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Day 9 Vancouver

Woke up to a cold, wet and rainy day. We were a bit disappointed as it was our only full day in Van, and we had planned to rent bikes and go around the Seawall in Stanley Park, a must do by all accounts. We showered and dressed warm to head out for a lovely brunch, but were disappointed once more by the long queues at Medina, another 'must go' place on our list of recommendations. When we were asked to wait out in the rain for 20 minutes to get a table, we gave up and headed instead to Nelson the Seagull, a nice place that did a great flat white. But since they didn't do bacon, A decided to hold out till lunch, even though J was starving. We then went on a mission to find some yummy ramen to soothe our hungry cold and wet souls, and were faced with another wait at the ramen restaurant. This time, we decided to wait and were rewarded with a beautiful, warming meal that made the odd start to the day worth it.

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Day 8 Vancouver

Early start with a 4:40am taxi pick up, drove the quiet streets to the international airport and said our goodbyes to Anuja who was flying back to New York. We had a seemless check in then boarded our Air Canada flight to Vancouver. Caught the sky train to waterfront station then walked the couple of blocks to our great Airbnb apartment on Seymour St in Gastown. After a quick snooze we walked to a cafe recommended to us by a local, which we loved: Meat & Bread. Had a delicious creamy tomato soup and shared a meatball sandwich and cheesy toasty. Perfect- as it was freezing outside and we were super hungry- the temperature being close to 0degreesC. We spent the afternoon checking out Gastown, the waterfront and the high street shops. Night fell quickly and the cold and walking got our appetites going again so we made our way to Denman St to Guu, a Japanese restaurant that was fun and lively- every time a new patron walked in, the hospitality staff erupted in squeals of welcome. We ordered gyoza, soya eggplant and kimchi soup. Loving Vancouver, Ash is already talking about getting A transfer here for work.

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Day 7 San Francisco Today we woke up early and caught an Uber out to Golden Gate Visitor's Centre to start our walking tour of the bridge. Our tour guide Bill was a genuine bridge enthusiast who regaled many stories of the bridge and the people who built it. The stories of the people and the politics of the time were just as interesting as trivia about the bridge itself. Bill told us it was Ellis who designed the bridge and got fired because of Strauss' big ego, and that even though labour was cheap and easy to come by in the depression era, Strauss made sure they built a safety net under the bridge, saving 19 lives during construction. Almost a century later, a new safety net is being built to save about 30 lives lost each year to suicide, as almost every jump is fatal. On a lighter note, Bill told us we have the Chief Architect's wife to thank for the Art Deco style of construction they used, to give the impression the bridge was reaching for the skies. We also learnt about the famous photographer who opposed construction of the bridge thinking it would ruin the landscape, but was so pleased with the result he thought it made the bay even more beautiful than before. Part of the reason for that was the bridge's unique colour, which seems to marry so well with the hills beyond. Many colour schemes were proposed to facilitate visibility for passing ships and planes in foggy conditions. But the colour of the rust proofing coat on the metal looked so good, they decided to keep it and painted the bridge International Orange. Our second tour of the bridge was the first for Anuja, who enjoyed the photo opportunities more than anything else. We left the bridge to find more photo ops for Anuja outside the Palace of Fine Arts, before heading home for a siesta. We woke up refreshed and took some more photos of Lombard Avenue at dusk, and ended the day with a bottle of wine, a game a of Trivial Pursuit and a lovely dinner at a Nepalese Restaurant.

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Day 6 San Francisco After watching Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz last week, we were keen to explore the real thing. We boarded the 10:30 ferry towards the world famous penitentiary and watched as the fog eddied in and around the city skyline as we motored the couple of miles to the island. The timing of our visit was perfect as it coincided with a fantastic exhibition from Beijing artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. We did the audio tour of the jail house first and saw the cells where prisoners lived, including the infamous D Block. We heard stories about the various escape attempts through the ages and felt the bitter damp cold that must have been a daily struggle for those incarcerated. I liked hearing about Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers' escape and seeing the mugshots of Al Capone and 'Birdman'. After the audio tour we went to the New Industries Building which housed most of Ai Weiwei's installation- this was one of the highlights for me. His use of light and colour, motifs of kites, birds and dragons was quite beautiful. The next section included hundreds of portraits of political figures from all over the world who are currently exiled or incarcerated: Bradley Manning, Mandela, Snowden and many many more.

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Today we woke up to a rainy, grey morning. Tired from our biking adventures the day before, we took it easy and had a slow start. We took care of the laundry at The Missing Sock and went for a coffee and chai latte at The Nook. We got back to the apartment just in time to welcome Anuja to Sam Fran, who'd flown in from New York to spend the weekend with us. We went out for pizza down the road at Za, and had a good time thanks to the owner, who made us feel welcome and gifted Jo five dollar note from NZ when he found out she's a Kiwi. We spent the afternoon exploring the cable car museum and Union Square. We took photos around the giant Christmas tree and window shopped in Macy's. Then we took a look at Footlocker, getting two cool Jordan 1's for me and a cool pair of Nike Free shoes for Jo. From there we took a cab to Chinatown and dined at the Great Eastern restaurant, where we ordered dumplings, Schezwan Lamb, string beans and fried rice. Everything was delicious, washed down with cups of Jasmine tea. We walked home tired, and fell into a deep sleep.

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Day 4 San Francisco

Today was my favourite day in San Fran so far. We hired comfy hybrid bikes from Bike ‘n’ Roll and got off to a fun wobbly start, slowly getting used to riding in the opposite side of the road to what we’re used to. The approach to the Golden Gate Bridge was beautiful, with the views getting better as we got closer. We took a small detour to see the Palace of Fine Arts, a magnificent building erected to celebrate the 1915 World’s Fair. We got back on track and rode by the beach towards the bridge, stopping at The Warming Hut to enjoy a cup of tea and stunning views of the city, the bridge and the palace.

I felt like we were making history somehow, just by being part of this famous iconic landmark that we knew so well from the movies. We stopped for lots of photos on the bridge and admires the city backdrop, then headed on down the hill to the quaint- if not touristy- Sausalito. Here we parked up our bikes, had a stroll along the shops and waterfront and stopped for a delicious burger. Refreshed we decided to push on and explore Tiberon, which was another 15km away. Quite different scenery with mudflats, bird life and an array of houseboats pocketed into the estuary. Around 4 we got yo Tiberon, just in time for a hot chai latte and the ferry at sunset back to the city. We arrived home exhausted after dropping off the bikes, and after a hot shower made our way across the road from Bianca's flat to a fantastic tapas restaurant. Highlights were the calamari, Californian Pinot noir and a delicious lemony seafood paella broth.

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Day 3 San Francisco

Today started with another beautiful breakfast of eggs and spinach on brioche, giving us enough energy to tackle a two hour walking tour of Chinatown. We made it to Old St Mary’s church just in time. Linda, the tour guide was full of jokes and useful bits of information about the history of Chinese settlement in San Francisco. She took us to a Buddhist Monastery and even a working fortune cookie factory. We learnt how Chinese people have no such tradition and even saw the adult fortune cookie section. The best part was eating a cookie fresh off the oven.

We saw live turtles for sale at the Stockton st markets and finished the tour with a brief look into the political and social aspect of Chinatown. We stopped off for a bite to eat at the same place on Washington St for the free wifi and yummy dumplings.

We took a cab out to Golden Gate park to visit the De Young museum, an amazing building currently exhibiting the iconic works of Keith Haring. The audio tour was quite informative and we ended up spending most of the afternoon admiring his work.

Then we set out in search of a cup of tea, and found a cost little cafe on Ninth ace. They had the fire going and we ordered a tea for Jo and a beer for me, along with a side of spicy root vegetables. They were surprisingly good. We then went for dinner at an Indian restaurant called Masala Dosa, where Jo had the good sense to order a Masala Dosa. I experimented with a Mutter Panner and failed miserably.

We finished our meal just in time to hop in a cab to visit the iconic Castro Theatre. We’d stumbled upon the Noir Festival and enjoyed everything about our evening, from the beautiful theatre to the Live Organ performance and the collection of short films based on O Henry’s stories introduced by John Steinbeck were quite entertaining. The stories were: The Last Leaf, The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the Anthem, Ransom of Red Chief, The Clarion Call.

The evening featured a double bill, but we decided to head home after the O Henry anthology. The call of a hot shower and the foldout was too strong.

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Day 2 San Francisco Slept in on the most comfortable fold out couch ever, felt so cosy in Bob’s cute 2nd floor apartment on Hyde St- even enjoyed the sound of the cable cars rattling along in the rain outside during the night. After a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and spinach on brioche, we walked in the crisp sunshine down to Washington Square and Columbus Ave. Ash had a coffee at Cafe Triest in Little Italy then we walked up to Coit Tower to get 360degree City views. The murals at the base of the tower were fabulous, each telling a different story about San Francisco in the 1930s. As the skies clouded over we walked back down to sea level, stopping for some hot tomato and basil soup at Levi’s Plaza (of the jeans). Walked to the Exploratorium for the afternoon where we played with all sorts of incredible interactive science experiments. Closing time at 5 so we wandered up to Chinatown and stumbled upon a yum place and ordered dumplings, fried rice, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and chicken with black bean sauce. Dark outside and still rainy so we hit the cinemas and saw The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbach about the Enigma machine. Ash had a glass of Californian Pinot noir and was pretty happy. Cab home, hot showers and time for that cosy fold out couch

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Day 1 San Francisco

We landed on a cold, grey and wet Monday morning in San Francisco.

Caught a cab out to the Yahoo office on Fifth Ave to see Bob. She showed us where she worked and more importantly, where the canteen was. We caught up over Chinese food and got the keys Bob’s apartment and headed over to drop our bags. Jo had a quick nap to recover after a long flight and we had a quick cuppa before stepping out to explore. We walked down to Lombard Ave, the crookedest street in the world and took pictures along with all the other tourists. We kept walking down Taylor st till we ended up at Fishermen's Wharf and had curly fries and hot calamari, taking shelter from the rain. We carried on walking along the waterfront till we reached a giant Christmas tree at Pier 39, and looked at all the kitsch shops in awe, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co and a shop for lefties and one for magnets. We saw sea lions chilling on the pontoons at Pier 39 and took pictures of Alcatraz and Golden Gate. We walked back home, picking up breakfast supplies on the way. We had hot showers before Bob came back from work and headed out to get some pizza for dinner. The place was called Za and both the pizza and the beer were excellent. Bob went back home to do some work and we went for a short walk to get some milk and tea. We arrived home to see Bob had lit a cosy fire and set up a comfy fold out for us. After a long day and a long flight, it didn't take long to fall into a deep, restful sleep.

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Clocking out

Two days till I’m officially on holiday, but my brain has already left the building. My thought making machine is currently occupied by a monkey wearing a Hawaiian shirt lounging on a hammock with a coconut cocktail. Can’t wait till I'm on a plane to meet my travel buddy, catch up friends and shoot off on our adventure.

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Praying

There's a lady at work who I don't know well, but we always smile and say hi when we pass in the corridor. She looked ill in a meeting yesterday so I asked her afterwards if she was feeling ok. She just looked at me sadly, her skin pale and shiny. And she said "pray for me. I'm not well," as she shuffled off to her next meeting.

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Words

They are beautiful, because they are the simplest way of shining a mirror into your soul. They can unlock a thought that hasn't yet been formed. Every sentence is a mystery novel, where the ending can surprise everyone, including the writer.

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Cricket

Today I was asked to play for the Edinburgh Cricket Club. I don't know how good I'll be, or how fit I'll be, but it's great to feel like I belong in a strange new city.

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At the pub

We were at the pub tonight, my love and I. We spoke about being strong in body and mind, we talked of travel to far away places, we shared memories of last night's dreams. We spoke of love in between the fractured silences when the phone calls over wifi dropped out, as we navigate time zone and technology restraints in a long distance relationship.

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Big moon

There's a big pale full moon tonight edging through the gap in the closed curtains. I wonder if it's doing the same thing and peeping into A's room far away in another land

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Nicknames

I call my love 'pi' and he calls me 'pi' too. It makes me feel warm and happy to hear his voice across the ocean

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Walking

I walked to coatesville markets today, all the way up ridge road with the wind howling up the valley and the sun squeezing between congested clouds every now and again. I love walking