Well, this past weekend we had some visitors from home... Hayley (I've known since High School) and her boyfriend Ryan. It was great to have some familiar faces over here, and it was also fun to have people to show around San Francisco!!

They arrived on Thursday from Las Vegas, and we headed home from the airport and were met with rain in the city. What a great welcome! Having been a HUGE day for everyone, we decided to go out to dinner somewhat local and made it to North Beach for Italian. We had a really lovely meal, and an enjoyable walk home through Chinatown.

On the Friday I had booked Alcatraz for them (it needs to be booked in advance apparently...) and we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf from the apartment and made it in good time for their tour. After the tour was done, we jumped on a tram down the Embarcadero and saw the Ferry Building (among other things) and headed down Market St. I gave them a quick tour of the shops, and I think they were both impressed with the prices of things in general over here. After seeing a few different shops, they made note if the ones they wanted to visit again another day. For dinner that night, we took them to the French Quarter, a short walk from here and incredibly good value. After a hearty steak and a strawberry tart for dessert, I was more than full!! Cafe Bastille has been a restaurant that we've been to a number of times and every time we've gone there, we've been impressed. I think Hayley and Ryan enjoyed their meals too!! Needless to say, it was hard walking up the hill with a full tummy!!

For Saturday, Jeremy and I had booked a rental car with the idea of showing Hayley and Ryan the bay area. We drove through the different areas of the city, and then to a few view points of the Golden Gate Bridge. Took even more photos that we don't need, and headed for a quick visit to Sausalito on the other side of Golden Gate. Made our way quickly through the university town of Berkeley, then on to the Bay Bridge over the other side of the bay back to San Fran. Had a massive Mexican lunch in the Mission and made it home for a quick nap. Had a few drinks that night too, had a relatively early one in the end...

Sunday was the big day. The four of us went to an NFL game at Monster Park. 49ers Vs. Seattle Seahawks. Ended up being something I enjoyed (after dreading it for weeks, truth be told) though it went on a little long. Over 3 hours in total, though it was entertaining. It was sooooo cold in that stadium, the wind had a real chill in it so I'm glad the game wasn't any longer... The 49ers won in the end, something that apparently wasn't expected!! We did a little shopping after the football, and ordered in some pizza to watch new episodes of Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad.

And today we did some more shopping!! After having a lot of time to myself, I have a fair idea of where to go in regards to the shops... Always a handy thing to a visitor :-) Bought a couple of things, and was able to send some things home in a suitcase thanks to Hayley and Ryan. Big, BIG thanks!! Anyway, they're currently on their way home now and I hope they have a safe trip!!

We've got Thanksgiving this Thursday, that should be fun. Turkey for all!! Yum!! And now, it's almost 3 weeks til we leave...

I thought I might add some photos from Halloween down in the Castro District of San Francisco. There were 300,000 people there that night, and most in costumes. Some of you might have seen it in the news for other reasons... 9 people were shot during festivities a few blocks from where we were. We heard nothing, and obviously lived!! :-) And yes, Jeremy was a Proctologist/Gyno called Dr. Mike Hunt... Anyway, here's a little taste of the costumes!! :-)

Rock Star
Missing Head
Anyone for Chinese?
Milk Cartons!!

I heart New York... I think it's such a great city, full of life and SO many different things to see and do.

So, on Wednesday night we left San Francisco again, and headed to the East Coast. I much prefer the vibe over that side... Anyway, we had an all night flight and made it to our apartment (we rented off www.nyhabitat.com) around 9am. It was in between some funky areas. Just north of us was Chelsea, to the west Meatpacking District and a little south was Greenwich Village. Once we'd had a nap and Dave (Jeremy's friend from London) arrived, the three of us headed to Times Square, not wasting any time!! We wandered around, took a heap of photos and headed to a bar for some food and some drinks. Once we were rehydrated, we decided to wander up 5th Avenue and on to Central Park. We had a look at the shops along 5th, then wandered into the Park and stumbled across the Trump Ice-Rink. And BOY, was it cold. The wind cuts right through you, with the wind tunnels!! We took a heap of photos, and ended up getting a horse and carriage ride through the park, after sunset. That night we headed out for a few drinks, and headed toward Greenwich Village. I found a famous bakery that I'd visited on my Sex and the City (SATC) tour in December, Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker. The three of us had some cupcakes, then found a bar across the road. I *think* we got home around 2am or thereabouts.

It was hard to wake up on Friday. Dave wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, and since Jeremy and I had both seen it, we decided it would be a good time to wait in line for Broadway tickets. We grabbed some lunch then started to wait in line, and ended up getting tickets to "Hairspray" after waiting for an hour. We met Dave downtown at Battery Park, walked up Broadway to Wall St, then to the World Trade Centre site to see it all before the sun set. The three of us had a quick shop at Century 21 (a giant outlet department store...) then it was time for us to be up at Times Square for "Hairspray". The musical was fun, I guess it was mainly a comedy with some major themes running through it, but the music was upbeat and the performance was quality. From the theatre to a bar down the road, we moved quickly as it was a cold night. Found an Irish pub and had a few drinks before making the journey home.

It was a struggle to get up Saturday morning... I had a good incentive though. I was going shopping for some shoes, not just any shoes but either Jimmy Choo's, Manolo Blahnik's or Christian Louboutin's... Didn't take me long hehehe. I found some shoes I really liked in my first stop and I bought them :-) After my purchase I walked up 5th to meet Jeremy and Dave at the new Apple store cube thing at Central Park. Stopped in at St. Patrick's Cathedral, got our tickets to the 'Top of the Rock' (a new viewing platform at the top of the Rockefeller Centre.) We walked down to the Empire State to have a quick look, then back up to Rockefeller for the sunset. The view was amazing, from there you could see Central Park really well, and had an awesome view of the Empire State. We didn't stay up there too long, it was freezing and we wanted to go out that night as well. We got home, changed and headed to Little Italy for dinner. After dinner and a few drinks, O'Nieals (the bar Scout from SATC) was just around the corner so I dragged Jeremy and Dave there, but it turned out to be a place they didn't mind. We stayed for while and I remember a lot of cocktails being drunk by me, but the guys wanted a place to dance. We tried to find a place between where we were and home, found a bar type place and drank some more. We got home around 3am or 4am maybe? Anyway, it was a HUGE day and I was wrecked!

Sunday we were all a little seedy... I felt like a good brunch and there was a Diner around the corner that was serving that until 3pm. We refuelled, headed uptown to the Guggenheim (Museum Mile) and saw the New York Marathon in action through Central Park. Cool to see! The Guggenheim was under construction (STILL!!) and they were remodelling inside as well, so we didn't end up going to see the exhibitions. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instead. Only had about an hour and a half before it closed, so we raced through it to see as much as we could. We had dinner reservations that night for a steak restaurant around the corner, so we went home and changed and booked tickets to see Borat in Chelsea at 9pm. The steak was amazing, I love American beef... Borat, not as funny as I was expecting :-( It was funny, but I think I had my expectations too high! Anyway, after the movie we had a few drinks at a bar on the way home then headed to bed.

Our last day was Monday, a half day really as we needed to leave the apartment for our train and flight around 2pm. Once again we headed uptown to go have a look at Macy's, the largest department store in the world (9 floors high, and an entire block long...). We managed to see Madison Square Gardens and Penn Station on the way. Had Popeyes chicken on the way back, then had to get back to our apartment to get ready to leave. We grabbed our bags and walked to the subway entrance on our street, and before you knew it, we were at JFK airport checking in... I was sad to leave New York, but luckily it's a place that Jeremy and I really enjoy, so it'll be a place that we get back to in the near future :-)