San Francisco 12 - 20th October 2013
Welcome to The United States of America
I really wish the United states would be a bit more welcoming to visitors. The usual long queue at immigration was twice as long due to the financial shutdown. We were welcomed off the plan by a US immigration official shouting at everyone. It really doesn't make you feel warm and welcome after a 12 hour flight.
And this was the queue just to get into the immigration hall
The bus, boat and walking tour
I wanted to see as much as I could (that wasn't closed) in the time that I had so the obligatory bus trip to get my bearings, a boat trip of the bay and I little bit of walking.
Note: Alcatraz and Muir Woods were closed because of the financial shut down.
A "selfy" going over the bridge on the tour bus
Fishermans Wharf
Pier 39
The Sea Lions at Pier 39
Sorry we are closed!
Lombard Street - The crookedest street in the world
At the same spot back in 1999, with Paul and Ali the last time I was here
The Trams
Alcatraz from the boat
Under the Golden gate Bridge
The wine tour of Nappa Valley
Plenty of tasting and a snooze on the bus back to San Francisco
Google Head Office - Mountain View
As the wife was here to work I spent an afternoon with her on site at the Goggle campus in Mountain view. Unfortunately, as a visitor I did not get to see any of the innovations or cool stuff that they are working on. It is very much designed like a university campus spread out over the whole town.
Lunch in one of the many restaurants
Yes that is a dinosaur!!
Volleyball court
The shop has almost anything branded with Google, you tube, chrome etc
Over at the android building...
All of the operating systems have a statue
The latest is Kit Kat (android 4.4)
This guy is Jelly Bean
Can you name them all?
Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo (Frozen Yogurt), Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and Kitkat
The Bikes used to get around the campus
Electric charging stations for the many electric cars
Susan pointing out our house in the UK, in the new 3D maps, earth, street view display thingy. Its pretty cool, you can fly around the world using a joystick and zoom in and out
...and a Virgin Galactic rocket in one of the receptions
Cycling The Gold Gate Bridge to Sausalito
We did see Michael Gove MP (Minister for Education) also cycling over the bridge with his family. The wife wouldn't let me take a picture
This hill was a bit too much for Susan
Relaxing in Sausalito, a beautiful little town the other side of the bay. I bit busy at the weekend and full of expensive "arty" and "antique" shops
Followed by a boat trip back to Fishermans Wharf with everyone else who had the idea to cycle over the bridge today
A few interesting paint schemes
