San Francisco

We set off to the Windy City at 8.05am.  We were 5 minutes late this morning as leader Jack was late. We asked him on our first night of Bass Lake if he had ever been late for the bus on his tours...he said never! That all changed after last nights drunkeness.  I think hed had one to many pints of lager with vodka.  Me, Liz and Danielle were banging on his door this morning so we could get on the road again...haha. He's one crazy dude.

We set off, he tried to give our three days ahead(he does everytime we travel to a new place). He was still wasted...it was sooo funny to listen to him stumbling over his words.  

After a quick stop to grab some Mcdonalds breakast, we continued on to San fran. You knew when we had arrived as there are just clumps of fog everywhere. Jack started the city tour as we drove into our new destination.  We stopped for lunch at  fishermans wharf at pier 39. Loved the place as soon as I stepped off the bus.  There are some wicked little shops and things around.  There's loads of bubbagump shrimp signs about...I really wanted to find it after watching Forest Gump on the plane over. Me and Liz went to get our stolen disposable camera printed from the midget party...we had one hour to wait but they were well worth waiting for.  There is a cracking picture of Soph with the midget. She needs to get it framed.  Some are like the pictures from at the end of the hangover. Haha.  

Continued on the tour to see the golden gate bridge. Stopped for a photo op but there was so much fog you wouldn't be able to tell where we were anyway haha. We could have been at Newport transporter bridge if nobody knew where we actually were.  Great stuff.

Drove through Haight Ashbury. The street of free love. ... We would definitely be visiting there!! It looked amazing...plus it was right next to Golden Gate Park.

We got to our hotel, checked in and got ready to head out for a meal at a restaurant which put garlic in all of their food...even their ice cream!!! The food was goooooood though...some barbecue pizza and a bit of salad went down nicely. Not many people stayed for the night out, and Jack wasn't really feeling it either.  He took us to a bar and just left us after five minutes.  I don't think he could be bothered to find us anywhere good to be honest.  He took us to the closest bar to the restaurant and bailed!! It was such a dive in there, everyone was pushing everybody, a strange band in some
bad ass fancy dress. It was definitely the American version of Live Lounge, just way way worse. Haha. We all decided to leave but had no clue where the hell we were. As we were walking passed clubs there were guys with gold teeth trying to get us into their bar...it was creepy.   We decided to get a taxi back to the hotel, me, Len and Dan were trying for sooo long to flag a taxi.  It's just a nightmare to get one here.  It would be much easier if they had a taxi rank.  An early night for us because of Jack, but to be fair he was pretty hungover after the vodka with beer disaster in Bass Lake.

We had a bit of a lie in in the morning before going to explore the City of San Fransisco. OMG we were on edge walking down Market street. I've never seen so many freaks. Its like an area where everyone had escaped from Alcatraz or a mental institute. Jack had said the last time he was here a woman just took a crap in a bush and then asked for money from people walking passed. What???? I just can't get over the amount of homeless people there are. We sat in a coffee shop for about an hour trying to organise what to do for the day. We had to get out of ghettoville. I was GASPING for a cup of tea anyway...started to have withdrawal symptoms I hadn't had a cup for so long! There was also free wifi again so all eyes were on the phones... aren't we sad??

It got to 12pm and we had still done absolutely nothing!! Waiting for a bus here passes the time as well...we were waiting ages for the bus to Haight Ashbury. The day was just wasting away.  It's soooo rough everywhere, we were finally on the bus and it was packed...this gang were just behind us talking about how to nab people's bags...in front of the whole bus as if it was a normal conversation to have. Crazy people!

Thank god for Haight Ashbury... such a funky place to visit although everywhere stinks of weed.  It's well known for hippys and free love. We went straight for a quick lunch in a small cafe on the street. I finally got the crépe I've been craving since Thailand, and oh...it was sooooo worth the wait. Strawberries with melted chocolate and ice cream... Yummy! I know all your mouths are watering at the thought of that. Ha!

The shops are awesome...one had the most awesome clothes(right up my street). It had the most strange system though. To try on clothes you had to put your name on a list...they would hold your clothes while you kept looking and if you found anything to add there was a runner taking the clothes back and forth. There's women shouting over eachother 'need a woman on shoes', 'lady to checkout please'. It was quite surreal but a fun experience. Was too difficult to window shop around here, I caved and splashed the cash. Oops! They were must have purchases though I'm afraid. Too good to resist.

At the end of the street was Golden Gate park. Outside the gates were just groups of people smoking weed and chatting some gangster talk...so instead of seeing the park we took our picture by the sign and walked back up the street to head back to the hotel. At least we can say we've been to Golden Gate Park...well the entrance of it.

Time was getting on we had to be ready and in the lobby for 7pm.  It was 5 when we caught the bus back.  What a rush!! But we made it with 5 minutes to spare. Record!!

We set off on our walking tour of Chinatown(our destination for dinner that evening). Chinese food...gooood choice Jack! The restaurant messed up somewhere along the lines so we were waiting for about 30 minutes!! It was freezing and me and Soph were in bloody shorts!! What were we thinking! Crazy fools. Gorgeous food...it was a big buffet. Loaaaadss of food to go round. Yum yum yum.  

After our tummies were full we headed on down to wells Irish bar for our night out.  Jack did a better job this night, the place was booming, plus $2 beers all night. Great stuff for me!! A bit of dancing went down nicely as well. We were loving it.  Had some jäger races...Liz almost got a win...literally milliseconds behind him. I was last...no surprise there. Downing drinks does not go well for me.

Time to get some shut eye...the taxi was just a nightmare to get again though. we were roaming the streets for a good 40 minutes trying to
Flag one down. It was soooooo cold, I just wanted to see my bed! we flagged down two, and two random loons took one of them.  We were not happy bunnies.  We got home in the end though, thank god!! Sleepy sleep time. yay!

Woke to the sound of sirens a few times. There were police everywhere all the time, people had set fire to
bins.  Earlier on in the night we walked passed a gang on the street who were shouting abuse at us and telling us they were going to start a race war.  Maybe they did and that's why there were police.  I was very glad I was tucked up in bed  safe and sound and not roaming the road of Market St at night. Crazy people!

Up bright and early for a bit of free breakfast, which was NOT nice, but it was free so it stopped the grumbling of the belly! We then walked over to get our tickets for the cable cars, was soooo excited for that.  The queue was HUGE though, Liz and Len went to do a bit of shopping and made their way to the seafront while the rest of us waited patiently.  The time came for us to hold onto the pole and ride the tram! I was like a child on a toy car. I was loving life!  The camera was out and I was very snap happy, hanging off the side of the tram. Wooooooo!

After riding the hills of San Francisco we arrived at Fishermans Wharf.  We walked passed a chocolate shop and we could not resist. In we went to get some treats...me and Soph even got two for Liz and Len. We thought we'd be nice. It was a little bit of a mission trying to find Liz and Lena but fate brought us together again haha. We had a little wander around pier 39. Love it there so chilled and there are loads of funky little shops. Me and Len got characatures done...Lenas is amazing!! Mine looks nothing like me...great $20 spent! Booooo.

There was a Bubbagump shrimp restaurant there which is where we went for some lunch. Loved the forest Gump theme...we even had a pop quiz on it as we ordered food...we did pretty well to be fair but had no bloody reward, damn waiter.  The food was awesome...me and Liz shared some coconut shrimp. I am loving it, I've  had it a few times since being away... A new favourite food for me I think.

After food we had a walk down the pier to try finding a Market. On the way there I became a victim of the bush man. He's a guy that carries a bush around with him, hides behind it on the street and waits until his prey comes.  When it does he just jumps out and scares people..,he then asks for money because he scared you. I didn't ask to be scared so he had no money from me.  He did make me jump a mile though.

The Market was nowhere to be seen so we caught the bus back to Market street. We were going to go and see the Chinese festival just for something to do but instead we found a liquor store, bought some alcohol and went back to the hotel.  We then got ready  to go and get some dinner at the sausage factory in Castro.  Castro is the big gay area in San Fran, rhe restaurant name was quite appropriate dont you think? haha. The gay pride flag was out on force. After food...which was just awful, did not enjoy it at all. Tried some of Lens mahi-mahi. It was awful. Worst fish I've ever tasted.

Following the restaurant we went over to one of the clubs.  Slightly different to our gay clubs at home. 99% of the people were male...apart from us there were no females in there. There were not even any female toilets, they were outside up the street somewhere!  I had a feeling the women wern't really welcome. The male toilet didn't even have a door so I saw everything going on in there... was not a pretty sight. We had a little boogey to Gaga and Ke$ha before heading back to the hotel to pop open the wine we bought earlier.

Waiting at the bus stop some random crazy guy walked passed just shouting random crap at himself...Jay stupidly laughed so he turned to shout at him.  Lesson to learn here... Do not torment strange men walking passed. We thought we were rid of him but he got on the bus with us.  We were all in pairs on the bus so he wouldn't sit next to any of us.  Pretty much all the way he was shouting, he was angry with himself for something.  I couldn't understand a word it was just mumbled loud noises so I couldn't tell you what he was mad about.

Our stop came and we all piled off leaving the crazy fool on board. We all gathered in Suz and Fanny Danny's (girl dan of our group) room.  The wine was chilled nicely in ice and we just chilled in the room for a good few hours. Jays playlist was playing some great tunes. Looking at it you would think it was a girls playlist, with aqua, the spice girls and some backstreet boys.  Everything we love though, great stuff!! Jack
joined us for a bit as well, it was just a nice night all round. We were saving ourselves for Santa Barbara...last night of the tour...sad times.  It will be a night to remember I'm sure.

So the time has come to leave the City of San Francisco.  Hopefully Santa Barbara is less like a mental insitute and much, much warmer. I'm looking forward for the shorts and bikinis to make a comeback.  

Hopefully the sun will be smiling again soon.  I'm gutted the last few days are here.  It's gone way to fast.

I am looking forward the big send off though. It's going to be a BIG night!! Eeeeekkkk! Excited!

Will hit you all up with the messy details when we get back to LA.

Speak to y'all soon.

Love love
J.L xxxxxx