We got our car this morning. A Chevrolet Impala LS, a typical big american car. Actually a good ride. Not used to automatic, but pull up the left leg and lock it away from the pedals and it works fine. Turn on the cruise control and you don’t have to think about too much.

They say the roads here are great, but we were a little disappointed. At least the roads south of San Francisco. Further south it got better though. We put in “Monterey” on the GPS and that was our first stop along the way.

We didn’t stay there long and went to Carmel-by-the-sea where we had a bite to eat at a thai restaurant named Arwara. Was hidden behind other stores so not that many customers. The food was good and if you ever go there then try this place.

Time to move on and we decided to follow the scenic highway 1 road. Lots and lots of bends, but great views. Unfortunately the fog came creeping in and most of the trip was driven with limited view.

When we came out the other side we stopped at a reststop. It was next to the beach where elephant seals come to rest, so we got some nice animal photos too.

We weren’t sure where we would stop to sleep, so before we knew it we were so close to Solvang that we decided to drive all the way there and find somewhere to stay there. At 8 in the evening we arrived in “little Denmark” and checked into the “Royal Copenhagen Inn”. Will come up with more pictures in daylight, but took a picture from just outside the room for you.

It is now wednesday morning here in San Francisco and in a couple of hours we’ll be getting the car. Untill now we have been “stuck” here in SF. It will be interesting to see which car we’ll get, the only thing we know is that according to the Avis-site we’ll get an Impala-type of car. Like most cars in the states we guess it’ll be an automatic. It won’t be any of these rides though.

Where will we be going first then? We actually don’t know at the moment except it’ll be south along the coast out of SF.

We woke up early - at 5 am! Even though we didn’t really to go bed that early (about 11′ish) we were so awake it was boring. But we managed to get the early morning news - and another re-run on ESPN (sports channel) of last weekends football (american version - GO VIKINGS!!!) After yet another breakfast of melon and pastries (don’t know why they call that a breakfast (skipped the yucky pastries and munched up on melons - yummy!)) we left the hotel at 8 am catching the cable car to Fishermans Warf and then walk to Pier 33 to get to boat to Alcatraz.

We stopped by the warf to buy some fruit which we enjoyed (some of) while waiting for the boat. It’s yet again a sunny and warm day. I can’t understand why the weather say 21 degrees cause it’s all blue skyes - sunny and far from 21.. more like 30 (we’re both getting a tan).

Alcatraz - or The Rock as it’s called - is famous from movies. We’re not gonna write a whole lot about the rock as most is already on ther internet, but that this place was more than a prison. It was also a place for guards and their families - with both school and a local store. After the rock closed in ‘63 it was left alone for several years (the buildings were weathered and in a really bad shape that they had to close it). If you still wanna read more about its history - take a look here.

So what is our verdict - was it worth 2×26 $ - Anett says no, Jan Ove says yes. I - Anett found it a bit of a tourist trap. Although the audio tour was nice it was crowded with ppl (we took the 10 am tour)  - AND - a bit of advise if you’re thinking about bringing kids - DON’T! Especially babies who cry their eyes out. They’re just annoying to the rest of us visitors! (grrr.. )

Anyway - here are some pics from the rock.

Welcome newcomers. Pick up your blue dress - and socks.

After the breakfast was over we decided to take a walk through the streets in San Francisco. Out the door and turn right. No plans on where to go, so just walking till we found something. First stop was Union Square. One of the small park areas around in the city. A heart is standing at the entrance to the area.

As you can see, the weather was great. Not a cloud in the sky, which made it warmer and warmer as the day went on. Bought quite a few bottles of water on the trip.

When we walked into the square we noticed the rail-lines in the road outside. So we decided to follow them to the bottom and found the startingpoint of one of the famous cablecar lines. We opened out wallets and $22 left it in a hurry. So we took this beauty of a cablecar up towards the Piers.

After 30+ minutes of driving up and down very steep streets we ended up at Pier 43 and started to walk along the piers. Many pictures were taken, a few shop were visited and then we suddenly were at Fishermans Wharf.

Also got a look out towards Alcatraz which we will be visiting tomorrow. Walking further along the piers we got to the famous Pier 39. Not all know why it is famous, but when you see the picture below then you will know why it is famous.

Lots of stores along this pier. So if you plan to see some touristy stuff along the piers, then this is the one for you. We also found a place to eat our breakfast, which by this time had become a lunch. Plenty of places to try here, but we ended up at “Boudin Bakeries” where we ate a varm WChicken club sandwich”. We recommend trying it, because it was very good.

After some food and drink we got new strength and continued further along the piers. More walking, more pictures of piers, cars, bridges and so on. Went through a farmers marketplace with lots of nice products but would be difficult to get back to Norway. Came by a statue of a spider, a small park again and then it was time to move into the city again.

A long walk home, weaving through the streets untill we suddenly saw the start of the street where we live. Post street 000, and we needed to get to Post Street 701. We reached it and now we sit here in the hotel room and writes some lines. Time to relax and perhaps take a trip to the Chinatown before we call it a day.

After a long day - starting at 0330 am in Norway (add 9 h to get SF time) we took off from Heatrow (after a short flight from Oslo) in a Boing 747.

And - as you know we found a 2 seat at the far back of the plane - which was close to full!

After 10 hours of flight we landed at the SF airport and went through security controls and went to get our bags. Luckily they were with us all the way. Out to get a cab and speeding into town to our hotel. 55 miles/hour limit, but he did at least 70. No queue at the time, so at about 15:30 norwegian time we checked in. 21 hours after we woke up we turned the key to our hotelroom.

Planned to do some things, but sleep caught up with us and before we knew it it was too late. So relaxed and slept to get a good start on this monday. So here we are, monday morning and ready to go out and get some breakfast, since the american hotel breakfasts consists of melons and pastery.

For some more pictures of the hotell and other things check out the flickr link on the right side. Won’t put all pictures into the posts.

It’s 8 am and we’re already awake. Why? Cause we wanted to do an online check-in and get some nice seating arrangement.

After changing seats a couple of times we noticed (I guess we were a bit blind) that there were some 2 + 2 seats at the back so we took one of those. Then we can sleep on each others shoulders without worry about drooling over some poor fellow passenger.

I’m not afraid of flying. I just find it to be very boring so I checked BA (British Airways) for unboard entertainment on their flights to SF. Not too bad really. Add a good book - some fruit - a drink or two - voila!

1. Movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Movie Sex and the City
3. Movie In Bruges
4. Movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall
5. Movie And When Did You Last See Your Father?
6. Movie The Forbidden Kingdom
7. Movie Summer
8. Family movie Ice Age
9. TV Cartoon Network
10. TV Comedy
11. TV Sport
12. TV Explore: Paranormal
13. Movie Phone Booth
14. Movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
15. Movie Pride and Prejudice
16. TV Comedy
17. TV Desert Adventure
18. TV Drama

In California:

Description:

Florida:

Since we’ll be leaving from Miami we might start to head north of Orlando before heading south. The only thing we know is that we start in Orlando and have 2 nights there before we pick up our rental car. We also know that we’d like to visit Everglades since an uncle of my granny lived there (anyone out there know how to find ppl who lived in Everglades up to mid 80’s?).

The butterflies are starting to come. Until now I’ve been kinda calm, but it hit me today that we’re off to the US - THIS WEEK! (read - taking the bus to the air port at am 0450.. !!!) Anyway! We’re still looking at stuff to do - places to visit so if you’re out there and live in San Francisco - in California - and the surrounding areas and have an idea of real life stuff that could be of interest - please write a comment We’re also off to Florida, but that’s on the 5th of October. We don’t have any real plans for Florida yet except for Magic Kingdom .. yeah yeah.. we need to be a bit touristy (is that a word!?) as well

It’s 11 days till we’re off to to San Francisco and the start of our 25 days “round-trip”. We’ll be arriving on Sunday 21st so we figured that we should have atleast one day to get zoned in (new time zone) before taking on Alcatraz.

So - Tuesday 23rd we’re off to the famous Rock. I’ve heard so much about it (and of course seen a few movies), but I guess nothing will compare to actually experience it for ourselves.