USA - week one

 All went well in the run up to our flights - Covid tests passed and all paperwork completed. The following morning, we were all packed and ready for our 4.45 am taxi to the airport. Checking in and security etc were no problem and the flight to London was fine - and punctual.

We had time at Terminal 5 to visit the BA lounge which allowed us to catch up with breakfast. The new Business Class cabins on board the 777 were smart, the food - and drinks - were good and the flight smooth and timely. We even managed a few hours' sleep - making up a bit for the early rise.

We suspected immigration control would be slow at San Francisco - and so it proved. We stood in a Disney-like snaking line for over an hour, but, after that, baggage reclaim was easy and we were out of the terminal building and in to a taxi within minutes. Our hotel was described as being in Union Square but it turns out this is now a wider area and no longer confined to the square itself. Anyway, we checked in to our room and then headed out for a couple of beers and a small snack, stumbling on Bartlett Hall (https://www.bartletthall.com/), which did the trick. We tried to adjust to west coast time as soon as possible, so although our body clocks were by now at dawn in the UK, it was time for bed for us.

SATURDAY 7th MAY

Jo fancied a trip to Golden Gate Park, so after checking Google Maps, we decided we could walk there - it would take an hour or so, but we had all day - and it was a beautiful sunny day - ideal for a stroll and a chance to stretch our legs after a day spent on planes and in terminals. We walked to the other side of the city, through Japantown:

On the way, we passed a lot of the beautiful old traditional houses:

Bypassing Haight-Ashbury, we arrived at the north east corner of GG park after almost 90 minutes. Golden Gate is lovely - but massive. After a cooling ice cream and having failed to catch any of the free shuttle buses round the park, we decided to walk deeper in to the park and eventually veer off towards the Golden Gate bridge, and, from there, back along to Pier 39. That was the plan - the reality was fundamentally different - i.e. we got a bit lost. I had my phone but had mobile data switched off as I thought I could do without it - big mistake. Eventually I twigged something was wrong and reluctantly switched data back on, whereupon realising immediately that we had probably spent at least 40 minutes walking in totally the wrong direction.

Sitting at a bus shelter to try to figure out what to do, a passing bus driver stopped his vehicle and tooted his horn at us. We jumped up and got on the bus, explaining to the driver that we were lost and wanted to get back to somewhere we knew. "I'll take you downtown" he said - "go sit down for now". The bus took us all the way back to Union Square and when Jo offered him the $3 for our fares, he told us not to bother. What a gentleman.

From there, we felt comfortable that we could walk over to the famous Pier 39 tourist area for a bit of a late-ish lunch. The first place we fancied was Crab House - and it was excellent. One of the waiters was from Greenock and it seemed he was longing to hear some Scottish accents again.

Taking a walk back along towards Ghirardelli Square, we stopped to take a snap with Alcatraz in the background:

We eventually got to the famous chocolate maker's - but only after a quick visit to the San Francisco Brewing Co. Then it was a short wait to climb on the cable car that would take us over the hill and back down to our hotel:

For our evening meal we just popped across the road to a little, nicely informal Thai restaurant. Then it was off to bed and prepare for our Sunday morning flight to Medford.