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Published: August 8th 2011
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San Francisco! - by Jo
On our flight from Austin to San Francisco we had to change in Phoenix, Arizona. On landing there, our pilot told us that it was 110 degrees outside, (think 44 degrees celsius) so we were not at all reluctant to get back on a plane to San Francisco, where it was much cooler. We'd got slightly confused by the time difference and had somehow failed to realise that it was going to feel like two hours later than it actually was when we arrived. So by the time we'd got our luggage, made it onto the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and got into the centre of San Francisco it was almost midnight, although to us it felt like 2am. Back in Austin we had met a girl who had told us about couch surfing - a legitimate website on which travellers can find hosts willing to let out their couches for a few days for free. Many people ask, 'But what's in it for them?' and the answer is that they get to meet people from all over the world and then potentially have a free couch to stay on when they go travelling.
It's like a community where everyone just wants to help each other, and for that reason we signed up straight away. So at midnight in the middle of San Francisco we met up with our first host Simon and his friend Jesse, in a bar called the Gold Dust Lounge, had a drink with them and then got driven back to Simon's apartment. When we walked through the door of the apartment we couldn't believe our eyes. It was very clean, very tidy, had a swimming pool outside and an ocean view from the balcony! After a few more drinks, when it felt like 5am to me and Rachael, we went to sleep, me on the couch and Rachael on the floor (we'd tossed a coin) feeling very content and relieved that we had found out about couch surfing before our money had run out completely!
The next day Simon showed us around the area where he lives, which was called Sausalito and was on the other side of the bridge from San Francisco. It's a beautiful little fishing village, where most people are rich enough to own their own boats, and some of whom actually had house-boats that
they lived on. There were lots of little vintage shops, as well as of course shops full of tourist rubbish being sold at unreasonable prices. Simon showed us the 'English pub' which we were very excited about... turns out it was closed but we could see from the outside that it wasn't going to be particularly accurate since the sign read 'Tally ho! Come on in and enjoy our splendid selection of wines.' We told Simon that no one in England actually says tally ho, but he didn't believe us.
Staying in Sausalito was good because it was always 10 degrees hotter than San Francisco, but it was only a short bus journey across the Golden Gate bridge. Our first trip across the bridge was surreal - it was another iconic image that we had seen so many times on TV and in films, but now we were actually there. One day we decided to walk all the way across the bridge and back, which turned out to be a 2 mile walk in total but it was definitely worth it. It was quite cloudy, which made for some not so great photos, but later on in the day
we got some better ones, plus it was exhilarating to walk along enveloped in a cloud! It's incredibly high and I made the mistake of peering over the edge at one point, causing myself to stagger backwards with fear! That night we came home and cooked Simon a traditional English meal... sausages, baked beans and mash, which was the only possibility due to the limited ingredients in the supermarket! We had previously introduced him to tea and crumpets as well which he enjoyed, so we felt proud to have spread some English joy to another part of the world.
During the days in San Francisco we of course did all the things that tourists should do. One day it was pouring with rain so we spent a long time at one of the many Farmer's Markets that are so popular in the States. They consist of stalls sellings all kinds of foodstuffs - cheese, meat, chocolate, honey - and all for quite reasonable prices. We also went to Chinatown where we fed our newfound appetite for Asian food, and also visited the City Lights bookstore which is the most famous bookstore in California. Rachael was in her element and
actually I really liked it too, and we both ended up buying books. Another thing we did was go to Haight Street which we'd been told was the 'hippy alternative' part of the city, and naturally we loved it as it was full of vintage shops!
Everyone knows that San Francisco is the gay capital of the States, and pretty much of the world. It's so accepting of everyone, particularly in Castro, the 'gay district'. Whilst there we stood in the 'gayest corner in the world', surrounded by rainbow flags and plaques dedicated to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California who was killed in 1978. It was sad, but also really great to see how accepting everyone is now. That evening we went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art where we saw an exhibition of the 'Stein collection', which consisted of works by Picasso and Matisse that had been collected by Gertrude Stein and her family in the early 1900s. I particularly like Picasso so it was really interesting, plus we got to see some other parts of the museum where there were interesting (but slightly confusing) displays
of modern art. One of our favourite exhibits was in the photography section, which showed photos taken in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina had hit. They were of real graffiti that people had done on their houses and cars, all of which represented how the city had remained strong and hit back at the hurricane, despite all the damage it did.
Halfway through our stay we had to move to a hostel since Simon wasn't able to host us for all the time we were there. So we moved into the city, not far from Union Square which is right in the centre and a great spot for people-watching! Although the location was good, the hostel itself wasn't great as it had followed the annoying trend of having bunk beds with no ladders. Rach and I had to position a chair inbetween our two beds in order to get in and out of them, which proved to be quite amusing when someone moved the chair in the middle of the night... It made us realise how much we love couch surfing and want to continue doing it for our whole trip!
On our last day in San
Francisco we went to Fisherman's Wharf - the beautiful part of the city along the waterfront. Our chosen method of getting there was on one of the famous streetcars, which was exhilarating! We were the last ones on so were literally hanging out of the door as the streetcar roared up and down the immensely steep hills that San Francisco is known for! When we got off we were completely windswept and had to go and sit by the water for a while. It was a very touristy day, eating hotdogs (well that was just me obviously), souvenir shopping and walking along Pier 39, where we saw the colony of sealions that have settled there. Apparently there are sometimes more than 600 of them, but we only saw about six. We also saw the 'crookedest street in the world', Lombard Street, which from the bottom looks very cool as you can see in the picture. At the end of the day we somehow wound up in a wine bar, and then continued with a carton of wine on a grassy bank by the water (classy I know). Despite not being entirely sure that it was legal we had a great time, and as we watched the sunset we both agreed that it seemed like a very fitting way to end our time in San Francisco!
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