Hi Everyone!!

I am SO excited to be here, it's been a fabulous (and expensive) day! I arrived here absolutely fine yesterday, having missed history in the making with Obama's inaugoration- I was sat outside Starbucks and you wouldn't have known it was going on.

This morning I got up and couldn't decide what to do. So i thought the best thing would be to just wander and get my bearings. There is so much to see here! After a starbucks I found the perfect solution to get me started: a hop on, hop off tourist bus that goes around the whole city. Perfect! And i can use it tomorrow. So I hopped on, and we were off. Some of the buildings here are old and beautiful, steeped in history, which i love and have really missed- you just didn't get it in Australia. We went past the Painted Ladies opposite Alamo Park- really really beautiful painted Victorian buildings, past the Haight (hippie park from the summer of love. The hippies have never really left the city) and then to the Golden Gate Bridge where I hopped off. Wow. It was amazing, I could see Alcatraz and the city, it was just beautiful. I walked over the bridge (about a mile and a half) and took a million photos. Awesome. Even the streets here have that 'wow' factor because you've seen them so many times in the movies.

Hopping back on the bus we headed down to Fishermans Wharf, but I'm going there tomorrow so I didn't pay much attention. Eventually we got back to Union Square, where I'm staying. I seem to have hit the jackpot here, it's right in town, in what i think is a good area, with everything i need literally on my doorstep. And my room mates are nice too. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed being back in the hostel environment- it's nice to have people to talk to, yes I loved my room in Kaua'i but it got a bit lonely sometimes, here I have 3 room mates and they've given me some ideas. Anyway, so back in Union Square I wandered into Macys. Oh dear. Getting accosted by the make up girl from Urban Decay was funny but a little expensive (cheaper here than in England though!) and then I saw the Fossil Watches counter, once again a lot cheaper here, what I paid in dollars i'd pay in pounds at least. I spied a sign that said 'cheesecake factory', well, a sign like that you can't ignore can you?! So I got in the elevator to gave a ganders at what a cheesecake factory looks like. It was on the top floor with lovely views (would have been better had the weather not been overcast and drizzly). I had the first half-decent cuppa since leaving australia, a salad that said 'small' on the menu... i dread to think what a regular salad looks like! and a BIG piece of strawberry cheesecake that melted in your mouth! I couldn't finish it so had to bring some of it back, there was no way i was letting a slice of that go to waste!

It's been a fabulous day, where Hawaii made me lazy because it was such an effort to get places, here I worry I wont have time to do everything! Tomorrow i'm going to alcatraz, then pier 39 to see the sealions, then the SF Museum of Modern Art. Friday I think I'll do the science museum (although the queue was half a mile out the door when we passed it earlier) and Langdon street (the famous street that zigzags down) then saturday I'll finish off my shopping. Action packed! I'd better get an early night in, don't want to be missing any of it!

See you soon, loadsa love xxxxxxxx