Tuesday, September 17th, was our full day in San Francisco. After breakfast, we left our motel in Alameda and drove into the city to do some sightseeing.
Upon arriving at the San Francisco Bay, we stumbled across the
America's Cup, an international sailing yacht race series. I had known absolutely nothing about this event before finding myself in the midst of it, but it turns out that the America's Cup is the oldest international sporting trophy in the world, having first been awarded in 1851. The two countries competing for this year's Cup were New Zealand and the USA.
As we arrived on the scene within a few hours of when a major race was scheduled to take place, the energy and excitement levels were very high. It was looking like New Zealand might beat the USA team, and there were patriotic Kiwis and NZ supporters waving their flags all over the place. We didn't have time to stay for the race - which ended up being postponed anyway due to windy conditions - but we enjoyed checking out the fancy boats and having a coffee before it was time to move on. (And by the way, a few days later the USA ended up winning the Cup.)
 |
| Team USA's yacht |
 |
| Team New Zealand's yacht |
 |
| With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background |
After enjoying a delicious lunch at a waterfront restaurant, the six of us parted ways for the rest of the day. Mum, Dad and Roxy had booked an afternoon tour of Alcatraz, the notorious prison island that Ben and I had toured with Delle
in 2010. Ben, Finley and I had a few more hours to spend wandering around the Bay before heading off to have dinner with friends. After Finley had a nap in a nearby park, we spent a while exploring
Pier 39, home to lots of touristy shops... and dozens of adorable sea lions!
The view of Alcatraz Island from Pier 39...
 |
| Mum, Dad and Roxy are somewhere in this pic! |
 |
| Alcatraz escapee? |
And the famous
sea lions!
Back in the main part of the Pier, we stopped to watch a magic show and Ben was chosen as the magician's assistant! After a few basic but entertaining tricks, the show culminated in Ben holding a bunch of spaghetti in his mouth while the magician cracked a whip closer and closer to his lips, chopping off more and more of the spaghetti each time! You can actually see the spaghetti pieces flying off in one of the photos below. Poor Finley, who was sitting in the front row with me, understandably thought this was all pretty alarming...!
 |
| The magician |
 |
| Spaghetti in mouth... |
 |
| Enlarge to see flying spaghetti! |
That evening the three of us went to Adrian and Petrea's home, where we enjoyed a delicious butter chicken dinner with them and their two little girls. It was really nice to catch up with them again and meet each other's kids. We had a lovely evening!
Soon it was time to head back to the Bay to pick up Mum, Dad and Roxy, who had all thoroughly enjoyed their Alcatraz tour. We stayed in Alameda again that night. The next day would mark the beginning of our northward drive up the coast towards home.
To be continued...
