San Fran - the final countdown

On Sunday morning we were pretty tired, the jet set life style was starting to catch up with us and we were running out of steam.
But our only plan was to go to the beach that morning so off we went. Not before both the receptionist and the taxi driver took the opportunity to look at us like we were totally insane, because it wasn’t sunny at that exact moment. But its not like we were in beach clothes with suncream in hand, we were dressed for the cold and goddammit we’re British, who needs sunshine to go to the beach, right?!
And anyway, the beach was gorgeous, the sand was all warm and the sun came out after about half an hour so it was perfect. I did of course put my toes in the Pacific Ocean, and it was absolutely freezing.

We walked along to the end where there is the best view yet of the Golden Gate Bridge, took lots of pictures and then just sat and watched the ocean for a while.
We had booked Marco to pick us up from there and take us to the airport, but just as we were getting in the car the airline rang to say that my flight had been delayed. Five minutes later they rang back to tell Simon that his flight had been cancelled. So they put us on the flight at 10pm, meaning we wouldnt get home till Monday.

So we went back to the hotel, booked Marco for later that night, and headed down to China Town for lunch. We found a place that had a little rickety balcony and sat out there watching the world go by, trying to decide who was and was not part of the mafia.

Since we were without a plan for the next few hours, we wandered into the town centre, where all the big department stores are.
We sat in the square in the middle in the sun until we got to hot and then went into the airconditioned shops.

I accidentally ended up buying two pairs of shoes and a new handbag, which I think I can safely say was not my fault, I should have been on a plane at the time, therefore I hold American Airlines entirely responsible, and will be sending them the bill!
(They are very good shoes though, one pair of nice peep toes, and one pair of ridiculous platform sandals like some I saw in YSL. And the bag was about 1/10th the price of another one I had my eye on in Coach, so really they were bargains. And so I had to have them.)

Then we found a really nice bar, in a huge restaurant opposite our hotel, and had a few drinks while we waited to go back to the airport.

All in all I was really grateful that our flight got cancelled and we got to spend a bit longer in lovely SF.

I was even more grateful when we got to the airport and found out that it was because of the turbulence caused by the tornados, and any flights that had gone that afternoon had been deeply unpleasant, and we saw people going out of the airport who were totally green.
So as you can imagine I was a little apprehensive despite assurances that it would all be over by the time we were in the air.
But it turned out to be fine, it was a totally smooth flight.

I managed to get a couple of hours sleep, then went back to the flat, dropped my bag, had a quick shower and then headed off for a rubbish Monday.
That was the down side of our delay, if we’d been on our original flight we’d have got back to NYC on Sunday night, but it was worth it!

So if you ever get the chance, go, and be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
It’s a really pretty, friendly, fun city.