Day 49 and all is well

Well my last full day of the trip is here, I am quite looking forward to being home but the holiday has been so cool I will miss it. I had a tour today, the first part was a bus trip out (over the Golden gate again) to a place called Muir woods, this has an original forest of California Redwoods, which is quite spectacular (especially compared to the desert of the previous few weeks) not as large around as I imagined but certainly very very tall. After this I came back into the city for a harbor cruise, under the bridge and around Alcatraz, this city really does work well when seen from a boat.

I went the short distance back to my hotel via the section of Lombard Street where it is so steep they have made it into a zig-zag. I looked at it and yes this is actually quite steep, but hay I have seen worse (well not as steep as Wellington that isn’t saying much) and one day I could see this becoming a solution back home. The area I am staying in is called the Marina district, and bit of re-clamed land jutting out in an earthquake zone, with streets that were designed without any though to the rather step hills they then cross (oh it is just like home). The area has lots of Victorian town houses and looks very well off, kinda like some sort of uba-Thordon (I realized this was a little odd when I went looking for something to eat and the first bakery I found was for dogs, because there is no way Fido should have biscuits that are not freshly made….). I hear this area got quite severally damaged in the 1989 earthquake and I can really see why, but saying that I can see it would be a pleasant place to live otherwise.