We've got four days to cover in this entry because we (I) suck at keeping up to date, though really it feels like we've been too busy/tired to write anything. So we went out with a group from the hostel on Friday night, it was fun but in retrospect a bad idea from a productivity viewpoint. Reeling from a booze and jetlag induced funk we didn't get going until about 2pm, but it allowed me time to change our plans for Yosemite Park. Eventually decided to go for a walk to Coit tower which afforded amazing panoramic views of the city. Had a lie down and a little read in Washington Square Park (On the Road for me, Glamour magazine for Mellissa) in the middle of the Italian district before grabbing some Thai food!? There was live music on at the hostel in the evening but we were still, as they say, hanging out of our arses so were in bed by 9pm.

To paraphrase the song from the awesome American Football-based action movie The Last Boy Scout, Sunday afternoon's a great night for football. Mellissa felt that it would be rude not to turn up wearing something classy with the 49ers logo all over it. We got word that Old Navy (American Primark?) had some on offer so we headed there pre-game. (To be honest I think this was a diversionary tactic to avoid listening to me try and explain the rules of NFL.) As the photos show, this was correct...and she looked hot (see photos). We got the bus to Candlestick Park with Ulrich who, based on his ability to survive on no sleep, may or may not be to be an extra-terrestial-robot-wearwolf (but who is definitely a lederhosen wearing legend from Austria). The weather was glorious, the smell of tailgate BBQs was strong and intoxicating, and there was a real sense of jock-ular excitement aided by the rock band outside playing sweet child o' mine. Hotdogs in hand but minus the $10 beers we sat down in time for the pre-match razzmatazz. Seats were suprisingly decent but the standard of chanting was unsuprisingly poor consisting exclusively of "let's go niners!" and "DE-FENCE DE-FENCE". Is that the best they can come up with?! Comment of the game came from the single Cleveland Browns fan sat in our block which went a little something like "good catch? My grandmother could have caught that...sat down.... in her mother-f*cking wheelchair." The game had touchdowns, quarterback sacks and turnovers so we enjoyed it. Mellissa particularly enjoyed watching the excitable American crowd high fiving each other, chanting and regularly disparaging the play with "what the f*ck!". 49ers won a pretty one-sided game 20-10 which was rounded off nicely with some hillbilly woman projectile vomiting beer puke over the three rows next to us.

The good people at Jack in the Box were offering every fan 2 free tacos if the 49ers won. This was genious as it provided me with a free 4-course meal. They featured a tasteless mush the content of which to this day remains a mystery to me. Mellissa wasn't hungry and opted for sushi. One sport you won't see at the 2012 Olympics is Tea-tray Street Sledging. If this does somehow make it on to the list then the team of bums who hang out next to our hostel would be dead certs for the gold not least because of their obvious disregard for the dangers of a busy intersection.

Next up was Alcatraz. After cooking up some egg bagels for breakfast we headed out. Started with a tour based around the escape attempts made by inmates with 'Ranger John' who was all in all pretty awesome. Three people did actually manage to escape and have never been found...they're probably in Mexico. Overall one of the best tourist attractions we've ever been to. We sailed back to Fisherman's Wharf and had a look round the touristy area there (spotted a real-life Leftorium!), met the sea lions at Pier 39 and had some lunch at a Sushi restaurant. Finished off the day by riding the cable cars back from the piers. Managed to stay up beyond 9 o clock with the help of a bottle of amaretto and coke and some of the other hostel patrons. Mellissa went about beating pretty much everyone at pool and even won an epic game of killer. Think we're going to hustle our way round the rest of the states.

Got up nice and early on Tuesday to hire a couple of bikes and ride to and over the Golden Gate bridge. We succeeded in both of these aims, negotiating the hills and riding real fast down them and even made it to Sausalito a little up the coast. It was pretty in a middle-class, picture postcard kind of way. Think middle aged guys with hawaiian shirts tucked into non-cool chino's. Mellissa somehow managed to fall fast asleep in the 20 odd minutes it took for the ferry to get back to SF. There was an occupy Wall St style demonstration taking place near the ferry buildeing so we walked around the encampment before amusingly walking rather a long way to Union Square to find toilets and food. Spent our last evening in SF eating out with people from the hostel, every Tuesday they have a cheap eats evening at a local restaurant, this time it was a Thai place, $5 per dish and $2 beers. Hostels rule!