After dropping the Dodge off at San Francisco airport we got the metro into town, checked into the wonderful Triton hotel, but we headed straight out again – we had a baseball game to go to!

We hadn’t managed to get to a sporting event when we were in New York in 2013, so a ball game was high on the list for this trip. The AT&T stadium has got a great view over the bay and some tasty fast food options – we got to have our first corndogs. The game was a bit boring – at one stage they went well over an hour without anyone hitting the ball, but the atmosphere made the experience worthwhile.

The next morning we had an early start – Jen was doing Parkrun, a 5km run that happens at 9am on Saturday mornings in parks all over the world. The San Francisco Parkrun is a lot smaller than Jen’s regular Coventry Parkrun, it is also the furthest west, so the last one in the world. The run was held at Chrissy Fields, a large park alongside the bay, from the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, so whilst Jen was running I was taking my first photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. Jen finished 29th – technically her highest ever finishing position, but also the last in the world that day! We had breakfast with some of the other runners at Chrissy Fields, then walked along the bay to Fisherman’s Wharf, one of the main touristy areas of San Francisco. From there we took the old-school tram to the Ferry Building, which is now a hipster food market, where we had a tasty Mexican lunch. After lunch we had our first experience of the famous San Francisco Trolley Cars. We rode from Market Street, up California Street as far as China Town, then walked back to the hotel. After such a busy morning, we had a relaxing afternoon, a spot of shopping on Market Street and wine at the hotel (the hotel provides complimentary wine in reception from 5-6pm) before heading out to a highly recommended restaurant for dinner. The speciality at the Stinking Rose is garlic, but that didn’t seem to put people off, they were queuing out the door – even with a reservation we had to wait a while for our table. The food was worth the wait, we shared a sort of garlic fondue to start, then for main I had garlic meatloaf and Jen had forty clove garlic chicken.

Our second full day in San Francisco was a very touristy day, starting with a ride on the cable car to the top of Lombard Street. We walked down the iconic windy road and from there back to Fisherman’s Wharf where we boarded a boat for a cruise around the bay. We hadn’t been able to book on a tour of Alcatraz, but the cruise around the bay was a good alternative – we had a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and learned a lot about the bay area. A highlight for me was seeing pelicans skimming across the water in tight formation. Later we had lunch at an amazing bakery; I had a pizza, although I think Jen’s chowder in a sourdough loaf looked like a better choice. After lunch we went to see the famous Pier 39 Sea Lions, they felt more like a tourist attraction than the sea lions in Monterey. Pier 39 was the closest we saw to a British seaside town. From Fisherman’s Wharf we got the restored 1930’s tram to Market Street, then transferred onto a modern tram across town to Golden Gate Park. The park was a lot calmer than either the touristy Fisherman’s Wharf or the hustle and bustle of Market Street, although when we got to the bottom of the park we stumbled across a music festival. My favourite part was the Japanese garden, which felt a lot like ones I have listed in Japan. To refuel after a long day of sightseeing we went to Mikkeller Bar, where we had food with beer pairings – very similar to when we were in Copenhagen a few years previously.

Monday started with a traditional diner breakfast – we needed the fuel, as we were off on a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge! After breakfast we got back on the cable car, all the way to Fishermans Wharf, where we collected our bikes for the day. We retraced our steps from Saturday to Chrissy Fields, and continued along the coast to Fort Point, an old military fort, pretty much underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The fort overlooked the narrow entrance to the bay – you could see why it was such a strategic point and why there would have been hundreds of cannons pointing out towards the water. From the fort it was a steep climb up to the Golden Gate viewing point, where we stopped for some photos before crossing the bridge. After climbing up the hill, riding across the bridge and down into Sausalito was easy. It was only when we got to Sausalito that we realised just how many people had cycled over the bridge – the town was full of bikes! We had a nice lunch in a deli and some drinks by the bay, before catching the ferry back to San Francisco. Just a word of warning for anyone doing this in future – the ride to Sausalito is either off road, or on quiet roads, but the ride back from the ferry to Fishermans Wharf is on the city roads – including tramlines. After freshening up at the hotel, we got the cable car back to Fisherman’s Wharf for another wine tasting. The wine tasting was even better than in Santa Barbara. I’m not a wine connoisseur, I rarely drink it, but even I could taste how good some of it was – we bought a zinfandel, which was by far the best wine I’ve ever tasted. We spent so long wine tasting that the restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf  were pretty empty, but we managed to get our last clam chowder in a sourdough bowl of the trip.

We didn’t have anything planned for the last day of our honeymoon, our flight wasn’t until the late afternoon, so we had another walk around the shops on Market Street and Union Square. Following many recommendations from friends at home, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for our last meal in California. I tried to be healthy by having a salad, but even that was massive. I still had room left for a huge slice of Oreo Cheesecake, but only just.