We’ve been so busy today that I think I’m going to have to split the day over 2 blog posts.
We started at 8am with a 4 hour “urban safari” of San Francisco 
(a bus tour), followed by an afternoon trip to Alcatraz and a sunset cruise round the bay to finish the day. I’ve got so many pics that I’m going to save the Alcatraz and sunset post for tomorrow.
Despite being the most southerly place we’ve been, San Francisco is very cold and shrouded in fog at this time of year, so we donned our jumpers and jackets and joined out “Urban Safari” 
this morning for a trip round San Francisco. Basically, the tour is conducted on a zebra patterned safari bus (see photos) and everybody is provided with a safari hat which we were supposed to wear for the tour.
Suffice it to say that nobody wore the hat, the bus was totally impractical and when the tour guide tried to get us all to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” I nearly jumped in front of a passing tram.
However, no amount of tour naffness could detract from what a great city San Francisco is and they did take us to all the major landmarks, including some great spots to view the Golden Gate Bridge.
San Francisco really doesn’t look like any city we’ve been to so far, partly because it’s so earthquake prone nearly all of it’s buildings are 2-3 story town houses, many of them in a distinctive coloured art deco style, partly because it’s amazing hills and trams and partly due to it’s hippy background and it’s laid-back alternative attitude.
It’s a very unique, old fashioned and ‘pretty’ city (for want of a better word) and we’re really looking forward to exploring it some more. I might have to buy some gloves though.
(Oh, and the thing in Jen’s hand in one of the photos is a piece of the Golden Gate Bridge).