In which Layla and Roz cycle across Golden Gate Bridge and explore some science

The next morning jet lag woke us early again but this time, Roz had a plan. The hotel let us borrow two beautiful Dutch bikes and before breakfast we decided to get into our running gear, leap onto our bicycles, head to Golden Gate Park, and go for a run. This was an excellent 7.30am plan, except that the park was further away than anticipated... And it was up some of San Francisco's famous hills. As I heaved my bike up near-vertical slopes, I dreamed of the breakfast I had not yet had. Eventually we made it to the park, which is beautiful and large. We cycled past museums and flowerbeds to get to Stow Lake where Roz ordered me off my bike.

Off we went for a jog round the perimeter of Stow Lake, then the perimeter of the island within the lake. It was a glorious sunny morning, and extremely scenic with ducks and Chinese pagodas galore, so I was almost not resentful. But I was glad when it was time to get on our bikes and we decided to explore the rest of the park - so off we zoomed up and down hills, past bison paddocks, to the beach at the Pacific Ocean. And then back again. Turns out it's bigger than Central Park and the 5th most visited park in the US. By the time we eventually got home, we'd cycled 14 miles and run 1 or 2 - not to mention scaling giant hills. We had earned our breakfast!

After returning to the hotel to shower, we went to the lovely Blue Bottle Cafe for a repeat order of yesterday's superlative breakfast, and concocted a plan to cycle across Golden Gate Bridge. Now, having done our giant cycling holiday to Burma, we assumed we were just as fit now as then. And misreading the map, I cheerily deemed my little sundress appropriate cycling garb for a few miles...

Soon we were cycling around the Embarcadero (marina), past parks, boats, beach, sculptures, Ghiradelli Square (stopped for ice cream, chocolate, and paddling in the bay), and past yet more park. This was further than expected! And since it was the 4th July, also insanely busy. "The Golden Gate bridge is up in the sky - how would we get on it?", asked Roz. We were soon to learn. The bike path followed the water, on and on, up a horrible giant hill until we eventually made it to the start of the bridge and its lovely cycle lane. 

Shrouded in mist, the cycle across the bridge was very cool: chilly and windy and brilliant, with the stylish red girders making the bridge really beautiful, the water raging far below and the cityscape giving way to pretty hills as we eventually hit the other side. A fab experience. We then followed a path and then a road all the way to the pretty coastal town of Sausalito, facing San Francisco across the water. We had a delicious lunch (and beer) at a very pleasant Italian restaurant, while musing that we had cycled about 25 miles that day and were completely exhausted. When it was time to stand up, we found we almost couldn't! But we wobbled towards the pier and caught a scenic ferry past the island of Alcatraz and homewards. We wobbled the final mile home and returned our bikes gratefully before heading upstairs to collapse on the bed. 

Well, for about 15 minutes! We had an appointment with the Exploratorium - a cool science experiment hands-on type museum on the waterfront, which was delightfully grown-ups-only that night, with drinks and all manner of interactive fun. We spent a happy hour playing with all the experiments and sipping wine, before grabbing a cable car to dinner - a tasty Indian restaurant called Dosa on Fillmore because it was on the lovely, posh-but-hipster Fillmore Street. As we caught a cable car home afterwards, we heard the booms of Independence Day fireworks exploding all around us. But, alas, we couldn't prop our eyes open long enough for a proper look - we are very much out of our Burma shape!