Wednesday 9 Jan
We bid farewell to New Zealand, again, and head off on a 12 hour flight to San Francisco. On arrival at Customs we have our finger prints and a photograph taken as extra security in the US. We pick up our bags and head off to our first encounter with BART (not the Simpson variety but the Bay Area Rapid Transport). We travel on what is San Fran's underground system to the downtown area. Neil is carrying the bags but soon decides he can't carry them the 4 blocks from the nearest BART station to our hotel so we catch a taxi. The driver is East European and we soon realise that he resembles Jim Ignatalski, the spaced-out character from the TV series "Taxi". Our hotel is only a few blocks away and Igi mumbles something about this and speeds off through the streets of San Fran at a rate which would cause Jeremy Clarkson to fall down with laughter. So, 4 mins later we are outside our hotel, checked in and catching up on some much needed sleep.

Thursday 10 Jan
We walk 5 blcoks to the Dubbleju Office to meet Wolfgang and take a look over the bike and everything is in good order. We speak with Wolfgang about our direction of travel and he gives us some good pointers for things to see and the roads to ride. After deciding to leave the bike at Dubbleju for a few days sightseeing we head off into the city and seek out a place for lunch that Wolfgang has recommended. Rickenbaker's, on 2nd Street, is not only a bar and diner but something of a motorcycle museum. As you approach the diner you can see a classic Triumph 21 "Bathtub" inside, above the doorway. Then, when you enter there are 40 classic and vintage motorcycles strung from the rafters, these include Indians, Hendersons and a Rigid Aerial. There is also a model railway that circumnavigates the diner at high level. These all combine to make it a pretty unique dining experience. We walk off our lunch by heading down Fisherman's Wharf to book the tickets for Alcatraz on Saturday. Back to our hotel on the BART system, now getting to be pretty experienced at using this particular city's public transport sytem.

Friday 11 Jan
A pretty lazy day but something else we can tick off the list before we head out of San Fran. Neil purchases new boots for himself and a pair for our friend Mike back in NZ which means we then have to find a post office to send them back to him. Taped up and labelled we take them to the counter where, from the assistant, we hear the comment of the trip so far......"Oh do people in New Zealand speak English!?".

Saturday 12 Jan
On the BART again to Embarcadero and the walk up to Pier 33 for our ferry over to Alcatraz. A glorious sunny morning means we get a good trip across to the rock. It feels funny to be at a place you have heard so much about that has such a reputation. Inside the cellhouse we soon encounter the atmosphere, with the help of the audio tour, and witness the stark, cold and extremely small cells. The tour takes you back to the time when a prisoner, unsuccessfully, attempted to escape by stealing a gun from the gun store and shooting the wardens around him. Another part of the tour tells us of three prisoners who used spoons to dig through the vents in their cell walls into the ventilation shafts behind. After years of digging, they eventually made it to the roof and the water but they were never heard of again or their bodies found!! All in all a very interesting and worthwhile visit to the Rock.

Back on the ferry to San Fran and we decide its time for lunch. Once at Fisherman's Wharf we see someone eating fish and chips at a harbour-side cafe and that seems like a good idea. The portions are so big that we decide to purchase just the one portion to share between us but almost end up sharing it with a very large seagull and just manage to stop the whole lot being taken straight off our plate. The dangers of eating at the harbour-side!

So, fed and watered we are ready to tackle the undulating streets of San Fran to find the famous part of Lombard Street that everyone has seen on TV. It's the crooked street where cars have to zig-zag their way down - crazy! Looking at the map, we decide it would be easy to walk the 29 blocks back to our hotel. We make it, and then add up how many miles we have walked since arriving in SF......12 miles in 3 days. Time to soak the feet!

Sunday 13 Jan
The highlight of today was lunch in Chinatown at Tam Duong, an authentic chinese "cafe" where all the locals, it seems, go for Sunday lunch. Excellent food in simple surroundings with a very varied menu, including beef honeycomb (tripe) and braised pigs kidneys but we choose a very tasty sweet and sour pork and beef chow mein. A walk through Chinatown to take in all the sights, sounds and smells, and to walk off lunch, brings us to the Gate or entrance to Chinatown and then to the French Quarter. What do we see in front of us but the Triton Hotel, the hotel where we would have really loved to have stayed, but only after a Lotto win! The reason we know about this hotel is that is has themed rooms throughout and one is the SANTANA room, the room that we would love to stay in. Having seen it from the outside it does look rather swanky with Limos parked outside and valet parking. Oh well, one day!! Onwards, through North Beach (the Italian Quarter) to the Coit Tower and fantastic views over San Francisco. The excellent weather today allowed us to see both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, together with Alcatraz.

As we come to the end of our stay in San Francisco, we can say that we have really enjoyed the City and all its diversities, the friendliness of the people and all the famous sights. So tomorrow we pick up the bike and head off onto the open road.........