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Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

California - Day 2

February 3rd, 2010 @ 07:45 | permalink

After the sub-freezing temperatures of Chicago, the relative warmth of California - even at the start of Feb is a nice change. The locals no doubt think I'm odd as I'm walking around without a coat on but as it is about the equivalent of a spring day back home I feel fine. :) It does get a bit fresh in the evenings though.

I spent yesterday (Mon) in San Francisco walking around admiring the city, taking pictures and getting a good work out as I did so because it is a very hilly place. As always with steep hills going down is trickier than going up - assuming you want to come down in one piece! Along the way I also did a bit of window shopping (including the obligatory perv around the Apple store and bitching at how much less they cost out here) as well as buying some items for the office. I was going to see Golden Gate but in the end didn't fancy walking the 3 miles across the northern reaches of the city. However you can hire a bike and cycle over it so I am planning on doing that.

I didn't though skip a ride on the cable car. Just the single trip back towards the city centre mind but that included a half-hour unscheduled halt as the system failed. Most of the people on the car gave up and headed back their via other methods but about 10 of us decided we had nothing better to do and waited for the system to come back online. I spent the remainder of the trip (including the downhill stretches) standing on the running plate feeling the wind going past. Great fun. :D

The plan was to go back into the city today (Tues) but that was scuppered when the Caltrain didn't accept either of my cards. Not wanting to spent the last of my cash just in the bank were playing silly buggers and I wasn't going to be able use them at all for the rest of the trip I went back to Lori's.

After calling the bank (I'll feel that call when the next phone bill arrives) I learnt that this was something to do with the use (or not) of chip-pin, i.e. my card is set up for it but some places out here aren't. Cash it is next time then. Once that was resolved I decided not to bother heading into SF as it was already 1100 (1900 GMT) and it is about a 2.5hr ride by public transport to the city centre. Instead I went to the local mall but aside from the different shops I can't say there were any substantive differences to any UK equivalent. Did pick up a few things though but no shoes as yet.

The plan therefore is to go back into the city tomorrow (Wed), cycle the bridge, pick up some items for mum (postcards, fridge magnets) and maybe find some shoes and on Thurs and Fri I will hopefully be seeing other parts of California.