San Francisco

We arrived slightly late after a surprisingly good flight.  Mind you, the upgrade to Premium Economy helped to ease any discomfort.  Left Outram after some much needed rain, where it was 24 degrees and uncharacteristically humid, Auckland with the same temperatures and typical humidity, to San Fran with patchy blue skies and 13 degrees!  David managed to replace the rental (the first one had maintenance issues) navigate his way to the terminal to collect us and then to the hotel.
We are only 10 minutes walk from the waterfront area so spent the afternoon wandering there,  repeatedly looking at the Golden Gate Bridge - just to remind us that we really are in San Francisco.  There were warning signs advising not to feed the seagulls, which are, like many things American - huge.  Having had a gull drop an ice cream cone, still containing ice cream, on my head, it was easy to see why this advice was given.
Looking up the hill at the steep streets and the cable cars, we expected to see car chase breaking out at any moment, just like the movies.
The temperature dropped as the afternoon wore on and a combination of tiredness and cold meant that we needed to return to the hotel for warm clothes before venturing out again for dinner.  We went to a pub near the piers and had a delicious meal of fish and chips.  I gave up and went to bed at 9.00 (6.00 NZ time) while David and Craig went around the corner to The Black Horse London Pub, the smallest pub in San Francisco, run by an Irishman.  With their arrival the pub was getting full - 10 seats and then another ten standing against the wall.  Beer was kept cool in an actual bath of ice.