San Francisco - the Real Experience

Status update: 6 days in; 0 muggings, 0 lost property, 0 lost people, 1 missed ferry......

We are having a gay old time in San Francisco and loving it!!! We are staying with Uncle Bruce and Alan at their house in the Castro neighborhood. Cousin Nic is here too - and the house is undergoing substantial renovations (like - the bottom story has been torn out and is a construction site) so it is semi-organised chaos. Bruce and Alan are awesome hosts and their place is a perfect base for us.

Bruce and Alan's house - second from the RHS.

Highlights so far (bullet pointed of course, in true accounting geek style):

• Living in the Castro - The Castro is the gay area of SF and is awesome. It is always buzzing with people (mainly guys) anytime of the day. It is full of great cafes, restaurants and of course, interesting bars.

• The weather - we have had beautiful sunny days all week. Loving it.
• Joan Rivers concert (opened by the SF Gay Mens Chorus or SFGMC) - a very funny night. The SFGMC opened with a half hour concert - 40 guys in tuxedos doing ABBA with dance moves and disco balls - so cool. Joan was also very good - at 73 she still has a lot of spark (and a vast vocabulary) and her jokes knew no limits. Groups offended may include: Jews, gays, lesbians, 9/11 survivors and victims, ugly people, fat people, old people, Asians and Chinese and of course, her daughter.
• Wine country - We did a day trip into the Sonoma and Napa Valleys, two wine regions north of SF. We were very restrained and limited ourselves to 2 wineries - one for a picnic lunch in the sun and one for liberal tastings of bubbles......... A great way to pass the time on a Sunday. [Warning: Those that know us, know that this highlight will be repeated on almost every post as we scout out 'wine country' in every region we visit...... Apologies in advance]

• Tagging along with Bruce - Bruce has been great at letting us tag along to some of his co-curricular activities. We attended his church - a gay/lesbian church which had heaps of singing, clapping and hugs - quite a contrast to Catholic church on a Sunday but similar messages coming through. We also got to go to hear Bruce and the rest of the SFGMC practice - they sounded amazing - 200 guys singing in tune - something unheard in NZ. We got introduced which was funny - 200 guys turned around, smiled and enthusiastically clapped to welcome us - a bit embarrassing - but very nice all the same! Everyone was very friendly and interested in our travel plans and NZ. We finished off with some rehydration at one of the Castro's bars - our first drinks in a gay bar (unless you count Barneys......).
• Day trip across the Bay to Tiburon and Sausalito - spent the day seeing how the rich and famous pass their time in a couple of little seaside towns (sort of like Russell or Picton - but bigger and flasher).

I can confirm that like a good tourist in SF, I have taken at least 17 photos of the Golden Gate Bridge - here is my favourite ......

Hope you are all well - next chapter: Making our millions and renewing our vows in Vegas.