there is a nice bar across the road called the Barn Owl so we went there for happy hour and also free cheese and biscuits so we had a couple of drinks

Its pretty hard being in hostels again after having luxury for so long. We are in a 6 bed dorm with 4 friench people, we have our own area though with bunk beds so it isnt too bad and the rooms have 2 bathrooms so there is plenty for us to share! We got up earlyish and planned our sightseeing for the day. We have decided in the interest of saving money and getting some exercise we are going to walk all over San Fransico, so we headed off towards the Golden Gate Park and Bridge.

We got lost pretty quickly and when we asked someone how to get to the Golden Gate Park they said it was too far to walk and we would have to get a bus. So we did that and had a look round the park. We went up the tower which had a 360 dgeree view over San Fran and then went to the japanese tea gardens, however you had to pay to get in. They did have free entry on Tuesday and Wednesday but only between the hours of 9 and 10, and it was a Thursday and we decided we had seen more real pagodas in south east asia so we did not need to part with our money. We walked through the park and up to the bridge, that took about an hour, and when we arrived it was really cloudy and you couldnt see the top of the bridge. We then caught a bus to Lombard street and went to find Mrs Doubtfire's house. After taking a few pictures we walked up some of the steepest hills i have ever known to find the "crooked street" and we took some pictures of that too.

By this point we were shattered so we decided to persevere anyway and walk back to the hostel. However when we got to Union Square it was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon so we went in search of a snack before tea. We ended up getting a bottle of champagne and some focaccia and balsamic vinegar dip in Union Square and sat outside. Found out Michael jackson had died as Lucie rang me practically in tears. I was more concerned about whether they would get their 200 pounds back for the tickets they had bought to see him perform in September. Anyway on cue one of the shops nearby started blasting out his greatest hits album and everyone was talking about it. We went for our $5 meal at the hostel for tea, which was Teriaki Chicken and Rice. You got a huge portion but the food wasn't great so i dont think we will do that again. Went to bed early as we have decided to go out tomorrow night for the weekend.

Woke up earlyish again and walked to Pier 33 to catch our boat to Alcatraz! Tried to get some good pictures going across but the wind was bitter so ended up sitting inside in the end. There was still fog over the GG Bridge as well so couldn't get a good pciture. Alcatraz was really good but a bit spooky. A couple we met in Vegas said they did the Halloween tour which im not sure i could handle.

We walked to Pier 39 when we docked in san francisco and went to look round the shops and get a drink. We ended up in a Californian Wine Bar. We were trying to decide whether which wine taster package to get when the guys who were sat next to us bought us some Sangria...I think they were German and thought we were American, when they found out we were English they suddenly stopped talking to us, but we already had the drinks by then so who cares!

Ended up getting 3 kinds of dry white wine, and true to form our favourite was the most expensive. We then went for a meal in a burger bar type place which was nice and then walked home.

Got home about 7 and decided to have a little lie down before we went out. Unfortunately we fell asleep for 2 and a half hour so by the time we woke up it was half nine and we couldnt be bothered to get ready so just got into bed for the night.

After 12 hours sleep we were both up early the next day. It was absolutely gorgeous so we went for our free breakfast which has bagels and english muffins and everything and then i wandered around Union Square for a bit whilst Gemma wrote her blog. We went to the cinema as there are about 20 films we want to see at the moment. Went for "My sisters Keeper" which was excellent but very sad. On the way back to the hostel we grabbed a thai takeaway and ate in in our rooms whilst we packed. We tried to get an early night as we had to be up at 4:45am but the people in our room decided to stay up till 1am drinking so we didnt get much sleep and were pretty tired when we got on the plane to Vancouver.