Had a good night in Monterey and on the advice of Cory, the proprietor of the lovely Villa Franca Inn, we went back a mile or two to visit the picturesque seaside town of Carmel. Well… others had told us to go there too, and since Clint Eastwood had been mayor of the town, and since Doris Day owns a guest house there, we had to check it out. Totally love Carmel, it’s just as beautiful as everyone has said. But what made it absolutely perfect for us was the sea and all the marine life. Whilst paddling in the breaking waves we saw dolphins swimming up and down the bay, as well as sea otters floating on their backs, and in the distance we thought we also saw a whale. It was magical and gorgeous, and definitely a highlight of the trip. We would like to have stayed longer, so our advice would be…if possible try and stay a night or two. We just had a couple of hours and that was a shame. It isn’t cheap to stop-over though – but probably relatively equal to a lower mid-rate place in SF.

Got to San Francisco early in the evening and took Sally back to the car hire company. The cabbie on the way back was horrified to discover where we were staying: right in the middle of the Western Addition where there have been gun deaths recently and where you can’t go out after dark. Panicky taxi driver? Hope so. But we managed to find our way to a bar nonetheless.