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Sunday, 1 January 2012

Auckland to Toronto

30/12/11 Friday 7:30pm we left Auckland ( NZ time), and arrived in San Francisco after a 12 hr flight, on Friday 10:00am (California time)

31/12/11 Saturday
San Francisco
Offending Edifice
Today we decided to do the tourist thing, so joined a tour of the city. We arrived by shuttle down town by the wharf early with an hour to fill in, and first on our agenda was to find a toilet to set us in good frame for the rest of the day ….finally with great relief, we spotted a likely building.  Rod was the brave one to try it out first. Initially, all was well, but then I attempted to take my turn. First challenge was the fact that the door now seemed to have a mind of its own, and kept trying to open. I yelled to Rod, who valiantly attempted to keep it shut so that I could complete what I had started. Well, if that was all, it would have been a tolerable situation, but next thing there came a sound like a rushing mighty waterfall, and a great stream of water started pouring very fast across the floor towards me. It was all that I could do to grab my bag (which thankfully was untouched) and flee. When I looked behind me, the toilet seat had flipped up and folded into the wall, and an LED screen kindly offered the explanation that cleaning was in progress. From that point on, we decided it was a much better idea to find a McDonalds …

R&K at Golden Gate

Our tour was well worth it. The days before had been very foggy, which apparently is typical of San Francisco in the summer not winter. Today was an absolutely beautiful day. The guide was a mine of historical information, and took us to several sights around the city, including the Fisherman’s Wharf area, the Golden Gate bridge, the Golden Gate park, Chinatown, Twin Peaks which is a lookout from which we had fabulous views over the city including the prisoner fort of Alcatraz on the island.
Downtown SF from Twin Peaks
Alcatraz
Downtown SF from Golden Gate