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Published: January 31st 2005
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Yeah, so like we're like, totally into San Francisco, Dudes. It's super cool and we've had some like, awesome times. I mean like, totally.
OK, that's enough. We are still in San Francisco and loving it - it's a great city but it's more like a lot of different communities that happen to really, really close to each other. We're staying close to Chinatown which is just a short walk from North Beach and the Bay Area. It's all very urban and chic. Our hostel is brilliant - it's nice to be staying somewhere for more than a night or two cause you can get to know people better and being right in the middle of the city is great for our night life - San Fran has a great music and 'chillin' scene and we've been able to check out a lot of the local bars. The hostel is on the fourth floor though, above a chinese restaurant and there are no lifts so we're certainly getting some good exercise. Ooh, and another thing - the rooms don't have any doors to them which we've gotten used to now but was quite frankly a bit weird at first -
it's just a lot of partitions separating off every 4 or 6 beds. You can hear the people next to you and yet you cannot see them - it's all very unsettling. It also took us a good few days to work out that the showers did actually have locks on them after all. That could have gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Now, where did we leave you last time? I think we'd just arrived and looked around the city a bit (I could check but the logistics of that would mean that I would lose what I've just written so forgive me if I don't). So, Thursday, we took the ferry over to Alcatraz which was brilliant, if a little cold. The weather is not quite as good as San Diego so we had an attractive blue tinge to our lips by the time we got back off the boat. Alcatraz itself though is fascinating - it's pretty much just the prison as it stands, there's no one to guide you round so you can wander around at your own pace with a little walkman to tell you interesting snippets along the way. The cells in the main block
were tiny and strangely frightening when you were inside them. Little piece of trivia for you: when they were filming the scene in The Rock (which the park rangers were very keen to point out was not based on true events, no sir) where the tourists get locked in the cells, the mechanism on the doors broke and they were actually locked inside for several hours while they called in a locksmith from the mainland to get them out. We thought it was funny anyway.
Met up with a friend, Angie, in the evening and she showed us around downtown a bit where we went to have dinner before we went out to the bar round the corner from the hostel and were served popcorn by a very excitable chinese woman.
On Friday we tried to better ourselves and went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (OR SFMOMA for the cool kids). There was a Roy Lichtenstein (sp?) exhibit on but we didn't go to that cause it cost an extra $5 and we're cheap, but there was more than enough to keep us occupied on the rest of the 5 floors. Not a massive art
The view from the dining room
The amazing views across the bay to the city served as an extra punishment, to remind the prisoners what they were missing out on. lover, much of it was pretty lost on me I have to admit, but I did try really hard to appreciate it even if I didn't understand it, and there were one or two bits that I actually genuinely liked. There was this one piece that was hundreds, and hundreds of teeny circles of Scotch tape all stuck together to make a giant flat mat thing. Not a great explanation but I did warn you art is not my thing. Anyway, it was very cool - especially as it was hung against a white wall so it was almost invisible. There was also some photography, sculpture and design projects going on so all in all, a good day. Wandered around the shops for a bit after that and got slightly lost but then we met up with Angie and some of her friends to head to a bar and hear a local band play. They were called Society of Rockets and were very good - although the pub was so tiny it was incredibly loud - and they projected educational films from the 50's onto the back of the stage so we learned something too. We now know how to
correctly and safely drill a variety of holes, distinguish an otter from a flying squirrel and understand the finer etiquette of women's archery.
Saturday we met up with Angie and her friend Ben who has a convertible and cruised around the coast for a bit. Visited 'The Staircase At The End Of The World', which is a little series of steps down one of the cliffs overlooking the ocean, and then we went over the Golden Gate bridge with the top down. The key, according to our local friends, to the whole bridge experience is to look up while going across, not out across the bay. All you can see is the beautiful blue sky and the structure of the towers and ropes of the bridge. Went shopping in the hippy part of town, Haight Street and spent a lot of time looking at all the shiny things and kooky things and beautiful shoes. Nipped up to Twin Peaks just as the sun was setting to get a look at the city skyline too.
Came back to the hostel and ended up sampling the delights of some of the more... unusual local bars. The first one was a
dingy little hole of a place run by a cross-eyed chinese barman with tequila. It's the kind of place you probably really only want to stay in for the one shot. I think, judging by the state of the loos, any longer and you run the risk of typhoid. Saw a local funk-rap type band play at another band further towards North Beach and then went to Versuvios - famous because Jack Kerouac was a frequent visitor. In fact, this area is very central for much of the Beat writing and the little bookshop down the road, City Lights, has an entire section dedicated to it. Visited the crazy chinese guy for an even quicker drink on the way back and then it was home to bed.
And so that brings us to today (Sunday) - which has been pretty chilled out. Spent a lot of time this morning in an extensive second hand bookstore in which we both could happily have taken residence and then extended our coffee shop appreciation list in Little Italy before heading downtown to a really funky art and stationary store where we spent the rest of our afternoon. And money.
That's pretty
much it. We're here for another couple of days so are trying to fit everything in that we want to see before we go but it's not going to be easy - I think we need at least another fortnight, if not a month! We've been very lucky to have such a cool friend who knows where all the good places are and how to get there - we wouldn't have seen nearly as much as we have if we were relying on public transport and the guide book to give us directions - so to her we are entirely endebted and base much of our love for this city on that.
OK, well it's 1 in the morning here so that means all you folk should just be starting work I guess, but we are very sleepy and have promised ourselves we're going to get up early tomorrow to get as much done as possible so we're going to leave it there. Still no photos but we assure you the photos are all really cool. We look at them all the time and think they're great. We will get them to you as soon as possible!
Rach
and Rach x x x
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anonymous
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Where all the girls have flowers in their hair
Yes a line out of the song going on about San Francisco. Really glad that you're enjoying your time there. Would be one of the places on the pacific coast where I'd love to go (others are Seattle and Vancouver). So enjoy your travels while you can and I'm reading them so keep on letting us know. Take Care Stephen xxxxx - Stephen Poole