A streetcar named Milan (argh...I just missed riding a streetcar named Desire)

I am fortunate to have a bunch of extra food with me, because the free hostel breakfast is your choice of a slice of bread or a bagel; a small glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. Seeing as I am not a coffee drinker and I prefer my bagel with peanut butter or cream cheese, this breakfast is not looking very promising. I whip out a banana, chocolate hemp powder, and my organic chocolate brown rice milk and make a smoothie (by whipping my banana into a gooey mess in a cup and adding the other ingredients). I head to Haight-Ashbury (a neighborhood near the southwestern corner of Golden Gate Park) to check out the bike shops. After some searching, I learn that I can rent a bike for $99 a week, which means that I can bring a bicycle with me down to the Point Montara and Pigeon Point Hostels. Both of those areas are south of San Francisco and fairly remote and I think that having a bike there will be advantageous since the majority of the California Coastal Trail in that area lies on roads and highway shoulders. I will still walk during the day hikes, but I think the bike will be a bit of added fun. I return from Haight-Ashbury and check my email at the Apple store. After a few minutes, I decide it is time for me to check out the Historic St. Francis Hotel. I enter the hotel, walk through the immense lobby and head for their famous and free glass elevators. I take the elevators up and down between the lobby and the 31st story checking out incredible views of San Francisco. Since the city is only 7 miles wide by 7 miles long, you really can see the water around the edges of this crowded city from this vantage point high above the tallest buildings. While I am in the elevator, Reena calls me to invite me to lunch. I meet up with her in the travel section of the Borders bookstore (she leaves for Greece and Turkey in mid-March). We go to one of the many Thai noodle restaurants crowding Ellis Street. I have the vegetarian pad thai and it is quite decent. After lunch we wander over to an overpriced baby clothes store in the Westfield Mall, where Reena is buying clothes as a thank you gift for her cousin (whose wife is 8 months pregnant), since they are hosting her when she goes to Turkey. We split up and I ride the Streetcar Route F to Fisherman's Wharf, so that I may compare the bike rental deals there with the ones I got this morning. At Fisherman's Wharf I am offered mountain bikes and hybrid bikes at either $129 or $159 a week. I think I will stay with the offers I got on Stanyan Street. I wait for the F streetcar back to Union Square and return to the Apple Store to update this blog. I get back to the hostel and make organic ramen, since the hostel is only equipped with a microwave. I meet a German girl that has just checked into my room. I give here a mini tour of the city and we wander over to the mall so she can find something to eat. Reena calls me and we arrange to meet at 10 pm to go out. At 10 she arrives at the hostel with her two of her friends (that work at REI) and we all drive to the Mission district to hang out at her friend's place. At 2:30 am, it is apparent that we will be needing public transportation to get home. The friend that drove us there is not in any shape to drive us home, so we head for the #22 bus, since the bus schedule is more limited after midnight. Reena gets off half way through our bus journey and I continue on to make a connection with the #38 line. It is beginning to rain and I am standing at the corner of Geary and Fillmore alone at 3 am with the exception of the few men leaving a club(?) behind a fenced area about 10 feet behind the bus stop. Reena has given me strict instructions to avoid walking Geary Street, as it is the most rundown neighborhood in the city. I consider hailing one of the 50 cabs that fly past me on the deserted street. Then, another bus empties its passengers and suddenly I am not alone. I wait at the bus stop with two teenage skateboarders, and two other men, and despite my presence as the only female, I feel ten times safer not being alone on this street. I vow to never end up waiting for the 3 am bus again...and to never end up standing in the rain alone in the dark for a bus that supposedly comes every 30 minutes (but takes at least 40 minutes to get there).

Another day spent in San Francisco. I haven't done the CCT in a while, but I am still outwalking everyone else.