Amtrak - SF to Santa Barbara

I left my heart in San Francisco - Oops!!! Someone has already said that! I really enjoyed SF. It is a vibrant city, easy to get around, multi cultural (and multi-sexual) a beautiful setting and plenty to do. Has a downside of the occasional earthquake but, hey, what city doesn't have its negatives. On our last day we went to the cable car museum. Not only do you get a history of the cable cars but it's at cable car central where the cables for the four lines run continuously. They run under the streets and the gripman on the cable car pulls back the lever and it grips on to a running cable. Didn't appreciate how they work until I saw that. John just sighs and rolls his eyes! There's a big story about a woman who fought city hall to keep cable cars and she won – eventually. They also have the “F” line – which runs along the waterfront and up Market Street. Lots of old trams from all over the world work this line. John and I rode a tram (modern) out to Balboa Park but didn't get off at the last stop – Well, we're tourists, how are we to know. We ended up in the 'Dee-po” (Tram Depot) where all the old trams go to have a rest. Just had to sit and wait for the tram to leave again. Were going to Sausalito on the ferry for lunch on Ron's recommendation. When we got to the ferry wharf we found we'd looked at the weekday timetable and not Saturday. Again tourists, how are we supposed to know what day it is. The ferry left 30 minutes beforehand and the next one wasn't for two hours. We're now on the train, Amtrak's Coastal Starlight, going to Santa Barbara – passing by many other saints – San Jose, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, the Santa Theresa, Santa Louisa mountains etc... The train is full. Must make a note to myself never to travel at Thanksgiving ever again. Didn't realise that it is a four day holiday – on the Wednesday, everyone is travelling to family, on Thursday, everything is shut. On Friday (it's called Black Friday) it's similar to our Boxing Day – shops open at midnight and it's mayhem with sales or else they go to Fisherman's Wharf. Saturday, sales continue and Sunday everyone travels to wherever it is they came from. The equivalent to our PSS (Passenger Service Supervisor) on this train is very upbeat and amusing. We went through a bird refuge and he listed some of the birds here – got to gulls – the ones which fly over the sea, seagulls and the ones that fly over the bay – bagels- ha, ha. Also pointed out the seals and sealions – said the seal on the right was called Lou Seal. Will post some photos later.