San Francisco

Union Square
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After a great week in Tobago we flew to San Francisco. An old work colleague of mine had recommended a hostel for us to stay in. We turned up after a long haul over 2 days via Miami. The hostel was nice from the outside but the taxi driver had reservations about the area. We checked in and went to our room. We've stayed in some rough places along the way, but the room that we walked into was like a Russian prison cell. There was a distinct smell of fire in the room so I dread to think what the previous occupant was doing in there.

A Cable car
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In the spirit of travelling we dumped our bags and headed straight out into the street. The area known as Mission in San Francisco was pretty scary to say the least. We've never seen so many junkies sat around the road, speaking in Jive. They're all throwbacks from the 60's, it was like Dalston (where Paul and I used to live) on a really really bad day. We walked to a bus stop down the street. At the bus stop I realised I was stood next to a women in a hospital gown, with no shoes on, an identity band and patches on her arm where blood had just been taken.

St Paddys day
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30 minutes later I went to a public phone box to call Tom in San Fran only to be beaten by another women who picked the phone and dialled a number and started a conversation. The only thing was she didn't put any money in. She wasn't talking to anyone!

After strange beginning things got better. We stumbled across a lovely area known as North beach and had a fantastic meal.

We went back to our hostel only to discover the first floor became a nightclub in the evenings that didn't finish until 2am. We went to bed jet lagged and didn't sleep at all due to the fact our room was located directed over the DJ.

Alcatraz - The Rock
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The next day we checked out and headed into town to another hotel. We're on the 7th floor with a broken lift resulting in a daily workout -there are still a few nutters on the streets in Union Square, but anything was better than the Mission!

After spending the day watching the St Paddy's day parade, we mooched round the city and later met up with my old work colleague Tom from the Spin days and got drunk. We had a really nice meal and we met one of his new colleagues at Apple. It was Tom who recommended the hostel in the ghetto so he shouted us a few drinks as an apology!

Mairead banged up
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Our opinion of San Fran dramatically improved and continued to get better when we had a day trip to Alcatraz. We had a tour and walked around the old cellblocks. It was really interesting to see how close it was to San Francisco. The main punishment for the prisoners was being able to see and hear the city across the water, but knowing they could never get there.

San Francisco is a really vibrant liberal city, it's a great place to go out, and the views of the bay are stunning.

We are heading tomorrow for South America, so we'll update in a couple of weeks. Just to say Happy Birthday to Kelly on Thursday, Dean on Wednesday, and Jamie on Sunday! Also, welcome back Lorn! I hope you had fun x