Monday 30th March
San Francisco, California
We sailed into San Francisco early in the morning and docked at Pier 25. We are here for two days and met up with our good friends, Phil and Brena, outside the terminal on The Embarcadero. We went to Union Square looking around Macy's and Ferragamo before we had coffee. We then drove to Golden Gate Park and had a drive around there. We stopped at the Dutch Windmill and Queen Wilhelmina's Tulip Gardens. The windmill was built in 1902 to pump the water for the lawns. We went to the Cliff House for a really lovely lunch. The restaurant as it's name suggests stands on a cliff overlooking Ocean Beach and Seal Rocks. It is next to the remains of the Sutro Baths which were built in 1894 and were the biggest indoor salt water pools of the era. The Cliff House features photos, pictures and posters of the Sutro Baths. After lunch we drove through the Golden Gate Recreation Area where there are good views over the bay and Golden Gate Bridge. We went through The Presido which was formerly a naval base and is now converted to a lovely residential area. We had dinner in San Francisco with our friends and their daughter before we drove back with them to their house in San Mateo where we are spending the night.

Tuesday 31st March
San Mateo, California
Our second day here is to be a wonderfully lazy day. After a leisurely breakfast Phil, Russ and dog Geordie, went for a drive in Phil's Sunbeam Alpine (his pride and joy for 36 years). While they were out Brena and I sat chatting in her 'secret' garden. It's a small area of the main garden and is like a courtyard. It is very sheltered and a wonderful place to sit listening to the trickle of water from Brena's wonderful water feature that she has made from old watering cans. After a lovely lunch of cheese and wine we sat around talking until it was time to drive back up to San Francisco in time to get something to eat together before our ship departed. Sad to say goodbye to our friends but we have had two wonderful days with them here. The photo is taken from the ship just before we left, as the sun was setting over the bay. In front is Fisherman's Wharf and in the distance is, I of course, The Golden Gate Bridge.