On Sunday 18th April, we
left Auckland, New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere to
fly to San Francisco. We left at 6.00 pm and flew for 12
hours, As we landed the pilot said "Welcome to Los
Angeles, The time is 11.00 am and it's Sunday, 18th April
- again! We had crossed the international date line in the
night and had gone back 24 hours. |
We flew on to San Francisco
and took a cab to our hotel - the Triton.
It was very convenient for China town! |
|
| It was a very good hotel - quiet and with friendly
efficient staff. The decor was a little strange! |
On Monday, we had breakfast
in a diner. There was an Edsel in the middle of the floor
and the waitresses were dressed in 30's costume. Unfortunately,
the food was nothing special. We took a cable car to Fishermans
Wharf. The ride was fun, but the wharf was a bit disappointing;
rather like Brighton. The views of the bridge were good,
though. |
|
|
We took a tram back - they
have restored some old trams and they are great fun - very
1930's. |
|
We had to go to the Castro,
of course! |
|
|
| On Tuesday we went to the Coit Tower: we loved
the murals and the views from the top were good. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Later we mooched around
the city, but there was not a great deal to see or do. |
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, we found
that if we went further than two or three blocks from the
centre, Union Square, the streets were full of drunks, druggies,
aggressive beggars and other ne'er-do-wells. We decided
it would not be good to be poor or sick in the USA. We returned
to the Square and tried to do some shopping, but there was
not a great choice, and try as we might, we could not spend
our money. So we rang BA and managed to get a flight home
a day early. |
|
|
Good-bye, San Francisco.
What a huge disappointment. |
