San Francisco, California. Morning coffee at the hotel, looking around a bit still in the hotels casino and going up one more time ip the Strotosphere tower for a final view of Vegas from above. Driving out of town after gettting our stuff in the car (free parking!) and one more look at the atrip before heading west on interstate 15. Crossing the state border into California has been a dream of mine for a very long time, so when we actually approached the sign, we had to pull over and take some pictures. We were still travelling west, towards LA and should turn north on interstate 5 before LA and move
towards SF. I actually drove
some parts of the original
Route 66 at this point, after we decided a detour to Death Valley was not going to be a realistic goal, it was just getting too late, running out of time. But getting closer and closer to LA we just couldnt resist and kept driving west until the highway turned into Santa Monica Boulevard and I cant describe the feeling driving a car into LA for this first time. Another movie feeling, another dream coming true. Drove past Beverly Hills and into Santa Monica itself. At one point you hit the beach and the pier. Parked the car and walked onto the pier, it's now around 11pm. The pier is also the official end of route 66 and so this was a good closing for Tom's epic drive across the States on pretty much the entire historical route 66. Now on to SF, the rental needs to be there at 11am. We need to drive all night.
Taking turns driving and sleeping, we arrive in San Francisco at 9am and return the car. We have been driving 2017 kilometers these past days and each and every one of them was an
adventure. Tom gets another car, he will continue north to Napa, while i stay in SF. We says our goodbyes and i head for the hostel in downtown SF. Leaving my bags at what seems to be a decent hostel, i start walking towards Fishermans Warf and Pier 39. Looks like a short stretch on the map, but then there are these hills in SF and they are steep! Great to see the cable cars goong up and down. It is chilly and quiet in town and at the harbour. Near the end of the week this would change, the weather turns warm and sunny and the city gets fuller and busier. I walk until early evening, sort of walk the wrong way and see another face of SF, junkies and drugdealers. Quickly i get back on track and back to the hostel after a Mexican boritto at Chipotle. Now, the hostel offers free beers and a club in the evening so i go check it out. Meeting a few people from
Argentina and a girl from Chicago, we play beerpong. First time in my life and actually quite fun. With Amy i continue for a few in the Sports Bar across the street. Finding out everything closes 1:30 am in SF. No exceptions. Kind of a bummer if you are just getting into your California Dreaming mood.
The next morning at 11 i meet up with Lulu, whom i met in Montreal, is from Hong Kong but lives in SF. We walk to China town, have Chinese lunch @ Washington Square, do some shopping on Market, checking out the Adidas, Apple and A&F stores among others. Onwards to Japantown, with supercool stores and Japan stuff. Oh and i found out i look like a character called 'salad p', at least in the eyes of the Chinese and Japanese. Its used for a mayonaise/dressing commercial. Excellent.
This is where i get the call from Ozz, that he has landed and where and when do we meet. Heading back to town and to the Taj Campton hotel to drop of my stuff. Ozz has work to do so Lulu and I got o town for a bit still and meet up with Ozz at 8pm to have dinner worh a group of Britts and some drinks after in the financial district. Next day (thursday), we go for breakfast at Lori's diner, Californian style breakfast with omelette and hashbrownies. Some shopping and dropping Ozz off at the Microsoft showcase event. I go to Starbucks to do some research on the tours we want to do; Alcatraz and Napa Valley wine tastings. Checking out some of the games on display before heading back to the hotel and both pretty tired so after a heavy Indian meal and a bernar the Dueling Piano's we decide it is time to kick back and relax and get a good night sleep.
The word of this week here definately is AWESOME. People use it in every other sentence here, so who are we to stay behind? Soon enough, also for us everything and everybody is just awesome, dude!
Left in time to go and catch our Alcatraz tour, good thing we booked, its sold out for a few days and people stand in line for last minute rcancelations. The boat takes you in
abt 30 minutes to 'The Rock' and all is well organised, a welcome word when
You arrive at the dock and a clear explanation of what is to come. Alcatraz is the most visited site in America and was originally built as a fort to defend the city against the Brittish. An audio tour takes you around the island and i have to say it was very impressive. The voices of real guards and prisoners tell stories about daily life in prison, riots, murder, escapes and other historical facts. Also a beautiful view on SF and the Golden Gate bridge from here. We had a great laugh here but were als very impressed by all the stories. Boat back to mainland and walked to Fishermans Warf, checked out the sea lions and had a crab sandwich for lunch. While being attacked by huge seaguls.
In the evening had dinner at a Thai restaurant in
SoMa (south of market) with some guys from a videogame magazine, nice ride in a brandnew BMW. After dinner tome for some drinks, checking out the local bars Tunnel Top and on to the pianos again. Were not planning to stay here all night, but we did. A great concept, good laughs and crazy people. Again, all closes around 2am, there is one club open until 4, but is not serving alcohol between 2 and 4... Liquor stores stop selling alcohol at 2 as well. San Francisco is closed. Bedtime.
Saturday breakfast around the corner and Ozz saw some Go Carts across rhe street. These can be rented and used to drive around town while getting a tour on
The radio and a built-in GPS system. Ozz couldnt ne stopped so we rented it for a couple of hours and i have to say it was, yes, awesome! We drove it around around town, the beach and under Golden Gate Bridge. Everybody was pointing at us and giving us the thumbs up because of course we could not just sit still in this car, had the radio on loud, and looked like idiots with those helmets on. But a great way to see the city and experience driving these extremely steep streets and bouncing inbetween cable cars, busses and SUV's.. Good adventure tour!
Picked up my traintickets and laundry, had taco's at Chipotle.
Everytime you walk by a Starbucks it's logging into facebook and update status.. Free wifi!!

Amrak calls and gives me a 125$ voucher to make up for the delay last week. I am only using 60 of it for my SF-LA trip so if anybody plans to teqvel Amtrak in the coming 24 months, let me know!

Back to hotel, relaxing a bit. Almost fell asleep, but making it to California Pizza Kitchen for a Jamaican
Jerk Pizza. Back to sleep. Goodnight. Big day tomorrow, pick up time 07:55 for the Napa Valley Wine Tasting Tour!