San Francisco - Take Two

Alcatraz from the mainland

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After a late night arrival on the 27th, we woke up refreshed in San Francisco.  Headed off towards Fisherman's Warf, and once again was loving San Fran.  Walked down Lombard Street, and managed to get another Where's Waldo (when in Rome...) shot in, you can have a look for yourself.

We booked tickets for Alcatraz, then sat down for some chowder bread bowls on Fisherman´s Wharf, how typically San Francisco!  This made Rick very happy.  After spotting some tourists trying to drive around the city in an electric car, we decided we could do a better job, so headed off to hire one of those.  We could only put one driver on, and in hindsight, choosing Rick probably wasn't the best idea.  At keast I don't suppose either the pedestrian or the driver of the bus we encountered thought so.  But that turned out to be a fun way to see the city.

On the trolley

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An hour later the electric-based fun was over, and we all decided that we had been a bit ambitious with the summer attire.  Doggammit it was cold, and we were heading home. 

So we stood in a queue for another hour, freezing.  When we finally got on the trolley, we were kept amused by an Italian woman and her disobedient child.  That was fun.

Back in the hostel we had a few beers and a couple of games of Yatzee.  Then it was time for a night out in San Fran!  We decided we were a bit hungry first though, so we went out in search for food.  OH MY GOD we found the nicest restaurant in the whole world (no I haven't been to all the restaurants, but I bet I'm not too far off the mark).  It was one of these little hidded thai noodle bar places, but I have never had food as nice in my life (sorry mum).  So we all headed out very happy after that.  Rick had spoken to a few people who recommended a particular area to us.  It turned out to be a bit shady, and not that busy at all, but it was a good night.  Went to all sorts of mad places.  Mike and Nicky went home, and Rick and I ended up in a lock in, with unbelievable sandwiches provided, were given 2 cds, and at the end of it all got a lift home with Michael Jackson and his fiancee.  It doesn't get much weirder than that.

Haight is a weird kinda place

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Day two, and with Mike and Nikki feeling especially ropey, we got on a boat, and headed to Alcatraz.  Myself and Rick had been before, but it remains one of the best tours I´ve ever done.  We stayed on the island for a few hours, and then headed back, the return journey was a lot better for the hungover two.  We wandered around some of the shops, and then headed back to the hostel.  Rick wanted to go see Cat Powers who was playing down the road, so he managed to get us all tickets.  He and Nikki headed off to get them, and Mike and I met up with them later.  He gave us our two tickets, and we bobbed into Quiznos for a sandwich.  When we headed back to the concert, Mike couldn´t get in, and it transpired that the cheeky little fecker who had sold the tickets to Rick had given him one for that show, and one for the later show!  We managed to sell the later one, but couldn´t get the first one sold, so Mike headed in and I went back to the hostel.  Without a key, as I realised two seconds after getting into the taxi!  What a disaster of an evening!

Tourists and the Golden Gate bridge

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The start of day three didn´t go much better to be honest!  We all packed up, and Mike and I headed down to collect the car, from someone who turned out to be the most incompetent woman in the world.  After over an hour of faffing around, and two return trips by Rick and one by Nikki, we finally we given our Ford Explorer, and a fine machine she was too.  And off we set.

First stop was the Height District, man this place was weird.  It´s like a mini Santa Cruz really, full of hippy stuff and smoke shops.  We had a wander around, stopped for some Mexican food, then got back in the car.  We drove up to the Golden Gate Bridge, since we hadn´t got round to cycling across it, and parked up to admire the view.  It was pretty good.  When I cycled across it last time, we didn´t go as far, so this time we could actually view it with the San Fran sky line in the backdrop - nice.  Right kids, back in the car, let´s head down Highway 1,  I hear the views are good.

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