And here we are...

You know, it's weird.  It seems like a year since we were in Nice, yet it seems like hardly any time since we were last sitting here in our own lounge.  We have had a wonderful trip, but it seems slightly surreal now that we are home - just like it seemed surreal just before we left that we were going to be on the other side of the world for a month.
It was so great to get home and see Dan though.  Unfortunately, we were forward booked onto the wrong connecting flight when we were in San Fran, so poor Dan turned up at the airport for the flight we were supposed to be on and left about 5 minutes before we actually arrived thinking he must have missed us.  He had just arrived home when we rang to see if he was coming to pick us up - we were so tired, we hadn't noticed that we were on a different flight to the one in the itinerary until it was too late to call him.
Anyway, it was so great to see him finally that I'm afraid to say I burst into tears - thankfully it isn't such a spectacle to see a crying woman at an airport so not too embarrassing for him lol.

Kathy, Sarah, Tim and Josie popped around this afternoon and it was so great to see them. The T-shirts all fitted and Kath looks fab in her red beret! Kristin came round in the evening and brought us some flowers, so I have been able to try out these really cool water balls that we got in Camden Market.  They look like tiny beads when you get them, but you hydrate them in water and use them in vases instead of water - cool huh!
It was so wonderful to see the people I really missed - it's seeing them and talking to them that makes you happy to be back from an adventure rather than sad that it's over huh.  Tomorrow I'm back at work, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there too - although not the work so much lol, I've become quite accustomed to not being inside at a desk.
Anyhoo, back to work it is and in a short while we will begin planning our next adventure so that we have something new to aim for.  Brett and Aarron have just secured their first contract, a small one, but a beginning none-the-less.  Now that we have had our trip, the timing will be much better to really get stuck in and get their new business cranking without him having to plan around being overseas.  He is off to work with Aarron today and has a busy week lined up for him, but we are happy that he only had to spend a little time working while we were away.

Thank you Chris and Al, Toni and Tony for joining us on this most Excellent Adventure.  It was such fun to be able to share the amazing things we saw and did with some great friends - even if it did mean that this is the first holiday I have ever taken where I put on weight instead of losing it!  All those French late evening dinners and bottles of wine decided they would like to come home to NZ with me lol.
Thank you Gaynor, Harry, Zach and Riley for having us to stay, it was so great to have a relaxing time and a lot of laughs with 'family' at the end of our busy time in France. It is never long enough of course and we really, really hope we will see you here next year.  We would love to see you on our side of the world before we are next on yours.
Thank you Simon for being such a great London host, again. Make sure that you take us up on the offer of our spare room before too long, I will let everyone know that you're coming so they will all be on your back if you don't lol. Thank you Lenka for helping Simon with ideas for our 'options' and for your company, it was a pleasure to meet you and we look forward to seeing you again.
Thanks everyone here in NZ for keeping in touch while we have been away, it was reassuring to know that we were still conntected, despite being so far away. We hope that you enjoyed sharing our journey with us, we know that we stirred memories for some who have been before and inspiration for some who haven't. We look forward to sharing some of your own Excellent Adventures.

Day 31 - San Francisco

Today we started the day by taking Chris and Al to Loris Diner for breakfast. As we suspected, they loved it and have decided that they will need to return to try the lunch and dinner menus as well. On my recommendation (from yesterday) they and Brett had "San Franciscos Best Corned Beef Hash" for breakfast and I had a California omlette - which was an omlette with a filling of smoked chicken apple sausage, avocado and tomato. Not somethig that instantly appeals I'll grant you, but as it was our last day, I wanted to try something local and unique so I gave it a go and found it delicious. Lori's Diner is on Powell Street, one block up from the cable car turnaround and if you want good service and a breakfast that will see you right through the day, go there when you are in San Francisco.

After brekkie, we joined the already huge queue to ride the cablecar to Fishermans Wharf where we would take the ferry to Sausalito. It took a bit of waiting, but was something that was a 'must-do' in the short amount of time we had in San Fran. It was so worth the wait too, the whole experience is like being on an adventure park ride. The banter and work of the conductor and driver, the steep streets and the history and sheer fun of it made it so much more than just a famous a way of getting across town. We started off with ladies sitting and guys standing beside us on the running boards, but about halfway along, Brett and I swapped. That meant that I was hanging off the right side as we rolled down a ways into a sharp left hand turn, so much fun that a big woohoo just had to be let out!

After walking the couple of blocks from the end of the line, we caught the ferry over to Sausalito. It is a shame that we couldn't take the planned bike ride, but it was a cool boat ride across the harbour and we managed to at least get close to Alcatraz on the way over.

Sausalito is a lovely little place. It is filled with galleries of all different kinds of art and crafts - although not an 'artsy crafty' kind of place, everything is on the higher end of the scale rather than the market end. We had a lovely time fossicking through the galleries and wishing we had the gazillion dollars that it would have taken to purchase and ship some of the beautiful things, before grabbing a takeaway late lunch to eat in the shade by the marina. After a wander around the boats, it was back to the ferry wharf for the ride back across the bay. That was the scene for our goodbye to Chris and Al - they went off to check out more of Fishermans Wharf while we headed to the F train to get back to the hotel.

The last leg home was a 13 hour flight, so we had upgraded to premuim economy. To start off on the right foot and to finish our trip with something lovely, we took a 'black car' limousine to the airport. It was only slightly more expensive than a taxi and seemed a fitting farewell to our dream of a holiday. Lovely.

Here we are at the airport then, ready to come home - see you all soon!

Day 30 - San Francisco

Ok, so the day didn't work out quite as we had anticipated yesterday. It started off well after getting a great night's sleep when the hotel finally found our bookings. We woke early and had a couple of hours before we were due to meet Chris and Al to head to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz trip, so we headed out for a walk. We found a cool 50's style diner where you even had your own wee jukebox at your table so we stopped for what turned out to be a great breakfast.

When we met up with Chris and Al, we caught the "F train", which is actually a fleet of vintage trolley-cars and got off at Pier 33. So far so good huh? Well, then we had a bit of a problem. Our bookings were not showing up on the system. Soon, we became aware that an English couple who had booked through the same US agency were having the same problem and we thought 'uh oh'. Turns out that despite us (and the other couple) booking and paying about 3 months ago, the tour company only sent our booking to the Alcatraz office a couple of days ago. Of course, there were no spaces left by then and they couldn't accept the booking. Note to everyone - don't use a company called Keith Prowse and don't allow your travel agent to book through them on your behalf. One mistake is a mistake, but the same mistake for people from different countries indicates a problem don't you reckon?

So, no Alcatraz, but there are plenty of things to do here so we were disappointed but no big deal (although we will need a refund for that one Lisa). We walked down to Pier 39 and found where our Hop On Hop Off started and set off for a tour around the city - including crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a lovely day, although the wind was very cold close to the ocean, especially on the bridge. I am now the not-so-proud owner of a wind burned face with big sunglass white patches, but I guess when I get home there will be plenty of ski-bunnies with the same look lol.

After the tripping around we had a late lunch by Fishermans Wharf (the best crab-cakes ever!) and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around that area. One of the Piers has a museum with working antique arcade games so we stocked up on quarters and about an hour whizzed by before we knew it. It was a lot of fun, although some of them were a little creepy - especially Laughing Sally, a huge female marionette that laughs hysterically when you put your quarter in. I'm sure she would have caused many bad dreams for littlies (and some biggies) over the years.

Before we knew it, it was 5pm so we caught the F train back into town. When Brett and I had been out walking in the morning, I found the designer shoe outlet store, so while Al returned to the hotel to relax the rest of us had a fossick through a huge range of top brand shoes. yet again, there were no Jimmy Choo's in my size, but I got a lovely pair of Nine West ones dead cheap - yay!!

We then did a bit more shopping close to the hotel and have called it a day for a reasonably early night. I can't believe we come home tomorrow, it feels like we are still so far away. We have nearly a full day here tomorrow though. We were going to do a bike ride across the bridge and down to Sausalito, but unfortunately the normal road from the bridge down to the bay is closed and the detour means that it would take too long. Instead, we are going to take a ferry to Sausalito, as we have heard that it is really lovely and quite different to this side of the bay. Hopefully it all goes according to plan...

Day 28 & 29 - London

It's time to leave London and fly through to San Francisco which unfortunately means that we're almost on the last leg of the journey. However, we've had a fantastic time in London again (thanks mainly to Simon and Lenka) and we're looking forward to the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco trams.


The night we arrived in London was realively quiet - after meeting up with Christine and Al (who had been exploring Bath while we were with Gaynor and Harry), we had a meal with Simon and Lenka before crashing at the hotel. Barb was very kind and agreed to ride on the London Eye with me (vertigo and all) but unfortunately we ran out of time (much to her feigned disapointment). Oh well, I guess it just means that we'll have to come back for another holiday at some stage.......

The next morning, we met with Simon again who had created a full portfolio of attractions and sight-seeing options for us to choose from. Christine had begun to feel very ill so unfortunately both her and Al stayed in for the day while Barb, Simon and I made our first stop at the Camden markets. There was so much to look at that we wandered through for about two hours and still didn't get anywhere near finishing - there's even a market stall that sells vintage luggage. While we were exploring, we noticed pianos sitting in the middle of some of the parks. Apparently, they're placed out around different public areas as part of the current Festival of London. Anyone walking past can just sit down and start playing if the mood takes them. Really unique to see.

After some lunch (it seems that we've been eating constantly all holiday) we went in search of the meeting place for the 'Something Different' London walks. This was just as great as the 'Secrets of London' walk that we did last time - the guide was really friendly and we learned the quirkier history of some of London's landmarks. We can highly recommend it for getting to see parts of London close up and meeting some really interesting people. During the walk, we passed a very good cake store where apparently the likes of Stella Mcartney by their cakes from. Not wanting to be left of the of the hip London scene, we went back to the store after the walking tour had finished and loaded up on cakes to take with us as interval food for Henry VIII at the Globe theatre.

That's right, after having dinner by Saint Pauls's cathedral with Simon and Lenka, we watched a Shakespeare play at the Globe theatre in London! An excellent way to end the day. Simon and Lenka had organised the tickets and we found out also that it was the anniversary of when the original Globe theatre had burned down during a performance of Henry VIII. Apparently, the cannon that's fired above the stage in one of the early scenes set some of the thatched roof alight in 1613.

Of course, we made sure to get cake for Al and Christine who had spent the day back at the hotel. Although they had spent the day in, they did get to see the Lion King in the evening and really enjoyed it.

So, we've squeezed all of our luggage and shopping into the allowed baggage limit and are on the plane ready for a long flight to the United States. I don't think there'll be much to report for the afternoon when we arrive (probably just sleep) but I'm sure they'll be more to write about when we start exploring again in San Francisco.