Our Phantom visitor.....

[The legal stuff: The characters and events portrayed in this passage are purely fictional.  Any resemblance to persons past, present or future is purely coincidental]

....   arrived safe and sound from the dark mists of Ireland on May 6th.  Looking more alert than any of our previous visitors I might add but there was no mistaking that pasty look of "I haven't seen sunshine in six years lads (dough boy)".

Then the Mikado and other goodies were taken from her (or his because after all we're talking about a fictional character) bag and presented to us.  It's amazing how many things you can get here in the US and you still drool over the stuff from home!!

Our first two days were spent shopping and chatting.  Well I should put chatting first as we couldn't stop.  We have been neighbours in our little village back home 4EVER!!!  We took a long trip down memory lane, Noeleen (to use a random name) has a fantastic memory and we re-lived chasing cats through the graveyard, robbing the Priests orchard (forgive us father) and her TOTAL abandonment of me when we were chased by the village boys (who later grew up to become the village people) and I ended up with snow shoved into every crevice of my body... EVERY.  I ended up in bed with the flu....  but a good (albeit imaginary) friend all the same... no seriously!!!!

Noeleen is a talented crafter and to say that the craft shops here blew her mind would be an understatement.  When I lost her in the shops, I only had to follow the "Holy Craps" to find her again.  Now it was her time to drool :-)

We also had a wonderful day in SeaWorld, walked Torrey Pines, visited Seaport Village and oh yeah CHATTED!!!

Sunday was Vegas time for the ladies ..... unfortunately this was a little tainted by the fact that our very camera shy guest came down with some horrible "I'm not used to the sun" infection/allergy which almost resulted in blood and guts all over the place, but in any case saw us in ER (not the show) on Sunday night.  Yep, our first night in Vegas and there we were among the many generously tattooed patients in ER.  We didn't time it very well though .... a little early if you ask me as we missed the mayhem that is a must in a Vegas ER.  Noeleen was also a little disappointed that there were no George Clooney lookalikes taking care of her.

Imaginary friends deserve the very best in imaginary doctors ...

... though sometimes the job is somewhat less appealing.

Monday was a day of drugs and recovery,  I'm no Florence Nightingale but I did my best to take care of her - slipping her a few sly ones any time there were indications of cold turkey setting in.  Coming down is not all it's cracked up to be !!

You can't prove these are my legs...... I was busy taking care of the patient.

Hanging out at the pool.  Well one of us had to keep up on the goss !!

By Monday afternoon Noeleen was out and about taking MILLIONS of photos of Las Vegas (and I NEVER exaggerate).  It was incredibly hot there so we downed buckets of water and ate lots of frozen yogurt - well a girl can't survive on fluid alone !  We also went to see "Menopause" the musical which was hilarious.

NOTE: All this time Will was at home paralysed with an injured back but we didn't care (and no he didn't sabotage this particular blog by writing that himself).  I disgust myself....
Noeleen wrapped her little visit up by taking us out for a lovely meal and a few beers at Karl Strauss.  You can visit us anytime !

San Francisco

San Francisco, aka San Fran, aka Frisco - the city where it's compulsory to wear a flower in your hair.  Well anyway, we paid a trip there for a long weekend to see what all the fuss was about.  We flew from SD to SF, all Virgin style (RyanAir could learn a thing or two from them I can tell you) and then took the BART towards the center and our hotel, to tuck ourselves in for the night.

The next day we were up and at them for the Alcatraz tour - a definite must see for any SF newbie. 

The view on the ferry to the Rock.

Coit tower; visible from almost anywhere in SF (including the ferry).  Apparently it has some great 360 degree views of the city but we decided to give it a miss as it was pretty hazy anyway.

When we arrived on the island, there was one tour speech that was compulsory where they told a little history / folklore about the island (including the one about the shark with only one fin such that it continuously circled the island to prevent anyone from escaping alive) as well as brief explanation about the different tours; what was open today etc.  After that you were on your own to explore as you so chose !

Looking back towards civilization from Alcatraz.  So close and yet so far.  The prisoners could actually hear the city's New Year celebrations.

Heading up the hill towards the prison.

A view from inside.  Just rows and rows of cells.

We decided to follow the audio tour which was really interesting as it turned out.  This old prison guard guides you through various parts of the prison; stopping you every so often for a story about a infamous prisoner, or an escape attempt, or just to get you to stop and realize how tough life must have been (for the prisoners).

 



A typical prison cell.  Pretty small if you have to live there 24x7 and even then it was larger than solitary !

Alma, all delighted to be leaving solitary on good behaviour.

During the tour, one of the past prisoners explained how he would rip a button off his shirt; drop it, search for it, find it and then repeat the whole process over and over again - just to pass the time in the dark solitude of solitary.  You had to escape somehow in your imagination or go crazy!

The Alcatraz lighthouse.  I waited and waited, but there was just no sign of Nicolas Cage.  Ah - probably just as well.

So once we had our feet back on terra firma, we headed as far as Pier 39 to check out the seals.

See I wasn't joking - there's Coit tower in the background.

A couple of them even had the good manners to wave !

After that it was back to the hotel and then off out for a bite to eat before checking out China town.

If the humour took you, you could purchase a sword, shuriken or other deadly weapon, but we decided we'd pass (the truth be known, I was dragged kicking and screaming from the shop).

On the way back to the hotel for the evening we headed down to the bay for a look at the lights on the San Francisco Oakland bridge (never to be confused with the Golden Gate !).

The next day was tram, Lombard St., Golden Gate and Painted Ladies day.  Wow !! how we're just packing it all in !  The tram was cool and a bit quirky.  You definitely have to be a certain type of character to work on them.  Safety is clearly for wimps, because you're allowed to hang off the side (and take photos should you so desire).

On the way to Lombard St.

Lombard St. - advertised as the crookedest (no I did not make that word up) street in the world - even though apparently it's not.  We both thought that it was a little disappointing because it looks more like someone's drive way than a street but hey - it keeps the tourists coming.

Then it was back to Fisherman's Wharf to rent a bike for the big trip to the Golden Gate bridge.  This was probably the part that we enjoyed the most.  The weather was great and the freedom the bike gave us was fantastic.  In total, it took us 2 hours to cycle there and back.

 

Alma at the Golden Gate.

We felt we had to cycle part of the way on to the bridge just to say we'd done it !

After that it was on to the 'Painted Ladies', a group of old style houses with a view of the much more modern SF in the background.  There were loads of people just sitting there on the green opposite the houses staring - pretending to have fun, despite the fact that the wind would cut you in half !  We simply took the picture and got the hell out of there !

 

And after a spot of shopping and a bit to eat in Union Square, that was it !  ... the end of a very relaxing and most enjoyable weekend !

 

Our carbon footprints.