We went back to the Village Café for breakfast. Lots of locals were there again and the owner was as busy as yesterday. I had bacon, eggs and 2 huge blueberry pancakes which were lovely. There was a guy in a skeleton suit sitting at the bar (Halloween!). As we left John told the guy that he made the best breakfast in San Francisco and also made a great cuppa tea.

We went back to the hotel to pack and also upload a couple of blogs . We left our bags in the hotel and went down to Union Square to do the Duck ride. We were there a bit early and chatted to the rep and the driver and then when noon arrived we were still the only ones there, so had an exclusive ride with Captain Vic. Our tickets were 'quackers' which we were encouraged to blow as we drove. Different music was played as we went, suitable for the different areas and also for ‘quacking’ along to.

The trip covered a few of he things we had learned in other tours but a lot that was new. We had one of the Hearts left by artists in San Francisco pointed out first (guess what music was being played here) and then a carousel that the city ordered in 1905 and took ownership of in 1998!! The delay was caused by the earthquake – the carousel went to Seattle first instead.

We saw a couple of bars in the area that had survived the fire that followed the earthquake. The local police and fire service would try to save their favourite local bars first! Both are still bars, one being a nationally renowned one .

We went to the area with the ball park. This area has become very popular and small apartments here with no view sell for half a million dollars. The nearby marina used to hold about 30 boats but now is much bigger and now has a very long waiting list. Hundreds of boats congregate here during a big match as there is big money (many thousands) to be made if you can retrieve any balls that are hit out of the park. All the flat area is landfill so needs very deep foundations.

The Duck now went into the water. The original military Ducks were DUKW but their low speed meant that the men in them thought they were sitting ducks. The harbour is huge and is the 3rd biggest port in the USA but many parts are shallow. We went in in an area with 2 yacht clubs both old and with low fees – our captain belonged to one of them for 200 dollars per year. At this stage John was offered the chance to drive the Duck which he did for most of the time we were on the water.

Nearby were 2 huge military vessels, one called the Cape of Good Hope. They are very maneuverable ‘roll on roll off’ vessels that are always ready within 24 hours for action but have been used only 3 times. Captain Vic said the previous crews had been seen a lot at the yacht club but when there was a call out one boat couldn’t be used and that crew all lost their jobs. The new crews are not seen at the club .

We sailed to the side of the ball park. When games are on this area is full of boats, trying to get one of the balls. Initially they were motor boats, then more maneuverable kayaks appeared, so the motor boats would turn up with dogs on and then the kayakers turned up with tennis balls as a distraction. There is a small ball park for children’s games, also by the sea, so they too can hit a home run into the sea. Later when we were back on land we drove past and you could see the field from the roadside, a San Francisco rule that people should be able to see the game for free.

The Bay Bridge with its 2 different styles was clear from the water. The cantilevered half is not as safe in earthquakes and is being replaced. The new bridge was estimated at a cost of 1 billion but the latest figure is 4 billion. Part of the reason for the cost is the amount of imported goods used in production, including sand imported from Canada .

We could see Angel Island and also another known as Treasure Island. This was the site for the original airport which was for both San Francisco and Oakland hence the code SFO. The old buildings could be seen clearly and had been used by Steven Speilburg for an Indiana Jones movie. One day during filming all the buildings were covered by Spielburg in swastikas. This caused much panic in the city when many locals thought the Nazis had captured the area.

We drove around the ball park area and had a quick look at the various gates and statues. The building looks like brick but it is a polystyrene façade with only one row of bricks at the bottom. Opposite is an apartment building that a number of the players live in with an underground entrance to the park.

We then drove from gate 42 back to the Ferry building, past a huge cupid’s arrow. Then we retraced the walk we had done the previous day by driving along to Fisherman’s Warf . Captain Vic said the city likes to confuse visitors and often they are looking for Pier 39 between 38 and 40. We hadn’t been confused as we had read already about the numbering. One tall building was pointed out as it was going to be a twin tower until 9/11. On the top is a huge water tank, for earthquake protection. In this area a lot of information we already knew was repeated but with the odd extra snippets. It was also fun to drive along blowing our quackers.

We went past the statue of the 7 year old Coit girl in the arms of 3 firemen and also past Washington Square – which has a statue of Benjamin Franklin (not Washington!!) in the middle and is a triangle. We had the painting of the Italy flag on the lampposts pointed out first and then shown how they overlap into China town – as this area was initially an Italian base. We then went up through Chinatown where we heard about fortune cookies. There is a small firm here that makes 20 000 a day – but the first were made in Japan town . Captain Vic also pointed out the lions and a mural in front of a major Chinese building. The lions look more like dogs and the mural celebrates the Chinese railway workers. One day they decided to build as long a stretch as they could in a day and laid 10 miles. Of course, the railway bosses then said if you can do it one day you should do this every day.

We drove past a couple of mounted policemen.

The trip finished back at Union Square so we went to Loris Diner for lunch. There are about 5 of these in the city, all set up like a 50’s diner with red vinyl seats, booths, jukeboxes and this one had an Edsel car decorated for Halloween. We had heard great things about the diner from others in the hotel so were a bit disappointed. We definitely preferred the atmosphere in the Village Café and the servings were unnecessarily big.

John had asked about computer shops and the only one that people could send him to was the Apple one . However, we were told there was a big mall so went there first. They had nothing for PC’s or any electronics, although they had a interesting curvy escalator. The Apple store got a short visit then we walked to China town. We still couldn’t find electronics but went past a shop offering massages and haircuts. John took the plunge and went in for a hair cut. The young woman who started was pushed aside by the older lady after about 5 minutes and she made a good job of the cut and charged only 6 dollars. It was an experience.

We stopped at Starbucks for coffee, mainly because they would take a credit card and we were getting low on cash. We then went back to the hotel where we got our bags and the very nice porter expressed disappointment that we were leaving so soon and also not being there for the free wine. The shuttle was due at 5.05pm so by 5.20pm we were getting a bit concerned so made a call only to find it was 2 minutes away. We had told them we wanted to be at the airport by 5.30pm but that gave us an hour margin so we in fact had plenty of time.

All went smoothly here and our seats were great as we were in a group of 2 seats near the back but far enough from the toilets not to be a hassle. Neither of us slept well and John did have some issues with his TV screen but otherwise it was as good as you can expect, with some turbulence, but also a quicker flight as we arrived 40 minutes before we were due in Auckland.