We've had a fun few days in San Francisco.

On Monday morning we got some passes for the MUNI public transport system and jumped on a cable car from Fisherman's Wharf up and down the hills of the city to Market street, the 'main' street in town. The cable car was a great way to see different parts of town and saved our legs on the massive and super-steep hills everywhere. It was great to see all the eclectic and colourful houses and buildings which are on every street here. Victorian style wooden affairs brush shoulders with the more 'Californian' looking buildings, very south american styled.

From Market street we caught another bus to Haight Ashbury, the district made famous by the beats and hippies in the 50s and 60s. It still had a very 'hippie' feel with lots of drug-related shops, tattoo parlours and quirky clothes shops, and interestingly attired characters strolling around. At the end of Haight Street we reached Golden Gate Park, a huge three mile long park designed by a Scotsman, John McLaren.

We hired some bikes from a nearby shop and spent a couple of hours exloring the parks winding paths, through some lovely landscaped grounds, eventually ending up at the Bison Paddock where they keep a herd of bison, one of my favourite animals. After watching the huge shaggy bison relax in the sun for a bit, we headed back to hand in the bikes, but on the way I managed somehow to tear the rear mech off my bike and completely mangle the chain. Nothing new there. After scootering and walking back to the bike shop we managed to get a discount on our rental due to the damage, which was nice.

Still tired from all the driving over the previous few days, we wandered back into the park to find a sunny spot to relax. After walking through the well-groomed and landscaped AIDS memorial grove we found a nice spot in the Shakespeare Garden and settled down on some benches, eventually falling asleep for about an hour like a couple of hobos.

After our nap we got a bus from the park along to Alamo Square, where there is a pleasant green park surrounded by some of the most amazingly painted wooden Victorian houses. After checking out the houses and listening to Lucy say 'I want one' about eight million times, we jumped back on a bus and made our way to Chinatown, where we got a ridiculously large amount of food in a vegetarian chinese restaurant which had been recommended in a book. After our feast of mushrooms, veggies and noodles, which were delicious, we got the bus back towards our hostel.

On our way back on the bus, Lucy spotted a marquee outside a club advertising a gig on Wednesday by one of my favourite bands, Pinback. Excited, we decided to investigate getting tickets later on.

we got off the bus at Ghirardelli Square, down on the waterfront at Fisherman's Wharf, overlooking Alcatraz. From here, we were able to walk along the promenade and up to Fort Mason, where the hostel was. On our way we were treated to an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge, with the bright orange glow from the recently set sun silhouetting it dramatically in the distance.

At the hostel, we booked some tickets for the ferry to Alcatraz the following morning, and relaxed in the common area for a while before heading to bed.

On Tuesday we had a bit of a longer lie then, after breakfast, headed back down to Fisherman's Wharf and made our way to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. With our tickets already printed out, we just had to wait a short time before getting on the ferry and enjoying the windy but picturesque fifteen minute sail over to the island.

Once on Alcatraz, you are free to wander around and explore, staying as long as you like. We took our time walking around some parts of the island before heading into the prison block to start our guided audio tour, included in the price of the ticket. The tour was excellent, letting you wander around with your headphones on, pausing the commentary at your leisure, but giving you a fantastic insight into the history of the prison. I had been obsessed with Alcatraz when I was younger so found the tour fascinating, and Lucy enjoyed it just as much. It was amazing to see the cells where the famous breakout attempt had occured, and to walk the recreation yard and imagine what it would have been like to be stuck on that island with amazing views of the real world, so nearby but so inaccessible.

After a few hours enjoying Alcatraz we got back on the ferry and, once back on dry land, stopped for lunch at a cafe on Fisherman's Wharf. After a couple of very tasty but rather expensive sandwiches, we were ready for our climb up Filbert steps, a steep staircase clibming up between pretty houses with beautiful gardens to the top of Telegraph Hill. Finally reaching the top of the hill, we checked out the Coit Tower and the amazing views of the city, relaxing for a bit.

Then, it was time to descend. We made our way down Lombard Street, stopping at the bottom to buy tickets for the concert on Wednesday. From there we began our ascent up Russian Hill, still on Lombard Street. It was fun to walk up the famous winding top part of Lombard Street, but would probably have been more fun to drive down!

From the top of Russian Hill we made our way back to the hostel, catching the cable car down to Ghirardelli Square and once again taking the scenic route around the promenade.

We got a cheap but delicious meal from the cafe in the hostel, where all the food is made and served by Franco, a grumpy-but-nice old guy who gives the cafe its name, before spending the evening playing board games and chatting with Jenny and Jacob, the couple staying in our room.

On Wednesday, we caught another couple of buses to return to Golden Gate Park, hoping to see some of the sights we missed on Monday. Arriving early, we were able to get free entry to the Japanese Tea Garden which was lovely to stroll around, with immaculately maintained bonsai style trees, ponds with huge carp gliding around, and quaint stone bridges and pagodas dotted around. We stopped to have some tea and mochi, delicious sticky rice cakes, before heading through the park to the California Academy of Sciences.

One of two large museums in the park, the other being the deYoung Museum, the Academy is situated beside the music concourse, a large open area with fountains and pollarded trees with a large bandshell at one end.

We spent the best part of five hours in the Academy, first enjoying an exhibit on snkaes and lizards with loads of incredible live specimens on show. Next we caught an excellent show in the huge planetarium, before entering the the huge rainforest dome, where a rainforest environment has been created inside a huge four storey glass dome, with birds and giant butterflies flying among the rainforest trees, above a huge pool simulating the flooded rainforest floor. After getting very hot and steamy in the humid dome, it was nice to get the elevator which took us down under the flooded rainforest floor, where you could walk through a tunnel under the huge catfish and other freshwater fish, into the Academy's aquarium. We spent some time in the aquarium admiring all the amazing sea creatures, my favourites being the leafy sea dragons, delicate seahorse-like creatures which float elegantly around in their tank propelled by tiny spines on their bodies.

After our exploration in the Academy we headed across the park to the Conservatory of Flowers, which I'd heard was amazing. After paying the $5 entrance fee, we were a little disappointed with the conservatory. It was neither as big nor as well populated as the free botanical gardens in Aberdeen, though the actual conservatory building was very cool, comprising of one giant 19th century ornate greenhouse, with ornamented metal grilles in the walkways inside.

After leaving the Conservatory, we made more use of our MUNI pass, catching a bus to the famous Castro district, once the gay capital of the world. We walked through here, not finding it that much gayer than the rest of the city, to the Mission district, where the mission the city originated around was located, before heading back to the hostel.

After doing some laundry and grabbing another cheap dinner at Cafe Franco, we headed to Bimbo's 365, the club where the Pinback gig was. The club was really smart inside, with an opulent 30s style decor. After getting a seat at one of the tables arranged around the rear of the club, we watched the support act, Kenseth Thibideau who, with his band, played spacey, mainly instrumental rock often with three bass guitars on the go at once. Then Pinback came on and, after a slightly underwhelming performance on the first couple of songs in my opinion, they continued to play through loads of their back catalogue, the performances getting better with every song. For the last two songs they were even joined by a local string-metal band who accompanied them on cello and violin. They played all but one of the songs I really wanted to hear, but put on a fantastic show, and I was so glad I finally got to see them live.

After the gig we walked back to the hostel before crashing out for the night.

This morning the plan is to get the car loaded before taking a walk through Pacific Heights to check out some of the more quirky houses in this upmarket neighbourhood, including the house from Mrs. Doubtfire. Then we plan to head south, bound for Santa Cruz!