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Published: April 10th 2007
Hi All!!!
First stop: San Francisco.
First thought: Oh my god...look at those hills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were in San Francisco for 6 days and stayed at USA Hostels which was a few blocks from Union Square. The hostel was ok, not great, but not horrible (which is always good!).
The actual city and the houses are like nowhere else I've seen. They are so cute, and you see the typical houses on postcards, movies etc., but there are actually heaps of different styles all mingled together. They're all so pretty, and apparently worth a pretty penny too!
The hills...oh my god, the hills!!! I would never imagine a city where people are supposed to walk around, could have hills quite that steep! They need the signs they have for thrill rides at the bottom warning people with heart conditions that they should consult a doctor before walking up Taylor Street. (Very very steep, but the view from the top is great...you can see all the way out to Alcatraz and the bay.)
So what did we do while we were in San Francisco? Well, we certainly made good use of our time. Our first afternoon we
arrived we went on a big wander - about 3 hours - of the streets and neighbourhoods around where we were staying, and came across Union Sqaure - shops and a cool little area...but I couldn't believe, they had Macy's on one corner, Saks Fifth Avenue on the other, and Neiman Marcus on another. Oh...and Macy's has a seven floor store for women, and then a four level store across the road for men!! Oh my God...I can't wait to see what they're like in New York if that's what it's like in San Fran! Then we stumbled across Lombard Street (the crookedest street in San Francisco - mind you we found out that isn't actually true, it's just the most famous), Hyde Street Pier where they have an old cargo ship from the gold rush days - the Balaclutha, a big wooden passenger paddle steamer called the Eureka, and an old tugboat which were interesting to see. Then we finished with a short look around Fisherman's Wharf and a beer in Hooters, where the waitress was amazed that we had a 'Malibu' in Australia as well. We tried to explain that it was actually 'Melbourne' (even emphasising the 'born'
as they say it) but she couldn't understand or something. Oh well, I suppose they're not hired at Hooters for their brains are they?!?! 😊
The next day we went to Alcatraz. That was a really good trip and I think I took about 100 photos just in there...don't worry, I won't bore you with them all!! We then just had a wander around Pier 39, which is where the sea lions call home and you can buy all types of t-shirts with San Francisco emblazened across the front. They have heaps of shops and restaurants all aimed at tourists, with street performers, shows, carousels and a few simulation rides. Very touristy, I don't think you'd find a born and bred San Franciscan there, but it was cute. Oh, and they actually have a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant here. We've seen a few now. Amazing what they can spin from movies!!
That night we went on a pub crawl with the hostel and met a few fun people. The first stop was an art gallery opening where you bought your own beers, and we were a bit worried as it wasn't quite what we were expecting for
a pub crawl. So, it did get better...we went to a bar called the Bacchus Marsh where they did a special for us with $2.50 pints (oh, and they're all sold in pints here!!) and then went to a nightclub called Ruby Skye where some DJ from Ministry of Sound was playing. Good night all up, but the next day we can say was pretty much a write off.
That night however, after a good all day rest (let's say we were jetlagged...yeah!), we went down to AT&T Park to see San Francisco Giants play the LA Dodgers (baseball, or the ball game as they say). That was good fun, although the game isn't the most interesting one going around!! The Giants lost 1 run to 2. WOW!!!! And none of the three were even home runs. We were dodged!! But it was still a good night and we got really good tickets for $10. We were hanging around out he front of the park trying to scam tickets off scalpers, but they wanted $50 for tickets in the nose bleed section of the bleachers. So we knocked them back and tried to hold out for cheaper ones when
a genuine fan asked if we were looking for tickets. I said we were but we only wanted to pay $10 each. So he heard our accents and decided to give us his 2 spare season tickets for $10 each so that he could have the privilige of giving us the tickets to our first ball game ever. We were at field level in the left field about 20 rows back. He couldn't believe we'd never been to a game before. So that was nice - especially in contrast to the dodgy scalpers!! And we got foam fingers!!! YAY!!
Then on Saturday we went on a walking tour and saw some things we had already seen, but also got a closer look at North Beach (Little Italy) and Chinatown - where we got a feed for $4.30 between me & Jimmy!! Not bad. Also heard a bit of the history of San Francisco which was interesting to hear...mind you I don't know how accurate all the information was, as our tour was taken by a Pom who's been in San Fran for about a month!!
That night Paul (O'Connor - Jimmy's friend/Courtney's bro) came to meet us in
San Fran. We met him at the airport and he took us to the wine region of San Francisco; the Napa Valley. He has aussie mates who used to work in Milwaukee who have now scored jobs in California. They were pretty happy about that...preferring the weather much more!! So he took us to meet them (killed two birds with one stone - catching up with mates and being tour guide to us. It was all very well planned!) It's a very cute little place there in the Napa Valley and we had a really good time. We didn't arrive until the evening, but as soon as we did we went out to a little wine bar where we met up with Paul's mates. Was a good night out and by the end of the night we'd been to EVERY bar in the Napa Valley...that'd be 3! Then the next day, we went to one of their houses for brunch. Oh...yum!!! It was the best food we'd had up until then. They were all very nice and the weather was gorgeous. It was a few degrees hotter in the Nappa Valley than in San Francisco. Then Paul's friend Rob took
us for a drive around the wineries and took us to two of the wineries Fosters owns. (He works for Fosters, and it sounds like we have quite a good Australian representation in Californian Wines.) We went to St. Clements winery and also Beringer Wines where we went on a historical tour with wine tasting at the end. The tour guide was hilarious...he kept mentioning the fact he was a bachelor (which you couldn't half tell) and told us that it's really nice to freeze your wines to keep them and then when you want to drink them to put them in the microwave!! And you can even have them a bit slushy?!?! Rob was slightly concerned this was how the tour guide was recommending potential customers enjoy their wine.
So anyway, back to San Francisco for our final day, and the three of us (Jimmy, Paul & I) hired some bicycles and did a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to a small town on the other side called Sausalito. It was quite the ride...not too bad, but I certainly didn't want to ride back. They advertise the ride as 'Ride to Sausalito, ferry back to San Francisco',
but of course the boys wanted to ride back instead!! After I walked the bike up the massive hill we'd come down to get into town (the way you're supposed to go), the rest of the ride back wasn't actually that bad. But yeah. I was pretty keen on the ferry ride back at the time. The bridge really is quite impressive, and once again, I was a bit snap happy and got more than enough photos of the bridge from a zillion different angles from stops on our ride. Funniest thing (well not really funny, but...) on the bridge are all these Emergency Crisis Phones they have with signs saying "There is hope. Make the call. The consequences of jumping from this bridge are fatal and tragic." I wonder if that's actually changed anyone's mind??
So that was our time in San Francisco...I told you we made good use of all our days!!!
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Adrienne
non-member comment
Wow
Hey guys, Seems like your having a ball and definately making use of every day! Enjoy xoxo