San Francisco : Welcomes

Arriving safe and sound the night before, we got into San Francisco via the BART (Bay Area Railway Transport) straight from the airport to Powel St exit, a mere 5 min walk to the hotel. made it super easy for us to get in cheaply and out. but after all the airport checks and checkin into the hotel, we were left to quickly spin around the city for a couple of blocks to find something to snack on at 11pm. we didn't find anything in the direction we went so we just crashed for a good nights sleep. however the next morning, we would come to find there were a heap of 24hr diners open just up the hill.

As expected San Francisco's weather is autumn fare, even though their in the middle of their summer. the bay area and winds provide cooling ocean breezes and rolling fog banks which chill the air, but once in the full sun, its quite warm, but after dusk, its chilly. don't know if i could put up with that full time, i like my hot summers too much i think, but you can keep the humidity.

Yesterday was spent just as a chill out and recoup day, not planning anything prior, we just wanted to settle in a little. so we decided in the best interest of our clothes and bags .... guess we should do some laundry lol. asking the hotel staff, they recommended a street laundry which most city based residents are forced to use aswell, having no space in one room apartments for washers and dryers. this was all knew to me, but old hat to Mark, who proceeded to do the laundry 101. change for coins (quarters 25c) buy washing powder, seek washer, wash, and the use the dryers. it all went real smooth and we now have fresh sets of all our gear.

Being round 1pm, the weather changed from overcast chilly morning to a blue sky affair, and we decided to just hit the world famous cable cars and take the rest of the arvo out to Fishermans Wharf, grab a smoothie and some crepes, and enjoy the bay. problem was .... everyone on the sunday had the same exact idea. families were out in their droves, the place was packed like i had never seen. catching the cable cars was a bit of a drag as we had to wait about an hour each end just to hop into a line and board. still .... we didn't need to be anywhere drastic.

Fishermans Wharf is still the same, exactly the same .... as remembered, its a harbourside mecca for all and by the late arvo the breeze had picked up quite a bit making for rough bay seas and hazy shots of alcatraz. whilst there we saw a few tour things to do and decided we might end up buying a bus ticket valid for a hop on hop off (2 day pass) which takes us around and over the bay.means we can easily get to the bridge and few outa the way places. we might also trek over to Oakland city and ofcourse we have to book a day trip still to Yosemite.

Heading back for the day we grabbed an icecream bucket each from across the road an immediately went into sugar highs, seriously, this stuff was like 150% fructose hell, i got through about 20% of my Blueberry and peanut concoction, and felt woozy. we even order the smallest size possible, so how the locals get through this stuff is beyond me. that goes for most of the food here. if your not careful, its junk food paradise, willy wonka esk, where sometimes i think the streets are candy and the trees are burgers lol. gotta seek some veg for dinner. speakin of which, stay tuned Dad, i plan on taking another day out to Fishermans Wharf for some dungeoness crab, world famous eats around here.

All in all we are fine, Mark has a semi unruley stomach at the moment (i suspect he's still reacting to some tacos we ate for lunch before boarding) whilst im fine, just a little mild air-conditioning flu which is just a tickle cough. we plan on .... planning our stuff to do today and maybe a bit of retail therapy to follow. all in all still a beautiful city, rich in diverse people, eats, places and sites. time to slow down time.