I left my heart in San Francheesy

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Memorably described as the 'capital of man love in the USA' by our good friend Julius Clever....

We arrived in San Francisco after a spectacular volcanic drive through Oregon and Northern California, past Mt Shasta, which I've never heard of before but is a monster volcano and due an expulsion soon according to a sign on the Highway near it. De Gorski was also due an expulsion of steam shortly after arriving in SF, after driving the wrong way down a one-way street, and on the wrong side of the road on a two-way street, whilst trying to return the hire car.
We were staying in Haight-Ashbury, the district of the city which was the crucible of counter culture during the summer of love. You can see the homes of Hunter S Thompson, the Grateful Dead and numerous other acid revolutionaries dotted around the area. It is still trading on this reputation but has definitely lost its magic, is pretty tatty and has the highest number of bong shops per capita in the northern hemisphere (alongside some uber-cool clothes shops). In an attempt to embrace the dwindling ethos of flower power we were booked in for three nights at the Red Victorian Hotel and Peace Cafe on Haight, run by Ms Sami Sunchild, octagenarian hippy original and mistress of the spoken word. The hotel has 20-odd psychedelic-themed rooms decorated by Sami and a certain shabby-chic charm, and breakfast wasn't served until 9am (result!), emphasising the relaxing, laid back vibe. McThommo also had the best porridge she has ever tasted here, which is a pretty landmark statement from someone whose religious views are 'eat porridge'.
As for San Francisco, well it's ace, we rode our bikes across the bridge, got a ferry back, ate Ethiopian, ate an amazing barbecue, ate a good Italian, looked round chinatown and did some shopping. We weren't here long enough and we're so behind in our writing that we'll call it a day here, plenty of more interesting people have written more enlightening things about the place. Anyway we're coming back at the end of the trip, so moving on......

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Photos

Tasty Sunset
Not only the realm of the bearded apostle of psy-trance

Sun Yat-sen
First president of china

Transworld Pyramid
A building this sinister can only be the work of the devil

Riding the Golden Gate Bridge
McThommo vertigo in full effect. Wait til you get to Utah!

Vertigo overcome
yay!

Bikes on the ferry
Looks not unlike the start of megavalanche

Rock out with your cock out
Male chicken, obviously

Ethiopian
Incredibly filling

Alroighter?
One local shopper was not amused by us taking this photo

Bendy escalators from below
Reminded me of that Escher painting where the folk are always walking up stairs