Reinforced why it is not worth putting bottle of plonk in ones baggage,because as we were collecting our bags from the carrousel, there was an overwhelming smell of a good strong fortified red wine....and dripping from one of the bags.....oh the humanity! Oh the tragedy...but not our bags....But someone will be smelling like a wino for quite some days......
Anyway...wonderful to be collected, and taken to their beautiful condo in central San Mateo. It is so light, airy, and obviously very well planned, and so welcoming. 
Dinner, a bit of a chat, and considering we'd been going for 24 plus hours, and a little bit upended, off to bed......
The next day.....
Saturday 9th May.
Up and went for a wander in the local area...what is unusual for us is that, all the signage here is is English...quite confronting for we who are used to Asian locations. Well, that are the signs that aren't in Espanol. Well I was surprised...no gun fights in the street, armoured cars...can't believe anything you see in the press.... It was a nice quiet and peaceful walk, and good for a sense of orientation.
Except.....except..all the cars are on the wrong side of the road.........
Travelled on the freeway to the pier/waterfront area, where it is somewhat like Docklands in Melbourne, and parking was surprisingly easy....and compared with Melbourne, quite cheap.
The journey along the freeway was busy, busy but certainly not Delhi, or K.L.
Bit disappointed with my first view of the Golden Gate Bridge, it has been painted grey. 
The grey colour is apparently necessary to repel all the Northern California river worms infesting and destryoing the metal pylons..... This has been a problem for years and the latest trial is the attempt at stopping the bridge sinking into the bay.......(or is it?)
Did the cable car thing....bit of a story...never one to waste time, Droni, whilst in the line at the rest room, found out that we should catch the cable car at Embarcadero and California,where there are no long lines of those pesky tourists...how right. Fortunately the weather is very plesant so the breezy bits didn't matter.....
Technology from the late 1800's still working....the car not Nathalie
YES ABC DiD EAT fish.....well what else do you do when you are at, arguably, the preeminent fish food eatery in the world...he had fish and chips, and a taste of the best clam chowder he's ever eaten.
Nathalie, Jimand Droni, before the fishy onslaught.
Finished up with a stroll back to the car, with a bit of recconisance for Monday's visit to Alcatraz.
Well we've seen the model, we don't need to go over the water now...(Camelot...)
Arguing with Siri, GPS, and Tom Tom......
Some, (never I of course ) , would say GPSs are like marriage, 1. Don't argue...it's futile
2. GPS are always right
3.battery life is reduced, and
4. Items one and two are the only relevant points
Trying to find the right spot for the next adventure was conflicted with GPS and Siri telling us different things, but we found not only the Dosa restaurant but got parking 100 yards up the road.
The Celebration.
It is Jim's 39th Birthday, so we were priviliged to share it with Jim, Droni, Droni's brother, Wei sister in law Rebecca, daughter Taylor and partner Christopher. (Taylor's partner not Droni's ). It was lovely to meet up with the family, and hopefully Nathalie behaved herself enough to make a good impression. Got the good oil on decent coffee, and was told of a somewhat suspect looking device called an Aero press....go on google it...but makes good coffee, we are assured.
Back to the condo...off to sleepy byes....
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