Our train pulled into the station at around lunch time on Saturday 5 May. We caught a connecting bus to the financial district and then, since we had nowhere to go, headed for the nearest Starbucks. We spent the next few hours trying to find a CouchSurfing host - still to no avail :-/ Later we got an all-you-can-eat pizza special at a nearby pizza place, before continuing our quest for accomodation at a different Starbucks. When evening came around and still no luck, we reluctantly booked into a nearby hotel. We grabbed a quick shower and flopped into bed, exhausted.

Sunday we decided to see a bit of the city. Our hotel was just on the border of Chinatown, so we started there. San Francisco has the largest population on Chinese people outside of China, so the Chinatown is huge (biggest in US) and pretty authentic. We shared a noodle/soup meal for lunch and then continued on to Coit Tower, a big stone tower built on top of a hill during the Great Depression. After taking in the view, we walked down to the piers and along the waterfront area, and then up through downtown towards the main square. It just so happens that there is a Cheesecake Factory at the top of the Macy's building, so we got a piece of chocolate mouse cheesecake and ate it outside while watching the sun go down. We walked the short distance back to the hotel where Monique, who wasn't feeling so well so went straight to bed, while Kevin did a bit of admin/internet-surfing.

By Monday we were sick of hanging around hotels and coffee-shops, so we woke up early and walked towards the fishermans wharf area where we joined a free walking tour. The volunteer lady really knew a lot about the city and was super interesting to listen to. Afterwards, we had lunch on a random building's steps and then caught a tram from the wharf to the downtown area and then a connecting bus to the park that was used in the old TV series Full House (Moniques dream since we've arrived!) We took a photo with one of the houses and then made our way to Golden Gate Park. The park is enourmous (bigger than Central Park in New York) so we were only able to see some of the main areas. It is a really cool space and there were lots of people out on this warm, sunny day. Next we caught a bus to the nearby Golden Gate Bridge. The visitors center was closed for a private function, so we just walked to the middle of the bridge to look around. Fortunately there was no fog (which the area is notorious for) so we were able to get a great view of the bay. It was really windy thought so we hurried back and caught a bus back to the fishermans wharf area. We ate dinner at In n Out Burger (fast-food burger chain on the west coast, a bit like McDonalds but supposedly healthier... either way its really good!) Our bus transfer ticket was still good, so we caught the bus back to our Chinatown hotel and then hit the Starbucks to check again on Couchsurfing. No luck again :-/ but we managed to find a cheaper hostel down the road, so off we walked. After a welcome shower, we collapsed into bed.

Tuesday we had decided to leave San Francisco, since the whole friend/accomodation thing wasn't really working out for us. So we felt so blessed when, that morning, we received an email from some friends of Andy & Jamie's (see Seattle post) who live in Mountain View offering for us to come and stay with them. We jumped at the offer and after a quick bite to eat (found this awesome Mexican place where the construction workers eat - the burritos were amazing!) we were on the bus to the train station. Too bad we had gotten on the bus going in the wrong direction :-/ So after a bit of a sight-seeing detour, we arrived at the station, booked our tickets and boarded the CalTrain for the hour-long trip South to Mountain View.