Hi.

I was right, this place is totally crazy!

There I was walking down the wharf the other day. I saw a couple of ladies looking a bit slyly one way but it did not really register. There was the boats, the sea, the traffic, some screaming kids and a few street plants and then all of a sudden, one of the plants jumped out at me and suddenly the whole street was laughing- An overreaction, I did not scream that loud!- and some of the American men were shaking their heads and going 'Oh man, it's just too easy.' Gaffaw, gaffaw. Yeah, one of the little bushes was not really a bush at all but some prankster (also known as a street entertainer) with a couple of twigs in front of his face who then more or less tripped me up flat on my face. A typical sunday afternoon in San Francisco apparantly!

Went to Monterey and it actually had blue water. So much of the water I have seen on this trip has been green. Anyway went down the seventeen mile drive and snapped that tree that is always in the Athena pics etc. The lone cypress. It has stood on the edge of that rock for over 25o years with the waves pounding around it. Also saw loads and loads of golf courses. Apparently this is where all the international tournaments are played and you have never seen anything like it. Walked through the lodge and got a couple of pics of the eighteenth green at Pebble Mills Link. A bit different from Folke. The blue, blue sea literally meets the green! Clint Eastwood is important, the mayor or something of the area and Doris Day lives in Carmel by the Sea where the sand is so white, I could have sworn I was in paradise until I turned around and saw the hill I had to climb to get back to the bus.

There was a man on the tour yesterday who every time we stopped got his bagpipes out and started playing. I reckon, he had some kind of challenge to play his bagpipes in all these places around the world or something. He had a real thick,bushy black beard and sideburns like you would imagine a real Scottish bagpiper to have but not sure if he was even Scottish at all. The americans were quite bemused with him.

Between here and Monterey, there were not many surfers or anything which apparently is quite unusual and the guide thought there may have been a shark warning out. Apparently 93% of shark attacks not fatal. They don't even like humans preferring fat, juicy sea lions etc but until they have had a bite of your arm or toe or something then they do not realise you are human!

Sam xxxxxxx