The place of great hills

The famous hills -yes we walked them!
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OK, here goes, I've got a lot of catching up to do! It's hard to find a moment with all the fun we're having!! So..... we arrived in San Francisco at one in the morning, after a delayed flight which i'm sure will be the first of many. After finally finding our hostel, we all collapsed for the night. The others laughed at me, who they've nicknamed 'princess' cause i wasn't happy with the room. It seemed clean enough but the bedding and decor left a lot to be desired as far as this princess was concerned!

Admiring the views.
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The next day, we woke up just in time for breakfast which they serve until a civilized 11:00. (yes i know, it's a tough life!) We then ventured out for the day. We walked into town which involved walking up a whole lot of hills - picture the car advert with all the balls rolling down! We visited Lombard Street, which is apparently the most zig-zaggy street in the world, and then went to Fisherman's wharf, where we each sampled some of the local clam chowder. We then booked alcatraz for the following day and hired an electric car for an hour, where we foolishly placed our lives in Rick's hands. My favourite bit was when we were on the left of the road with a large coach hurtling towards us and Rick was saying "What?" Fortunately, we all lived to tell the tale, as well as to see some more amazing sights on our traditional tram ride home. Well worth the wait, and the fear factor as you hurtle at great speeds very close to other vehicles!

Lombard Street - we later drove down this in our electric car.
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We then had the most amazing meal in a thai noodle house which we all still talk, and dream of now! After following the advice of some locals we headed out to some bars, and sadly the San Francisco nightlife wasn´t all we´d hoped for. We watched some bands, chatted to some locals, got given totally different cocktails to the ones that we ordered, and went home.

Day 2 - off to Alcatraz - if you ever get a chance, it is well worth the visit. I arrived feeling a little sorry for myself, after a speedy taxi ride up and down the hills of San Fran, followed by a ferry ride, I was glad to get my feet on dry land! We had the audio tour and listened to a guide, who told us all about the attempted breakouts, as well as the conditions within the cells, all really interesting stuff. We then headed back for some lunch and some shopping, then spent the evening at a Cat Powers  gig. She sings really chilled out music, so we all sat on the floor and enjoyed a bottle of red wine to accompany the music. Very nice.

Our cool car. We got heckled by a homeless guy about its quality!
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Day 3  - We went to pick up our hire car, which caused immense problems as we wanted to insure 3 drivers and they´d only let us insure 2, so i sat sulking in a corner, until it turned out rick couldn´t be insured cause he didn´t have a credit card, so it would have to be me. Then, when i saw the size of the car i began to wish it wasn´t me who  was being insured! it was a ford freelander -look them up, they are enormous!!! So mike bravely took on the job of first drive without too many  trials (It was an automatic as well, which made things interesting at first!) We went to Haight, which is the hippie district of San Fran, and had some amazing mexican food, then headed on towards the San Fran Bridge - see photos. After that it was off on our first road trip to Santa Cruz!

Riding the tram the traditional way, on the outside!
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For more photos of San Fran:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miketong/sets/72157594260113683/