The following morning we got up to find that Big Dave had already gone out. We had big plans to get ourselves back into the city to do some more sightseeing and Dave had suggested we get the Bart (a bit like the Tube) rather than drive. He'd given us driving directions to the station (which seemed fine at the time, but once on the road were kind of vague) and so we set off. When we eventually got to the station we realised that we didn't have a clue what train we needed to get on or what type of ticket we needed or anything like that, so I did what I have started doing on a regular basis and went up to the ticket guy and played dumb (not as hard as you might expect!) He was really nice and humoured us, asking us why we were there and all about our trip. Whilst he was helping us, another guy (clearly a foreigner in these parts too) stood listening - more on him later...So anyways, when we produced our money, the ticket man decided that no, we clearly needed our money for more exciting things than train tickets and so told us he'd give us a free pass. What a sweetheart! As an acknowledgement to his friendliness we were good enough to allow him to have his photo taken with us (on our cameras) - I'll post the photo when i get a chance. Encouraged by the kindness of yet another stranger, we got on the train into the City (that's what the locals call it...none of this San Francisco or 'San Fran' business for them!) When we got there we wandered round aimlessly for a while (an art we've perfected) - and found ourselves in one of the less salubrious parts of town (don't tell my mum but I saw a lady injecting heroin in a doorway) before deciding to get on the bus to a few 'tourist must-dos' that I'd found on the internet. Whilst trying to work out which bus we needed to get on we bumped into the aforementioned foreigner, who as luck would have it, was a very pretty man! When he asked if he could tag along with us, we were both feeling strangely generous and so had a companion for the day. He was an Israeli, called something like 'Goll' (but what's a name between friends?!) and was in SF for a university interview, because he wanted to study Clinical Psychology and Buddhism (and I thought my degree was useless in the real world!?) He hopped on the bus with us where we seemed to be of some interest to the locals who started making conversation with us about allsorts. We were headed for what are called The Painted Ladies, on Alamo Square - 6 lovely Victorian houses on a typical SF hill, like the one in Mrs Doubtfire. You see them on lots of postcards and the website I'd seen them on had assured me that it was a tourist favourite...Hmm. Well, they're very nice, but nobody else had seemed to make the trip. So there we were. Me, trying to justify the busfare by pointing out the pretty views of the city, Emily, who was wondering why I'd wanted to make the special trip up there, and the bemused Israeli. We decided to head to the bay (which I think is where he had planned to go before we convinced him otherwise with our stories of famous Victorian houses and Robin Williams films) and Lombard Street, which declares itself to be the "crookedest street in the world" although readers of the Rough Guide know that it's not actually even the crookedest street in SF! We got on a bus, which happened to be the same one we'd got on the way up, much to the bemusement (is that a word? Lots of it around on this particular day, anyway) of the driver. Back in town we got on a trolley (like a bus attached to cables) down to Pier 39, which is about the touristiest (yes, that's right) place in the city. Locals never go there apparently, but it's kind of atmospheric. There are lots of boats and restaurants and stuff, as you might imagine. The most interesting part though is the floating jetties alongside the pier which are home to hundreds of sea lions. They stink. And are very noisy. They apparently never leave there and attract 1000s of tourists, to whom they seem completely oblivious! So we stood and looked at them for a while and then navigated our way to Lombard Street. It is indeed very wonky. It's a series of hairpin turns on a very steep hill...it's very picturesque because they plant it with lots of flowers and things. It has steps up either side for foolish pedestrians like us so that we can point and laugh at the car drivers making their way down. Once we'd reached the top of the hill we got on a tram - I had made it my mission to use as many means of public transport as possible on this day! It was packed full...unfortunately we couldn't hang off the sides like they do in the films, because we had to squash inside, but people do really hang off them! They go hurtling down those hills at some speed and then leap on the brakes, so it's more like an Alton Towers ride than a bus journey, but I'm really glad that we did it - you can't visit SF and not go on a tram, can you? We got off the tram at Chinatown, which pretty much does what it says on the tin...

After bidding a fond farewell to our handsome companion we headed back to the Bart station and discovered that we'd missed the last direct train. Being the resourceful travellers that we have become we worked out a route involving 3 trains and headed back to Berkeley.

That night we went out to a few local places in Berkeley with Big Dave, his housemate Brian and female friend Yee. It was a cool, laidback night, at the end of which Big Dave decided to make a play for a girl he bumped into who he'd had a previous dalliance with...by texting her "I love you like a fat kid love cake" (a reference which will only fully make sense to Claire I'm afraid) - as I understand it, he is still yet to hear from her. Frankly, I'd be amused and would have to respond, but it seems this girl is not as open to Dave's charms...

The following day (Saturday) Dave had taken the day off studying and his housemate Brian suggested we go to a place called Mount Diablo. Brian had looked it up on the internet and informed us that...wait for it...it was the place from which we could see the 2nd most land in the world! After some debate as to what this actually meant, and where you can see the most land from, we set off with hats on and the roof on the car down (it was still bl**dy freezing.) It was worth the drive. The scenery was amazing and admittedly, you could see a lot of land. I guess it must mean the most UNDEVELOPED land, because there were no buildings for miles. It was beautiful - hopefully some of the photos go some way to show it. We did a bit of hiking (I know!) and then Emily and I drove to the summit while the boys trekked up. At the very top, a 2 man aeroplane flew past so close I reckon I could've seen the pilot's eye colour, so we were clearly very high up. We stayed up there a while marvelling at the amount of land and how cold it was and then headed back to Berkeley. That evening we ate Zachary's pizza pie (more of a pie than a pizza, and very famous in these parts) and watched DVDs - Em and I were knackered from all the physical activity and fresh air!

The following morning after breakfast at a local cafe called Ann's Kitchen, we thanked Big Dave for his hospitality and left him to it, heading back into SF where we had booked to stay at a different hostel for another 2 nights...x