VISIT BY EILEEN MELVILLE AND IRIS PARKER TO SAN FRANCISCO - APRIL 2004

When Iris and I visited San Francisco in 2002 it was an add-on to our week in Los Angeles to lay flowers at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. We were only able to stay two days in San Francisco and were so fascinated by what we saw there that we made a promise to ourselves that, God Willing, we would return to fully explore everything the City offered. It was as much a surprise to us as to our friends and family at home when the opportunity to do this presented itself so soon. Therefore, just 18 months after our previous visit, we were able to allow ourselves a full week in the City by the Bay.

Before leaving home, we pre-booked a private tour run by Mr Jesse Warr who called himself “A FRIEND IN TOWN”. And what a friend he turned out to be. Over the Internet, he informed me that he could tailor-make a tour to our own requirements. We had been hoping that Eleanor Dugan could have accompanied us on this tour but sadly she was not fit enough to be able to do so.

Our days started very early - due to jet lag - with a delicious breakfast at the small but very friendly facility next door to our hotel, in Taylor Street, close to Union Square. This was owned and run by Chinese and the breakfasts were out of this world. We ate our way through the menu and each choice was accompanied by a selection of fresh fruits which would have cost an absolute fortune at home!!

We had arranged the private tour for Friday, the day after our arrival, and Jesse arrived in his very comfortable “people carrier” to escort us. Before starting, we asked if he could take us to a post office so that we could mail some cards/letters to our folks back home. This he did willingly. We then continued to see places that would not normally be available on tours where larger buses have to be used, including a ride down the crooked Lombard Street. On this trip, I harboured a guilty feeling for the people who live on the street who had to put up with this very popular tourist attraction!! During the morning, we covered all the highlights of the City and at our special request were able to spend 20 minutes at the magnificent Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. More on this later. As lunchtime approached, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito where we stopped for a very good meal the the Spinaker - a restaurant on stilts overlooking the Bay and serving very tasty seafood and pasta dishes. After lunch, we drove on to Muir Woods and the spectacular redwood trees. The final place on our trip, after stopping off the the Golden Gate Bridge to view this magnificent structure from above, was the Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden in particular. Then it was back to the hotel, saying a fond farewell to our very informative guide. We can both heartily recommend the services of Mr Jesse Warr of A Friend in Town to anyone considering a visit to the City.

With quite a few days still remaining, we set off on our own steam to Fisherman’s Wharf by Cable car and down to Pier 41 where we took the Blue & Gold boat trip out and under the Golden Gate Bridge and back via Alcatraz. We had decided against doing the full visit to Alcatraz due to the amount of climbing involved. We spent more time on Pier 39 where we had lunch and later indulged in a huge mint choc chip ice cream. Heavenly!!

We took the cable car back to Chinatown and visited Eleanor for films and more lovely interesting chat. Later that evening, we returned to the hotel by taxi and the following day, Sunday, we went back to Grace Cathedral for the late-morning Eucharist service. The Cathedral was full for this service and the sermon given in tandem by the visiting Bishop of Alaska and a young woman preacher was on the subject of the Environment - very interesting to both of us and to all those present it seemed. This was certainly the highlight of our visit and it was a great privilege to be able to attend the Cathedral service and to shake hands with the Bishop at the end!!

Over the next few days we were able to spend quite a bit more time with Eleanor, meeting some of her very knowledgeable friends in the process and we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Both Iris and I were keen to see a presentation at the local Imax film theatre but the current programme was about Motor Racing and did not appeal to us. However, one of Eleanor’s friends, Larry, was able to get two tickets for a preview of the coming week’s presentation - The Planet - and thus we spent our final evening in this manner. We offer our grateful thanks to Larry.

Helen Crawford had hoped to make the trip from LA for our final day but was not able to do so. However, we had a chat with Helen on the telephone. Ginny Sayre did come over to Eleanor’s for a visit and it was very good to meet up with her again and learn of the work done on this new web site. We had lunch together at 4pm we had to say our goodbyes to Eleanor and Ginny and return to the hotel to collect our luggage and make the journey to the airport and home. We both feel that this second visit to San Francisco was fantastic in that we achieved all we had expected and much more besides. The people we met there, Larry, Alex, Ginny and in particular Eleanor will always be in our thoughts whether or not we are able to meet again.

- Eileen Melville