Touch Down San Fran!

Right ive finally got some sort of blog up...i'll fix it when i have the time... :) but enjoy

Ok so we're here...landed in yesterday approx. 12.30pm though there was a delay with luggage...poop...but other than that the trip was ok...long and uneventful...but ok.

Took a while to get this blog up and going as I was extremely tired after the flight though Rodrigo picked us up at the airport and took us for lunch. He recommended a little mexican restaurant/cafe...it went by the name of 'El Torlito'(i think i cant really remember...though i do kno it means little lighthouse in english)...was a great feed...was so full...or 'tight' according to dave and his northern ireland lingo which i have never heard of :S anyway after lunch we made our way to our accomodation for the first month.

GAYLORD SUITES...yeh...the first thing that comes to your mind came to mine when i first heard the name...but its all good...although i'm in San Francisco, this is just a normal hotel/appartment block thingy...but its nice...ive still to take pictures but right now its a mess so when its tidier i'll fire them up.

We stocked up the fridge after we freshened up and took a stroll to Westfield Mall. On route, there was this one man band...and he started taking the piss...dave has a vid on his blog...which i'll hopefully get off him...when you see him looking over and shouting at the direction of the camera...that was me he was on about...but we got our fridge filled with items for breakfast. We arranged to go on the tour to Monetary today with Julie as there were spaces available.

I woke up at 6 today with the bus picking us up at 8.20 out side the hotel...probably with the jet lag etc...it was quite dull outside though from watching the weather forecast it was said to be as hot if not hotter today than it was yesterday...the bus pulled up as we stepped outside.

Our trip to Monterey and Carmel to was AMAZING... I'd heard of neither of them(apart from the info i'd read on the extranomical website) or any of the place's we'd stopped at. Our first stop was Pigeon Point Lighthouse. At first it seemed just like the north coast of northern ireland...as the fog hadn't lifted yet...it was bad when we where heading there but from the light house we could see it lifting up ahead as the sun was out at a beach further up the coast...we were then taking a stop before Montey to grab something to eat to hold us until lunch. We stopped at 'Whale City Bakery Bar & Grill' ... i probably had the best tasting croissant EVER?!?!? it had seseme seeds on top with like turkey and cheese...but the turkey and cheese were baked inside...YUM! i had a peanut butter cookie which i would normaly get excited about cos i love cookies but this croissant stole its glory...we then hit the road to Monterey which was like a little seaside town...i fell in love with it and i want to move there right now...it seemed very touristy but hey...i'm a tourist! with an hour and half to dander about and possibly grab lunch... we did...i wasnt hungry and i knew there was an opportunity to eat at carmel too but was warned it it was probably much more expensive so i ate in monterey.

My highlight in monterey was 'Bubba Gump Shrimp & Co' ...its a restaurant chain which all started from Forest Gump...it was a shrimp restaurant we were gonna have lunch there but there was a hugeeeeeeeeeee line to wait and we didnt have enough time but we checked out the menu...if you've seen the film...you' know that shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

After meeting up with the rest of the group we headed for Carmel via the 17 Mile Drive. Its a road which goes through Pebble Beach and The Del Monte Forest...it was a nice scenic drive we seen many bays such as the spanish bay which got its name because the spanish set up camp when searching for monterey. Another landmark was bird rock...its home to countless shorebirds which is kinda obvious but also harbour seals and sealions you can see the video of this and david rambling on as he was recording too...but there were the most tame squirrels i've ever seen...they would jus come right up to you're feet. This drive was basically through a golf resort which housed guests and people lived there also...the houses where REALLLLLLLLLY EXPENSIVE.

Anyway onward to Carmel...this was more expensive we seen many realty places(estate agents) and there were houses for sale in carmel and along the 17 mile drive...the cost for one of the houses was 15 million dollars...though aparently they go right up to 40 million dollars...yikes...but what ya expect when clint eastwood used to be the mayor? ...the beach here was beautiful with white sand...i had to dip my feet in...of course i wrote 'imd rox' on the sand...because it CLEARLY does...i also discovered that i wanted a dog...that would chase frisbee's into the water...and run away when the wave came...was fun...back on the bus with the troops again...headed home...

We had one last stop before hitting SF gain...Garlic World...it was a store which sold pretty much general items...fruit...drinks...crisps...candy...condiments...but it was a GARLIC STORE...yeh most stuff contained garlic sauces...garlic sweets...even garlic ICECREAM...i just bought crisps and ice tea mind you. Back to foggy San Fran...

We got back to the hotel...man i was wrecked...we hung out here and decided to go for din dins...not too far as we were both shattered so we can see a few restaurants from our room and headed down the street to 'Kim Thanh - Vietnamese & Chinese Seafood Restaurant' it was nice...but ok im tired and dave needs on here...so i'll post again later this week as to how tomorrow goes but aye...nighty night. Ok im sorry but the pics are taking forrrrrrrreverrrrrr to load...i'll get em up some other time...i must sleep night once more... :)