Friday was Jamie and Aisling’s last day of their holiday and we were very sorry to see them go, although we would be setting off home ourselves only twenty-four hours later. We started the day with a hearty breakfast at Café Bellini and then jumped on a cable car to take us to the popular Pier 39. It is colourful and bustling and still has its hippy vibe; there was a marvellous saxophonist playing the blues and we listened to him for a while and even had a wee dance. We had lunch in a wine bar looking onto the marina where James and Jamie sampled flights of Californian wine.
Later in the afternoon James and I went to the swimming pool at the hotel while Jamie and Aisling got ready for their journey to New Zealand, and then we said our farewells.
It was a beautiful sunny evening and, on Jackie’s recommendation, James and I went to see the attractive Saints Peter and Paul Church across from Washington Square. We took another cable car to get there. It’s the church where Joe DiMaggio posed for wedding photos with Marilyn Monroe after their wedding at City Hall. They weren’t allowed to get married there because although DiMaggio was divorced from his first wife, the marriage had not been annulled by the Catholic Church. We realised that we were in the Italian district of the city, because there were lots of great looking Italian restaurants lining the streets, so we chose one called Da Flora and we were not disappointed. The food was as good as any that I have tasted in Italy.
One thing that strikes me about San Francisco is its cosmopolitan feel. It almost feels like a European city to me, rather than an American one; there are lots of French and Italian voices. It also has its vibrant Chinatown and lots of other immigrant nationalities. I really like its international atmosphere.
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