San Francisco July 16

Hi there


This is a record of our trip to San Francisco.


I am here for the Adobe Education Leaders Conference but came a bit earlier so I could see the sights and sounds of this magic city. And besides... I come all this way so I may as well enjoy the sights, sounds and smells and experience the whole new thing of being in a new city and a NEW COUNTRY !


I flew out from NZ to Sydney and that took 3 hours - then had a stop over at the international lounge becuase I got stopped at the border - I was told to "get back" as I was an aliens in a foriegn country... and they didnt want me......



So I had a bit of time to kill before I started on our 13.5 hour trip to San Francisco...



I flew over on a 747 400 series plane

I am back on the morning of the 17th - Thursday ... in NZ you will be asleep now cruising into Friday...and the first thing that struck me was HOW SLOW the internet is here.... its worse than dial up here in the hotel - its faster at school !!!!!! If I type too fast the cursor has to catch up with me.. and I type 2 fingers....

I got to the airport it was so big I had a wander to get out and catch a shuttle to the hotel. It cost $17 but was an enjoyable ride around San Fran as I got to see lots of things.

One of the things I saw was the crookedest street in the world and the driver took us down it... click on the box to play the video...

I finally got to the hotel and checked in... then went for a walk had some tea and finally got back to the hotel at about 8 ish....
I found where I will be staying for the Adobe Conference - turns out a couple of blocks from here so I can walk there - no problems
I have taken lots of video already and lots more photos so will post the highlights later on today.

The weather started to get a bit cooler and we notices the tallest buildings had cloud around them - this one is one of the tallest in SF so it looked quite cool with its head in the clouds.

On our way down Bush Street I noticed this cool church next to the French Embassy -I will try to go inside at some stage to take more pictures - the stained glass windows looked fantastic.




How about this shop - look at the name !

And the trams are brilliant - I will take a ride from the top to the bottom at some stage - right down to fishermans Wharf - and I will poke the camera out the window holding onto the pole - but the guy said to hold ya butt in going round corners as it might get bumped - some of the corners are tight !


And when I went to have dinner at this place that was steeped in history back to 1800's they has little dining booths taht you could book for up to 6 people - I got in just in time before 7:00 and had lots of time to take in the atmoshere !



On the way back up Bush Street I had a look at China Town - lots of bargains - lots of varying prices so you had to look around a couple of shops before you actually bought the item...

I got back to the hotel at about 8 ish and got the internet connection sorted so I could do this blog and do emails....