So having moved on from Los Angeles, I flew to San Francisco. I was originally going to San Francisco to do a week’s work experience at an Investment Firm but due to miscommunications, my week-long internship was reduced to one day! This freed up a lot of time to explore San Francisco fully.

My cousin, Maddy who’s at university in San Francisco kindly let me stay at her student house (possibly the nicest student house I’ve ever been in- the Americans know how to do student living). She lives right by the University in Balboa Park which is about 20 minutes from the centre.  Annoyingly, I was visiting during her school term so was going solo in my explorations.

 

I was very excited about staying with my cousin as we’ve all seen the films about university life in America. She invited me along to a house-party where they do, indeed, drink out of those red disposable cups! It was a really fun party where I met some awesome people including a ‘witch’ which was very interesting. San Francisco is quite a bohemian city and a lot of people believe in the power of crystals and the Earth, it was very interesting to speak with Mary (the witch) and learn about her religion.

 

Mary, Kevin (one of the awesome chaps at the party) and I later met at for dinner at a seafood restaurant which was an experience. You get bibs and gloves and everything is plastic. I initially thought they had taken me to a bit of a dive but soon realised why I had been taken here. Our waitress took our order of the sharing platter and plonked a pile of limes on the table (not on a plate). When the food came, it was in a bag! We all just got stuck in with our hands getting food everywhere- great fun!

 

 

 

Public transport in SF is absolutely fantastic; there are trams, underground trains, busses and metros. The bus is about $2.50 and the underground is marginally more. Luckily, San Francisco has city Wi-Fi so I could use Google Maps to plot my routes from anywhere.

 

Haight-Ashbury

The Haight is the most bohemian places I’ve ever visited (and I live in Stokes Croft, Bristol) with Tibetan shops, thrift stores, tattoo parlours and ethical restaurants everywhere. The buildings all have these Victorian facades of different colours and styles, the architecture is beautiful. I spent a lot of time here and particularly liked a little gastro pub (can’t remember the name) which served a lot of British-style food like fish and chips and scotch eggs.

Walking down Haight Street takes you directly to Golden Gate Park.

 

 

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park is full of stuff to do and see. It’s beautifully kept and is well worth committing a full day to walking the length of it, stopping at all of the attractions on the way. I visited the conservatory of flowers (worth getting in on a tour), The Japanese Tea Gardens, the Bison and the Botanical Gardens. My favourite place is the Japanese Tea Gardens which is $8 entry. I spent about 4 hours here walking around and settling into a good book in the tea rooms overlooking the sculptured gardens.

 

 

Golden Gate Bridge

Ian arrived in San Francisco and high on his list was cycling over Golden Gate Bridge. We quickly scouted out the nearest bike rental place and had to watch the most cringe-worthy video before we were given our bikes. The rental was in the region of $25 for the day. If we ever go back, I would bring ear muffs to wear whilst cycling over the bridge as the wind is relentless; it’s so strong that it’s difficult to cycle! There’s a steep winding road over the bridge into Sausalito which is very quaint. We spent a few hours looking around the shops, bought some salt water toffee and ate in a river-side restaurant. You can cover most of Sausalito in an hour or so, which we did, and caught the ferry back in to San Francisco after a few too many beers.

 

The Castro

The Castro is a particularly sexually liberated area of the city and everything is decorated with the pride rainbow (even the road crossings). Maddy, Loly (her girlfriend) and I went to a phenomenal sushi restaurant called Wasabi Bistro where we had a delicious tuna tartarte among other treats. The Castro is full of swanky bars and I was shocked by some of the things on display in some of the more risqué shops. A lot of The Castro is sexually orientated, particularly a bakery called Hot Cookie which sells huge penis shaped macaroons (tasty too).

 

Mission

Top quality restaurant: Delfino- Valencia Street
Mission is a large buzzing area with a lot going on. I visited the San Francisco Triratna Buddhist centre just off Mission Street which was a lovely evening. En route back to the house, I stopped in a bar that was playing jazz music and ended up staying for several hours chatting to the locals. I had no Wi-Fi connection at the bar so couldn’t let Maddy know where I was but didn’t think there would be any trouble. Ian (who was in the UK) had asked Maddy where I was and all hell broke loose. They were trying to locate my phone, call people I may have spoken to, looking in my internet history, they even considered calling the police. Luckily, I got home just before the latter happened!

 

Ferry Park- lightsaber battle

I was in San Francisco when the latest Star Wars came out which meant nerds (myself included) flocked en mass to Ferry Park for an epic lightsaber battle. Maddy and I were hesitant at first but soon got into the swing of things and were kicking ass! There were mini tournaments and games like capture the castle going on. You couldn’t walk for more than a few seconds without being challenged to a duel- great fun! The after party was equally as fun- dancing and drinking with Yodas and Syth lords.

 

Pier 39

We didn’t rate Pier 39 in all honesty. It’s very gimmicky and false with flashing lights, fast food and full of people. The best part of Pier 39 was seeing the wild seals basking in the sun. The other good part of Pier 39 was walking to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz.

 

Alcatraz

Alcatraz is a must-see in San Francisco. Having been previously military owned, Alcatraz Island is now a national park and so is well-maintained. As soon as we got off the ferry, a tour about the great escape attempts was beginning. Our tour guide, Ranger John was a character with a very loud voice and made the tour good fun. We also took the audio guided tour of the prison it’s self. The view of San Francisco from Alcatraz is beautiful. It must have been torture for the prisoners, looking over at freedom whilst in their (very basic, small) cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Central San Francisco

There are a lot of places worth visiting in central San Francisco including China Town, Union Square, Market Street and Lombard Street. China Town is a bustling area, exactly as you’d imagine with market stalls, restaurants and knick-knack shops. Walking through China Town, you end up near Union Square in a very up-market part of town with your Armani’s and Gucci’s and skyscrapers. I was there at Christmas time so there was a large tree and ice rink in the centre of the square. Moving on from the square is Market Street with more shops and cafes. Ian and I wanted to see Lombard Street but didn’t want to lug our suitcases over the hills of San Francisco. We waited to catch the cable car (at a stonking $7.50pp) for about 15 minutes in the queue which only took the four people in front of us. When the second cable car came, we were refused entry due to our suitcases. We were fairly miffed by this point and ended up getting a taxi (far cheaper). Lombard Street is worth a visit but is a hot spot for tourists so quite busy!

 

Overall, I absolutely loved San Francisco. It’s a very liberal, laid back city that I could see myself living in.