San Francisco day 2, 24 May

After a hurried breakfast at the Trolley Car Cafe, we left on a day tour of San Francisco. The tour started at Fisherman's Wharf and then over the Golden Gate Bridge (which had been surrounded in fog for much of our stay) and on to Vista Point with panoramic views of San Francisco from Twin Peaks

We returned through Golden Gate Park with a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge and the fort which afforded terrific views over the bay.

Other highlights included a photo stop at the town hall, a trip through the Haight Ashbury district, Lombard Street which makes eight turns in one block and a tour of the beautiful Victorian homes district where we were shown the five sisters where 'Full House' the show that shot Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to fame was filmed.

Once back at Pier 39 Fisherman's Wharf we took the short boat trip to Alcatraz. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking the self-guided tour of this famous prison facility.

We arrived back at our hotel the Westin St Francis just in time to pick our our shuttle to the airport to return to Australia.

San Francisco 24 May

On our first day in San Francisco we took a trip to Muirs Wood and Sausalito.

Muir Woods is north across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is situated in Marin County and is home to one of the few remaining groves of virgin Coastal Redwoods which are among the oldest and tallest trees in existence. We went along the 'Nature Trail' into the heart of a cathedral like grove. We were lucky enough to see a little fawn feeding. The trees are awe inspiring and very beautiful.

We then continued on to Sausalito a quaint little village of art galleries, shops and waterfront restaurants with views of San Francisco across the bay. The cliff-hanging cottages and the houseboat community are pure 'Californian'.

We returned early afternoon and had clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf and then spent the afternoon riding the cable car and trolley bus around the town. We took a cable car back down to Fisherman's Wharf for a meal at a seafood restaurant right on the wharf.

Seattle to San Francisco May 23

Views of San Francisco

We disembarked from the Infinity at around 10 am and then transferred to Seattle airport to join an Alaska Airlines flight to San Francisco.

San Francisco and its surrounds has many different climatic zones. It was fairly misty and cold in the city proper. We stayed at the Westin St Francis in the middle to town and within easy walking distance of a cable car stop.

We spent the afternoon exploring the city on foot and the made our way to Chinatown, which is a very busy and vibrant area with good shopping and restaurants. We ate an inexpensive but good meal at one of the local Chinese restaurants. Ron had egg fu yung which was full of large prawns

Cruising to Victoria 22 May

The Infinity at Sitka

We spent a relaxing day cruising back to Victoria, Canada. We enjoyed the luxury of the cruise ship and attended another of Brent Nixon's interesting lectures. We arrived at Victoria at around 4 pm and decided to stay on board and enjoy dinner in the restaurant as we had previously spent time in Victoria.

Ketchikan 21 May

Photos of Ketchikan and Totem Bight State Park

After a short walk around the main shopping precinct of Ketchikan which was in full swing as there were a number of cruise ships in port we left on our tour to Totem Bight State Park.

Our guide, Tom, who was earning money during summer vacation, had a good knowledge of the Tingit Indian tradition and gave us an interesting talk on the native plants and the origins of the totems we saw as we walked through the park to the replica clan house. He continued his talk on customs and traditions in the clan house. We gained a real appreciation of the importance of the clan in the Tingit way of life.

The Infinity sailed in the early afternoon and unfortunately we did not have any more time for some of the other interesting tours on offer.