San Francisco -the day after the night before

So we had had  a great if alcoholic night. And you know that there is a price to pay next morning. Thibalult and I were ok but a bit rough when we met up in the foyer next morning. Joe wasn't going to make it. Not at all.

So Thibault and I decided to walk down to Fisherman's Wharf and see if Joe could rouse himself later.

Union Square. No very exciting

The cable-cars are much more fun.

 And so to Fisherman's Wharf. This has a maritime museum but having done the one in San Diego we didn't feel the need for another.

 The Wharf area is very long, but full of pretty unappetising restaurants and general tourist tat.

 One peculiar feature is a working museum of arcade machines. This detained us a for a few minutes.

 But one of the features of the wharf area are the sea-lions.Unfortunately photos cannot do then justice - not least because of the lack of sound and smell - very fishy you may not be surprised to learn.

Forbes Island is a restaurant on effectively a tied-up raft, not a lighthouse, for those who like a rolling motion with their dinner

Having returned to teh hotel to pick up Joe for lunch, thibault found him still in no fit state to move so we headed out to Golden Gate Park ourselves. Now Thibault's plan had been to hire bikes and cycle through the park and then onto Golden Gate Bridge. Given this was going to be only my 4th time on a bicycle I thought the Bridge would be, literally a bridge too far, so I had been expecting Joe and Thibault to do that together. But obviously there was only me.

Well the story. I think Thibalt wasn't prepared for how wobbly I would b on a bike. Main problem was that I had only ever ridden on flat surfaces, never uphill, even on marginal inclines. And of course the struggle of going uphill makes one slower, and wobblier. Somehow I made it all the way along the park, but then the climb up to Lincoln Park was beyond me. to be honest I suspect it would have been beyond Thibault too so we pushed the bikes up there. Nice views mind, and once up we could cycle on the flatter parts (although at one point I needed to do a sharp bit of braking to stop me going over the edge.

I am afraid this was as close as we got to Golden Gate Bridge. I was quite knackered by this stage and we still had to get back to the bike hire. Which we did with only a couple of mishaps on my part, once me nearly hitting a girl who I thought was moving out to let me through but hadn't heard me, and once I just fell off when trying to go on through an extended incline. I sort of fell in slow motion - wit Thibault watching at a distance. Frankly I just went down out of sheer exhaustion. Thibault was very patient, not least because he could see how hard I was trying.

And so sorry no photos of either me gamely cycling (as I was taking the photos) nor really of Golden Gate Park, because I was too busy just trying to keep motion going. Below is the only one of the park proper. It is a pretty park.

Ironically by the end of the day weather was quite decent. And by dinner Joe was just about able to head out onto the Town again. No drinking though.