Why is it that when you spend at least half an hour writing a superb post that you manage to delete it when discarding a not very good photo.
Home at last and an ecstatic welcome from the dogs when we fetched them from kennels, this however was not true of the cats as they have barely forgiven us now for abandoning them in the first place.
We loved San Francisco, it has a whole atmosphere of its own, car horns, people chatter, the clang clang of the cable cars, the rumble and whir of the underground cables and the steam coming up through the pavement vents into the cool air. Brilliant!
On the Saturday, hundreds of young people dressed up in Father Christmas outfits and came into the city centre by various means of public transport, singing carols all the way to join together in Union Square to sing yet more carols. According to our waitress in the hotel they then go round all the bars and hotels on a pub crawl. So, a lot of fun was had by all and us tourists and out of towners thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle.
The Chancellor Hotel where we stayed was an oasis in the hustle bustle of Christmas shopping, it is right on the square but is small, elegant and rather old fashioned in a delightful way, both staff and other clients, many of whom were on return visits were friendly and polite.
This is a place I hope to go back to.