying in the Westin Hotel, right in the middle of the Union Square shopping area. There are all the usual American department stores here - Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstorm...so in a way it's a shopping mecca. But the minute we put our bags in the hotel we headed towards the most touristy place possibly on the planet - Fisherman's Wharf!!

The Entrance of The Westin. St. Francis - where I stayed for 2 nights.

The famous Cable Cars - I think its only tourist that ride of them!

We thought walking there might be a nice way to get to know the city...and of course, San Francisco is NOT a flat city, but rather hilly!! The slopes we had to climb reminded me of Coogee's Arden Street! After climbing a few slopes, we thought we'd do the tourist thing and get on the famous San Franciscan Cable Car! We travelled nicely along, but then the cable car stopped for a while. Apparently something technical so we decided to hop off the cable car and walk to the wharfs instead...cuz it was actually all down hill to get to the wharfs. We walked through Chinatown...which by the way is HUGE! Whilst just looking at the streetscapes and the numerous terrace apartments...I was instantly reminded of those Amy Tan novels such as the Joy Luck Club!

Fisherman's Wharf - Pier 39 (in case it wasn't clear enough on the photo!)

The adorable Sea Lions - enjoying the sun and sunbaking!

Golden Gate Bridge from afar

We took a 1 hour cruise around the San Francisco Bay area from Fisherman's Wharf which was really relaxing! The cruise had a tacky American recorded tour voiceover whilst the boat was in motion...but it was still nice! (Hey, its America!) The cruise took us close to "Alcatraz" and of course the "Golden Gate Bridge". Although we have the Sydney Harbour Bridge that we are so proud of...the Golden Gate Bridge is still marvellous...especially when you get a close look at the bridge and realise it's such a structurally and architectually amazing bridge!! It's huge...or more like long!(It's 1.7 miles long!) The Bay area is really windy...so even though the day was rather hot, it was freezing on the cruise due to the strong winds!! There were plenty of windsurfers enjoying themselves on the water with the winds.

Golden Gate Bridge - closer view...

So that's about all we managed to achieve in half a day + a short stroll around Union Square to check out the atmosphere and shops at night. San Francisco is definitely an alive and happening city. But for Day 1...I am just way too tired to go out and see more! Right now...the comfort of a flat bad is looking very good!!