pogoism

For the third time in just under 2 weeks, I found myself in San Francisco.

I love this city, I really do. It’s the first city I’ve been to that I can imagine myself living in for a long time. It has everything – no matter who you are, no matter what you’re into, San Francisco has something for you. It’s a place where no-one cares what you do or how you act, you can just be yourself – and I can’t think of any other city I’ve been to that has that same ethos.

After a fairly horrendous drive from Reno, thanks to some completely pointless roadworks, we arrived in the city, and checked into our hostel. Originally, I wanted to stay in the hostel I’d stayed at with Sean, despite it being a bit dirty and uncomfortable, it had a great location near Union Square. However, that was all booked up, with it being New Year’s, so we opted for the other HI hostel, City Center. It tuned out that just off Union Square is a touch ghetto-like, but the hostel itself was fantastic – much more comfortable than the other one. The only downside were the 2 people staying in our dorm that insisted on getting up early and rummaging around the room chatting to each other, while the rest of us were trying to sleep after the late New Years Eve.

Melissa and I had come to San Francisco to see The Slackers at Slim’s, so we went in search of 11th Street. That turned out more difficult than we had anticipated, but after re-fuelling on some delicious pizza, we found it eventually. They had a bizarre system for determining who was under 21… if you’re over 21, you get a stamp on one hand, and if you’re under 21, you get a stamp on both hands. Which meant it was incredibly easy to wash one stamp off, to be left with one, and all of a sudden you’re 21. Support came from The Struts (who were okay, but a bit samey), and local band The Impalers (who were fantastic, and in my opinion better than The Slackers). It was a great gig, there was a good vibe, with it being New Years Eve, and a nice mix of people. Anyways, it was a different way to see in the New Year, and we had a fantastic time.

New Years Day, and feeling a bit groggy we headed to the Castro in search of somewhere to eat. Ihad my first Mexican breakfast, and it was delicious - scrambled egg, with onions and peppers. Then we went to the Chocolate shop on Castro for a hot chocolate. Still feeling somewhat sleepy, we caught the streetcar to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked along the ocean front. We ended up looking in some art gallerys, and saw some work by Dr. Seuss, which was cool. Feeling in need of some warming up, we had an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe, supposedly the first bar in the US to serve the drink. For dinner, we decided to go exploring, and ended up in North Beach. North Beach is essentially Little Italy, jam-packed with Italian restaurants and gelato stores. We ate at Ristorante Ideale, which was amazing, especially the pumpkin ravioli. Highly recommended! Walking back to downtown, we stopped off at the cinema and saw Doubt, which wasn’t as good as I’d hoped…

Friday, our last day in San Francisco, began with walking to the Financial District to go up the Bank of America building, but, as last time, it was shut, and didn’t open until 3pm. I wanted ti go to the Moscone Center, where Macworld will be held in a few days, to see if I could see anything through the windows, but all I could get was the IDG banners on the street, which said “Even the small talk will be big” – perhaps hinting at the long-rumoured iPhone nano? Maybe… but these were IDG banners, and not Apple ones, so I guess we’ll have to wait a few days to find out… Instead, we found ourselves in Chinatown, and did some tea-tasting for a few hours, thenbought some very cheap mugs/tea/therapy balls from a store. Fairly tired, we went back to North Beach, ate, had coffee at Caffe Trieste (the home of the Beat generation) and went back to the car. Our final stop was at Haight Ashbury, which seems a lot like the lanes in Brighton. We didn’t stay long, as it was busy, and we wanted to head home.

Overall, a fantastic few days in San Francisco! I really do love this city, and I feel like I know my way round it well now. Can’t wait to go back, I really can’t get enough of it.