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SATURDAY 3RD TO WEDNESDAY 8TH JANUARY 2009
Having said goodbye to Mummy early on Saturday morning, I made my way to Sydney Kingsford airport for the long flight to San Francisco. This was going to be an unusual day as I was going to have it twice, touching down in California earlier than I had left Australia. The flight was fairly easy despite the few onsets of leg cramp and I arrived, a bit dazed, and made my way through customs. Erica was there to greet me with a big hug. It was great to see her again after so long since my last visit here. Instead of staying in the city for the weekend we were going to head off to their house in Sonoma, a town in the middle of California's big wine area. However, we stopped for a bite to eat on the water, looking out over the bay at the planes coming into land, before making the journey out of town. The city's usual fog had cleared and there was a beautiful view as we crossed over the familiar Golden Gate Bridge. This iconic structure was completed in 1937, spanning the entire width of the opening of San Francisco bay into the Pacific Ocean, known as the Golden Gate, from which the bridge got its name. We arrived in Sonoma a little under an hour later and went inside to say hello to John and Cleo, their beautiful cat, not much changed from the last time I had visited. While it was still light, we went for a fairly chilly wander into Sonoma Plaza. This is the town's central point, a characteristic square surrounded by shops, restaurants, the Sebastiani theatre and Mission San Francisco Solano. The christmas lights that were still up added a very homely feel to the already relaxed atmosphere, it really did feel like a weekend. We returned to the house at dark and Erica began to cook up a roast, a meal I had not had in a very long time. Nancy came to join us for dinner and we spent the rest of the evening eating, chatting and playing on the Wii until retiring to bed, me absolutely exhausted!
I awoke past midday on Sunday, obviously having been in need of a lot of sleep and we took a short drive out to Glen Ellen for lunch. Glen Ellen is a picturesque quiet town in the middle of Sonoma valley, famous for being the home of Jack London as well as to multiple vineyards. After lunch we returned to Sonoma proper and Erica and I went to the pictures to see Marley & Me, a good but sad film starring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a golden labrador. Drying our eyes, Erica especially, we went back to the house for some dinner and some more Wii action before heading to bed.
After some lunch on Monday we headed back to Burlingame, a city on the south of San Francisco Bay, where Erica and John spend the week. While Erica and John went to the gym, I chilled out in the house playing with Cleo and watching TV before they returned for dinner. We also watched 24: Redemption, something I had been longing to see and with Season 7 of 24 only days away, it wettened my appetite for the episodes to come.
After a brief gym session in the morning, Erica and I went for some lunch on the water's edge before heading off to the animal home where Erica volunteers once a week. We immediately fell in love with one very cute kitten. He was 3 months old and the last one of his litter to be fostered and was absolutely petrified when we first opened his cage. After about 10 minutes of sitting on Erica's lap though and a thorough amount of cuddling, he began to perk up and enjoy the attention. It is amazing what a little amount of love can do. Erica, I think, was very close to taking him home, to be honest if it had been at home in London, I probably would not have had the will power to leave him there. We left hoping that he would be adopted soon, how could he not being that cute! Back in the house, we ate dinner and tried out some more games on the Wii, John annoyingly winning most of the, before I headed off to bed. It had been a very good day!
As it was my final day in San Francisco we headed into the city for lunch at a cafe on Union Street. Before that though, we indulged ourselves in a bit of nostalgia, driving past Erica's old flat where she had lived for her first few years in the city. Even though I had been there several times before, the design of the city always strikes me. The seemingly endless steep, but straight, roads are very picturesque and provide beautiful views as you drop down into the city. After lunch, as it was fairly cold outside, we took a drive down to the main tourist destination, Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. This was a little less crowded than I remembered due to it being the winter season but apart from that little seemed to have changed. After a brief stop for coffee, we returned home and had a relaxed evening playing on the Wii again, me desperate to beat John before I left. It had been an awesome few days, great to be able to catch up with Erica and just take a breather from travelling around for a bit.
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