Wednesday in San Francisco… We met up with the Petty’s in the hotel lobby and wandered off for breakfast somewhere. We found a nice place called Pat’s cafe, and I had blueberry pancakes with a huge mug of tea. It was a good breakfast! We then went off to find Westfield’s and Macy’s. Westfield’s was quite awesome. We spent ages looking for a birthday present for Toby that wasn’t $80 upwards, and eventually found the Hollister shop. I got a pair of shorts, a tee and a nice checked shirt, mum got a shirt, Chris got lots of tees and dad got a shirt. And I got a shirt for Toby. And dad paid for it all, although his card had actually been frozen due to transactions in America, so mum paid.

We found a nice place to have a drink after that, and then headed back to the hotel on the bus – a lot cheaper than $5 each for a tram.

Lauren and Josh went to stay with Matt and Cassie that night, which we did the next night. We went to find somewhere to eat on the Wharf, and found a seafood restaurant to keep Dad happy. Chris had crab, and I had pasta, surprise surprise.

The next day we met up on one of the piers to head to Alcatraz. I’d heard of the place years ago, but didn’t realise it was a prison until we thought of going. It was a really cool day out. A little eerie at times, especially looking at the cells where people escaped and the battle scars from grenades used once.

After the boat trip, we went to a place Cassie knows to have lunch. We had huge burgers, and I had sweet potato fries YUM! There was a nice market in this place, where we saw loads of really cute little souvenirs for more than we should pay, and then we split up. The men went to see a submarine that was moored at the Wharf, and us girls went up to Golden Gate bridge. We took loads of photos of each other and sat on the wall talking about Matt’s ex, and other family stuff. It was cool talking so much with Cassie, who admitted that she was only nervous about meeting me and Lauren!

Me and Chris stayed with Matt and Cassie on Thursday night, and we went to a great little Chinese place where we had an awesome meal. I’ve never had such a good chinese, with dumplings and pancakes and tea! Plus I ate the whole meal with chopsticks! I slept on the floor that night with Gordon, the dog.

The next day we all went for a walk in Golden Gate park with Gordon, and had a great last day in America. We went out for dinner all together on friday night to a great italian place, and had the best mozzarella I have ever tasted, as well as some awesome pasta (again). We said our goodbyes to our American family and headed back to the hotel.

We had time to walk up to pier39 on the Saturday to see the Sea Lions. It was so cool to see them in the wild like that, although it’s obvious they are only reclaiming the territory that was taken when the pier was built, as they were sleeping where boats should have been moored! We did a last minute bit of shopping, and then hopped in our taxis back to the airport and said goodbye to San Francisco, but not for the last time in my life I hope.