Disney may be the happiest place on earth, but will this day ever end

After finally landing in Orlando it was good to be at my final destination. It took me a while to track down my luggage as it came through on an earlier flight, so once I found it and claimed it, it was on to find the Disney Magical Express.

The Disney Magical Express is where the disney fun begins. On the drive you watch a video about Disney and everything that awaits you.

Disneyworld is huge, it covers 74 square yards and employs . For those who are unsure the property has four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios), two water parks (blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon), downtown disney, and endless resorts.

I arrived at my resort for the next week Pop Century, and as I would be told many times over the next week I was told to have a magical day. My room was ready, which was the best information I could have hoped for , it meant my own space and more importantly shower - and it was a long shower. It also helped me wake up a little.

After pulling myself away from bed I headed to the parks, I had been speaking to some people on the DIS boards and I was meeting up with some of them. Hollywood studios was the park decided upon.

The advantages of experiencing a Disney park with someone who has been multiple times is

a) They know the way around and don't need a map

b) They know information about the park and attractions that would have otherwise gone unkown.

c) It makes you feel less overwhelmed especially when tired.

We headed straight for the tower of terror, this is when I discovered the difference between Disney and other theme parks. It is not just about the time on the actual ride, the lines are interactive, there are pre-ride movies and some rides have several different sequences so you never know what ride you will get.

Star tours was also on the agenda, most people know I have never seen the movies but I was still able to enjoy the ride and battle Darth Vader,

My overall views on Hollywoood Studios were positive, the rides are fun, some of the back drops in particular San Francisco were spectacular and it was so pretty being all lit up of a night.

We hopped over to Magical Kingdom for the wishes fireworks show (what I didn't know at this stage I would go to Magic Kingdom three times and each time I would arrive a different way).

WOW

There really is something about the Kingdom, the castle takes your breath away, seeing it at night all lit up was spectacular. Main street has so much atmosphere, for some reason the smell of popcorn with the music and happy excited people just describe main street.

Fireworks and me don't really mix. It is not a new fear it has been there for a while, but I couldn't go to Disney and not see the night time shows. WIshes was magical it sounds so cliche but there is no other way to describe standing waching the lit up castle, fireworks all around it and the wishes song.

After wishes it was time to head to tomorrow land for a few rides before calling it a night, I ended with space mountain which still lived up to what I remembered and was loads of fun. More rollercoasters should be in the dark.

Was time to find my bus and head back to Pop, however my marathon day was not near being over I realised I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours so had to grab some food, had washing to do, packages to pick up. I did eventually fall into bed (literally) at 1:30am.

I didn't quite leave my heart in San Francisco ... But I can see how people do

My last day in San Francisco was actually my first day by myself well some of it as by myself.

I had a few things to do today, the first pack and check out, then find a post office I had a few packages I needed to send. My first stop was Walgreens to find some envelopes, followed by union square as I was informed there was a USPS downstairs in Macys. Though I hit a problem besides the rain, which by this stage is really not unexpected. Macys didn't open till 11am and it was currently just on 9am.

So it was plan B, a quick wander through union square then I jumped the cable car to fishermans wharf, not the one I put the picture up of the other day, but the old traditional people standing on the outside cable car. The hills are fun, and it was a good thing to experience and I also used it for the remaineder of the day as well 

At fishermans wharf I wandered, I knew I wanted a hoodie from San Francisco as it was freezing and I don't have many jumpers with me. So I wandered the stores until the rain got to be too much and I decided it was time for my first hot chocolate of the trip.

I went to Bourdains which is known for its sourdough bread, I had toast and a hot chocolate complete with whipped cream on top, it was fun people watching and also watching the bread making process. Some of the bread they make was fantastic shapes like turtles .

The candy store was a store in the wharf area, this introduced me to salt water taffy, they are chewy lollies made with salt water, the locals say they can't taste the salt because they are use to living so close to it, I couldn't taste a lot of salt when I tried them. What did amaze me was the variety of flavours some examples include: butterpopcorn, caramel cheesecake, cotton candy, root beer float, lemon meruigne, cupcake, maple bacon and the list goes on.

After that I went to pier 39 and wandered the shops, this area would be so pretty when it is a. not raining and b. when lit up of a night. I ended up getting my jumper and a tshirt. Also stumbled across a usps place so sent off what I needed to and continued on my merry little way.

I ended up at Musee Mecaniqe, it is an arcade/museum for really old arcade games, the games were interesting and covered a range of different games. The one reason I wanted to go there was a scene from Princess Diaries where Anne Hathway and Julie Andrews arm wrestle the machine and use the photobooth, this was where it was filmed and both things are still in the arcade. 

After spending some time here, I decided as much as I could spend the day on the wharf it was time to go and explore the shopping, I hadn't been to the shops except Walgreens until today. I caught the cable car to the other end and then the fun began. Sephora was my first stop, though I didn't buy anything and I know for a fact there will be purchased made eventually. I then explored forever 21, victorias secrets, bath and body works, and several shoe shops. Some purchases were made, but not much due to needing to keep the luggage wait down.

All shopped out I headed back, the city was slowly getting quieter as the play off was on and being played at candlestick park. I ran into Amanda again who wanted to check out an old style diner we had stumbled across the day before, so I decided to join her.

Loris diner was everything you would expect it to be, completely adorable the bar seating, little booths, the fun music playing. We both ordered burgers again, they were much better than in-n-out, but as always huge and I couldn't finish it. I did love however that it came with sweet potato fries.

It was then time to farewell San Francisco... slowly very slowly. The traffic was terrible, with everyone leaving candlestick park after the game. My pick up time was 8pm I arrived at the airport closer to 10pm. The airport was ful of NY Giants fans stressing they were going to miss their flights as the game went into overtime, and security was going so slow. This was also my first experience of the body scanner machines, though it ended in a pat down. They didn't like the zippers on my trackpants and flagged them as potential danger. 

Then the fun begins, the flight is delayed. The plane is ready, the piolt is set but we have no crew, they are delayed on their incoming flight so we have to wait for them. The flight is full and we run out of room for all the cabin baggage, so it becomes extra squishy with bags shoved under seats.

I couldn't sleep on the flight I was really hot and uncomfortable but I did get to watch some impressive lightening happening around us as we flew, the plane also had free satelite tv so I got to watch some tv and even the news couldn't put me to sleep. The delay meant I missed my connecting flight by 5 mins - we managed to make up a lot of time in the air. Alot of people missed their connections as well, this is where I learnt that politeness and understanding pay off. I was upgraded on my connecting flight to first class.

So I am typing this from the gate waiting for my new connecting flight, I can't wait to arrive and get checked in and hopefully have a room, try and power nap before I hit the parks.

When the fog lifts it is so pretty

San Francisco is a city know for its fog, and at times the fog is so thick that you can't see anything. The Golden Gate Bridge was painted the red/orange colour that it is so that it would be visible in fog - though after not being able to see it through the fog the other day I have to assume they mean seeing it through the fog close up!!
The bridge is just spectacular, of course I have seen it in pictures and on tv, but it really is a sight to behold when you are approaching it with the water and the mountains in the background, some fog around it and knowing that as soon as you cross that bridge you are no longer in San Francisco.

After the bridge we continued towards Muir Woods, the road was my least favourite part of today, it was very windy and I just had to try and focus on pretending we were not on a road like that.
The Muir Woods are full of costal redwoods, these trees can grow to 115m tall, the highest in the woods I went to is 79m. To put it in a little perspective if the trees were planted in the bay below the golden gate bridge, you would will have to look up when standing on the bridge to see the tops of them.

We walked to a section called the cathedral and it really was beautiful and quiet, you become in awe of the trees and how long they have been there for.

After Muir woods we headed to Sausalito which is a little coastal town with a Mediterranean feel, you can catch the ferry from here back to the fishermans wharf, you can dine, shop and take in the feel of a little town and then return to the city.
Fishermans wharf was the last destination for the day, we checked out pier 39 which have floating docks in which a sea lion colony lives. It is a strange situation to see them in just sitting or lying on a floating dock in the middle of the pier where boats come in and out of to dock, but they seem content and they draw a crowd as well.

After wandering the wharf area for a while Amanda and I decided that it was time for our first American burger, and we were advised by Dylan that we needed to try "in-n-out" number 1 animal style, this turns out to be a double double burger meal animal style... for those wondering what this looks like here is your answer

Once again I could not finish it all, it wasn't bad for a burger from a semi fast food place, and so far I am coping from eating it, though I did eat a lot of fresh fruit today as well.

This day has really made me fall more in love with San Francisco, only tomorrow to go and I hope I can fit in some more fun adventures

won't you save me San Francisco ....

Picking up where I left off yesterday, dinner at  crustaceans was nice.. but one again far too big and I was unable to finish it. Dinner was followed up by a visit to Walgreen so I could purchase an umbrella since it was pouring rain and we had several block to walk back to the warm and cosy place we call home for the moment.

Walgreens was an adventure to say the least, my first real time in American store that sells bits and pieces of everything. It was then decided that Mary would make Amanda and I smores .... for those who do not know what smores are - Graham crackers (digestive biscuits), marshmallow and chocolate (Hershey)... and let the following pictures explain the smores process

The verdict they are different, very messy and I can see how they would be winners around a campfire... if I think about it will bring some ingredients home so people can try them.
After the smores we cracked open another bottle of wine and relaxed with some Foosball though I have to admit I wasn't any good and was defeated really quickly, I didn't make karoke though bed was calling.

now on to today....

Whats that?... Blue sky and no rain!! Am I still in San Francisco? I sure am and now without the rain and even with the wind and chill I see the amazing charm of this city, the history behind it and the many wonderful areas of such a melting pot.

I got to discover more of the city today, I did a Dylan's tour (http://dylanstours.com/) which I highly recommend. It was a small group tour with only 7 people in a small van, I was one of only 2 Australians.
The tour was great as it showed you the other parts of San Francisco outside of the touristy areas of Union Square and Fishermans wharf.
Some of the things we got to see were city hall, it was an impressive city hall, no boring building but grand and elegant, with gold trimming. I didn't get a photo but here is a picture courtesy of wikipedia

We ventured through the Castro district and saw the areas from the movie Milk and learnt about how much the movement changed the area. The mission district which is a melting pot of cultures.
Twin peaks gave an amazing view of San Francisco and highlighted Mission street which separates the sides of the city, you can see it clearly in some of the photos, as well as the rainbow flag that highlights the Castro district

 After twin peaks we headed for the corner of Haight and Ashbury  this is the area known for the summer of love and it became the area which increased drugs and rock and roll into San Francisco. The grateful dead lived close to this area. It is also home to the first Ben and Jerrys outside of its home town.
I did try some Ben and Jerrys just a smoothie which was very nice, and when you tip they ring the cow bell always a cute thing to happen.

We managed a quick stop off at the painted ladies - these houses are the old victorian style houses these particular ones are most well known for their appearance in full house, what most people do not realise that in 1906 when an earthquake hit San Francisco it pretty much destroyed all the houses on nob hill (where these are located in Alamo square) but these 6 houses somehow made it through untouched and still remain today.

The rest of the day I will post in the next blog it contains the golden gate bridge, Muir woods, fishermans wharf and my first try of in n out burger... animal style
Will try and do this before I leave San Francisco tomorrow to head to DISNEY!! but if I don't the updates probably will be few and far between until I get to Boston or have access to wifi again

cold and rainy what a great day to visit a prison

Today I woke up to rain and cold... though the locals assure me that this isn't what San Francisco is like, it never rains for this long... except when Anne is here.

Another day, another new friend, today is Mary she is from West Virginia and a lovely person. Mary decided to make the trek to Alcatraz with me, I call it a trek as it is hard to familiarise yourself with a city when your soaking wet, cold and the rain has ruined the map you were using. This did however mean I got to ride my first trolley ride

Once we made it to the pier it was on the ferry, since it was raining we didn't venture outside till later in the trip, but I did get to try my first American pretzel and it was filled with cheese - It was interesting, I tried it with mustard and wasn't a fan and I am interested to try a plain one as well.

Alcatraz was interesting and the audio tour was enjoyable. So strange to wander around the area where known criminals, so much history behind the place and to think of some of the outbreaks and escape attempts that happened.

On the way back the fog had lifted and for a short while the rain had given a nice and welcomed break, enough to actually see the golden gate bridge and the city from the ferry. It was an "ahhhh" moment, the city looks so pretty and one again I really hope I get a chance to explore it without the rain before I leave

After Alcatraz Mary needed to go to a shop for a fingerprint scan - the whole reason she was in California. Whilst in the store, there were policemen pull up across the road sirens switched on, turns out we were opposite a bank and it was about to be part of a protest/march for occupy wallstreet. It was interesting to observe and even talk to some of the people involved.

After all this excitement it was off to wander china town and admire the buildings and of course a stop in at the fortune cookie making factory - so far my only fortune read "union gives strength. Work collaboratively".
All in all I had a great day and got to see some lovely areas.

I am now relaxing with a glass of wine, whilst updating this. Heading for dinner soon to a place called crustaceans, before some karoke tonight.
Tomorrow a tour of the city to see Lombard street, the painted ladies, coit tower and over the bridge to Muir Woods to see the red woods - this puts a smile on my face and I am sure a few of you will completely get this ... maybe I can see grandpa redwood!