A fortnight in 'Frisco

Alison and Gemma: So San Francisco turned out not to be our final destination after all (more on that later) but the city was none the less a great place to sit back, chill out and absorb America.

From the moment we first saw San Fran from the Bay Bridge we knew that we were going to enjoy spending our time amongst such a spectacular skyline and exploring the many facets of San Franciscan life. Character is something that SF has in abundance - such a contrast to soulless LA.

We eased ourselves into SF gently by spending our first day chilling out in Union Square, people watching, tea/wine drinking and eating delicious cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory at the top of Macy's. We then decided to work off our indulgences and work the calf muscles by exploring the many districts on foot. People warned us that 'Frisco was hilly but we didn't fully appreciate this until we tried to tackle the hill to the Coit Tower to get some spectacular shots of the bay below.

We took a trip down memory lane through exploring the Asian district and had Dim Sum in Chinatown before taking a stroll through the Financial District with its neck straining architecture and the iconic Pyramid Tower. A favourite district of ours has to be Little Italy where we spent a pleasant afternoon having a panini in the park and sussing out the local restaurants for some delicious cuisine.

Sunday was spent topping up the tans (and burning ourselves like a zebra - Alison) at the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love in Golden Gate Park with Kat and Hayley.  It was truly like stepping back in time to the heyday of flower power complete with marijuana, hula hoops, belly dancing, balloons, psychedelic patterns and protestations of love and peace (make love not war you know!)

So having fully orientated ourselves in time for Duane and Dion's arrival (aka The Boys) we proceeded to act as their tour guides while they attempted to convince us to stay for two more weeks. A few bottles of wine later and we were fully convinced - cue a trip to STA and plans for the road trip of the century to Vegas baby! ("We've been on the run, driving in the sun, looking out for number one....")

Although before we hit the road there was still time to hit the two major tourist sites of the city - Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Alcatraz was somewhat unimpressive (at the end of the day it is just a prison on an island). On the other hand the Golden Gate bridge was well worth the windy trek across the Chrissy fields to get to it and the even windier walk to its mid point.

So with flights re-booked, tickets changed and car hired the four of us hit the 101 to head south along the Californian coast - Vegas here we come!