July 1st–Last day in San Francisco

Today we could have had a lazy day – instead we decided to hire a car! Hiring a car overseas has been a new thing for both of us and so far it was has been excellent, allowing us see places otherwise too difficult to access and to also experience more of the ‘everyday civilian’ side of cities. Andy has done a fabulous job of driving on the right side of the road – he’s only accidentally driven on to the left once or twice!!

So, this morning we were up at a sprightly 7am, having peanut butter and banana waffles by 8am and all checked out and fetching our car by 9am. There was a bit of delay getting the paperwork sorted but soon we had a shiny black Hybrid Prius – this was a bizarre machine, with a power button and disconcertingly no ‘normal car’ sounds!

Our first stop, the Napa Valley, the wine region close to San Francisco. This was about an hour drive and our tight schedule meant only forty five minutes or so when we arrived. This was enough time for us to head to the local produce market and grab a flight of four wines and a local cheese plate. All very enjoyable of course! Before we left we grabbed four cupcakes – Java, S’more, Key Lime and Passionfruit flavours. They certainly do cupcakes well here!

  

After that, onto the Muir woods – another (slightly confusing) hour drive. When we arrived we discovered a lot of cars, clearly this was a popular spot. The woods are known for their very big tall redwood trees. The general atmosphere reminded me of forests in Tassie and were perhaps not that unique to us – the colours of the trees were fabulous though, the red of the bark and the green foliage made everything look like a Photoshop enhanced story book page.

  

After about 45 minutes stop here (including a break to eat our cupcakes) we headed back into town – time for a drive around Golden Gate Park, up and down a few random backstreets and along the beach. And then on to the airport!

After dropping off our car and checking in we headed off to our gate, this time off to London via Zurich! I have really loved San Francisco – it is a city of so much character. The fog rolling across the bay, the sloping hills, the variety of restaurants, the liberality of the people and the beautiful scenery – I would certainly come back here in an instant.