San Francisco

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Leaving Bass Lake (in a bit of a sorry state, i must add) spent most of the morning in the coach driving up to San Francisco where we arrived at about lunch time. Had a bit of an introduction to the city and then had a couple of hours to explore the area around Fisherman's Wharf.  A few of us went to have a Fish & Chips lunch and then just had a wander around the area. Had a look around the Pier 39 area and saw the Sea Lions, which you couldn't really miss between the smell and the noise they make! Lots of shops in the area too so had a look in a few of those too, although most were just selling souvenirs and the like. After that we continued the tour of the city in the coach and stopped for a photo at the Golden Gate Bridge although it was almost completely surrounded by fog! First evening in San Fran went out with the people from the coach for a dinner in chinatown which was quite fun but the food was a little disappointing and not that great which was a shame as sure there are lots of amazing restaurants there! Went there by Cable Car which was quite fun.

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Didn't do a whole lot with my first full day in San Francisco, as the tour had ended and had to move all my stuff from the hotel to the hostel I was staying, which could be most likened to a builidng site, as they had moved to the new building just a couple of days before and were still doing loads of work but on the upside at least the internet was free! In the afternoon met up with the rest of the tour who were still in San Fran before carrying on back to LA and joined them for a sunset cruise and got some fabulous view of the city so got some pretty good pics of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city skyline. Felt bit sad leaving rest of the group, strange to go from being surrounded by 55 other people day in day out to being by myself! Was lucky though as meet some nice girls in the hostel I was staying and also bumped into a couple of the girls who'd been on the tour too so was nice to see familiar faces!

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The following day, which was a sunday i went to Alcatraz on the first boat of the day, so had a bit on an early start again! The boat trip over was nice and gave some good views of the city so that was an added bonus! Alcatraz was pretty cool, did the self guided audio tour which was really well done and also followed a mini tour done by a National Park Service Guide which was on 'Hollywood and Alcatraz' and that was pretty interesting too although have to admit hadn't actually seen any of the films there were talking about!!In the afternoon I explored the city a bit more, spending a bit more time in the Fisherman's Wharf area and then taking a city tour which took me around the main sites in the city and through the downtown area. Got off the tour at Union Square and had a wander around there looking at some shops although didn't buy much other than a couple of books but did go in places like Macy's etc but only looking! My hostel was in pretty handy location as not far from Union Square so pretty central. Ended up bumping into more people who'd been on the contiki tour with me so ended up spending my last evening in san francisco with them which was nice, just went out for meal and few drinks after. My flight to LA was in the afternoon the following day so had a bit of time before that so just went for a walk on my last morning which was nice and then just used internet etc to kill the rest of the time had left. Both getting to airport and the flight itself was really easy as very quick and was back at LAX before I Knew it! Lucky as had got really good deal and was booked into nice hotel at Airport so had nice chill out night with room service and TV! Was flying out to New Zealand the following day so just made the most of being in nice hotel before heading back to the airport for the 13 hr fight!