Hello from San Francisco!

I flew up here from Los Angeles on Saturday evening. The flight was super - very empty so I had the back of the plane to myself - I streched out and enjoyed a bag of goodies given to me by Helena & Roy (who I stayed with in San Diego).

I had a really great time in San Diego, Helena drove me to loads of cool places up and down the Pacific coast - we spent a day in and out of fancy shops, to Hotel Del Coronado (a luxury beachfront hostoric hotel that is a must-see in San Diego) and along the sea where some seals were sunbathing. And of course the Zoo! It was amazing - it beats London Zoo hands down! We took a bus tour and then got a up really close to a panda eating its lunch (bamboo), koalas, polar bears, gorillas (they have about 7), elephants, tortoises...

I went to another baseball game with Roy - this time I was following the San Diego Padres who were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. We won - 5-0! (I wish the Saints were that good). It was an exciting game and this time I knew exactly what was going on (after a baseball lesson the night before) - there was a 3-point home run and lots of double run outs - great! I'm definitely a baseball fan now and will be following the Padres next season. The food at baseball games is really good compared to St Marys - hotdogs and proper American milkshakes - yum! I also got a real taste of American food here - burgers of course, Mexican (it will never be the same back home), ice cream...

I got a lift up to Los Angeles on Saturday with Helena & Roy and we visited the Getty Center - brilliant. It's fairly new and built into the hillside around LA, and has all sorts of collections of painting, sculpture, decorative arts etc. I saw some a few Monets and Turners - great. We did an architecture tour as well which was really interesting although hot out in the sun.

I'm really enjoying San Francisco and again, getting a real feel for American life. I'm very lucky to be staying with some friends of Helana and Roy - they live near the Golden Gate Park so a great base for me here. Yesterday we headed out early to Muir Woods - I was pretty excited as I hadn't planned on going - Muir Woods is full of Redwoods - really old and tall trees - we wondered around a lovely trail and saw where the UN was set-up - it was so peaceful as we had beated the crowds. After we walked into the Golden Gate park and spent the day at a 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass' Music Festival! There were about 300,000 people there (mainly hippies!), with 6 stages - not my usual scene but I loved every minute of it! The music was from the deep South, with instruments like the banjee and stages with some well-known American golden oldies. I ate salami, all sorts of cheese, pretzels , 'candy', fried artichoke, cookies - all washed down with Alaskan beer and rye whisky! It was a proper culture shock but I'll never forget it, a really great experience.

I headed into downtown San Francisco today, to the Modern Art Museum, shops (Westfield!), and over to the pier to the Ferry Building (full of Selfridges-style food) and got a ticket to Alcatraz for tomorrow morning. I rode a cable car as well! In fact I enjoyed it so much that I sat on it up and down a few times! I need to hang out of one tomorrow and get a photo somehow. I may head to Yosemite on thursday so I'll update in a few days.

Grace xx