Had a good nights sleep - all that wine tasting must have tired me out. We headed down to Begona Bay for breakfast beside the sea. I've never sat eating breakfast and spotting seals at the same time. Tried oysters for the first time but wasn't too keen on them. We then headed along the coast road to Fort Ross.

The road mainly follows the cliffs and is very windy and narrow and up and down. Reminded me a lot of roads in Yorkshire. We passed the point where the Russian River joins the sea. You can see lots of seals lying on the sand.

Fort Ross was a Russian settlement on the coast in the 19th Century.

There is a tiny orthodox chapel and cemetery there. The chapel was very small and plain with a table like altar with an icon of Christ and two other icons behind it.

In front of it there were two sand trays for candles. I don't think it was restored or presented as well as Fort George, but it was still interesting.

It seems that the Russian settlers mixed with the Native Indians reasonably well. I suppose there were wars between settlers and Indians later.

After this we headed back along the coast road towards San Francisco. We stopped at a bar in Sebastapol called the Greenhouse Tavern. We walked through the swing doors into a dimly lit bar of neon signs, pool table and gambling machines. We were served our beers by a barmaid, older than the average, with a gap in her teeth. Her name turned out to be Valerie. She was very excited to have some more unusual visitors to the bar. We spent several hours drinking beers, eating good burgers and got a free beer and a free T-shirt. We also met the bar owner, a little guy originally from New York.

We then headed through San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge and ultimately back to the airport. Send goodbye to Rosemary and John at the airport and got checked in.

Through security with no problems, not even extra screening. Though I noticed the Americans don't ask the standard security questions that used in European airports about did you pack your own bags etc. Went to the Red Carpet business class lounge. You only get two free alcoholic drinks. You get cheese, crackers etc. for snacks. The barman is a very dapper little chap in black bow tie.

Boarded the plane just about on time, flight UA863. Seat pitch is nearly too big as it is quite a stretch to reach the pocket of the seat in front of you. We were sat on the top deck of a Boeing 747. Got a bag with toothbrush, earplugs etc. in. Changed my socks which are several days old for flight socks and settled back to watch A Series of Unfortunate Events. We had warm roasted nuts as a pre dinner snack. Dinner was smoked salmon and prawns to start with followed, followed by Salmon with mashed potatoes and spinach, then cheese and biscuits and port. The food was OK but over flavoured in places. The cheese selection was Cheddar and blue Stilton and there were no chocolates with the coffee, so overall not as good as Lufthansa. I then settled back to sleep till Australia. Managed to sleep OK, but the seat seemed to be slightly narrower than Lufthansa ones.

Day 10    Day 12