First we had a bit of a lumpy start to the day. Ian phoned and suggested we get an earlier start to the day than we had discussed last night. I was in the middle of sorting out the correct forms to fill in and how to fill them in correctly regarding our bags that we are shipping home.
This was around 7.00 so no help at CTI I thought, so I phoned Fedex for help. After some time I realized that the lady I was talking to was of no help at all, she kept talking about Canada, I had not mentioned Canada and we were not shipping to Canada, the bags were going to my brother's warehouse in Blaine, Washington. [My phone must have told her I was Canadian based.] After having corrected her three times on the fact that it was a domestic shipment and raising my voice slightly I realized that the Lady was in Mumbai, India, and did not have a clue. Click!!!
I next dashed off an email to the Fedex Rep. at home. During breakfast the Rep phoned and said all was good and we only needed one form for the three cases. I confirmed that with our shipper at work. When we dropped the cases off at the desk in the hotel the bellman, [and you know they know everything], said we needed a form for each case! So, Fellette diligently got two more forms and filled them out!!!
Now, on the buses...
We were picked up and taken to Fisherman's Wharf where we were first in line for a double-decker bus where we got the front seats, on top, about the first time in our life for a decent seat on one of these things.
San Francisco is an interesting city, as I have said before. I suppose diversity is the word: Beautiful architecture in the old, and new buildings; a wild variety of ethnic neighbourhoods; interesting historical buildings, [back to Spanish rule days]; and unbelievable tolerance for alternate lifestyle activities and homeless people.
Our tour include a visit to the original Mission built by the Spanish, all connected by a road called El Camino Real. They built a total of 21 such missions. If I was of Spanish origin I think that I may have a little resentment of the US. The US acquired this land in the war with Mexico.
I suppose the best for all of us was the visit to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a stop at both ends of the bridge, and the weather was perfect. The last time we were on the bridge was in 1999 when we were on a trailer trip around North America and we were on the way home. Los, Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle were my biggest hurdles to get through. A trailer in a big strange city is not a good combination and we were making a 'run for the barn' so we did not linger and sight-see.
It was a nice way to end our visit to San Francisco, topped off with a dinner at an Italian joint that was absolutely jumping when we went in. The food was excellent and we settled in and soon realized it was a popular after-work drop in place for young people. We just pretended we were young and enjoyed the whole experience.
Tomorrow morning we pick up our self-drive car and head south. Wish us luck getting out of this place!
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