That's all I can say after an amazing day in a beautiful city. San Francisco is beyond words. Sure I can tell you how great it is, but you have got to check it out for yourself.
Anyhow, I need to backtrack a bit before I reminisce over The City by the Bay...
So I arrived in San Jose at approximately 6:30pm last night (Friday 2nd of March). I was probably the only one to get off (the bus was going from Santa Monica to San Francisco). Admittedly it was a bit scary at first, there were buses lined with the words "You are now in Shark territory". I later found out that the Sharks are a professional ice hockey team. Anyhow, before John took me back to his place we went shopping for some groceries at a place called "Whole Foods". This is an all organic store... WOW right?? By this point I was pretty impressed. ANYHOW, we got to Johns cozy neighbourhood called Mountain View and I had a proper shower, some real food and civilised company. I set the alarm for 6am the next morning to make the most of my day in San Fran...
I awoke at 6am ready.. but it was cold so I rolled over and BAM! Before I knew it, it was 6:40am. Oh well, I had a good breaky, packed some delicious organic fruit, a trusty peanut butter sambo and one of Johns warm jackets.
The 75 minute train ride to San Fran alone was pretty darn cool (different train, different stations, different scenery). After arriving in some shanty looking station I asked for directions to the Golden Gate Bridge. Some local told me it was pretty far away, on the opposite side of town and sort of laughed at me when I asked if I could walk it, so I set off looking for the most suitable method of transportation (I later found out San Fran is only 7 miles in circumference, or 11.6kms - lazy b!7c#)
I met a coolish German dude on the bus to the Golden Gate bridge, when I told him I wanted to ride over and suggested he should to, he laughed and proudly exclaimed how he never exercises. So we parted ways at the foot of the bridge and I waited to meet up with Nawal and her two brothers.
They found me after I called them off other peoples phones. We went and hired some bikes and rode over the bridge WHICH WAS FLIPPIN AMAZING. I don't think I can recall ever being on such a high! It was a beautiful day; you could see the city, mountains, alcatraz... It was just AWESOME. I highly recommend riding, or at least walking over it.
After a tonne of typical tourist happy snaps, we rode back across, returned the bikes and then set out to see San Fran. Nawal and her brothers Rami and Farah took it upon themselves to show me their city. We went down the worlds twirliest street which was totally radical. Next we went to Coit Memorial Tower, where I got the chance to shake hands with Christopher Columbus. Afterwards I got to see the church where Marilyn Monroe got married with some fella. THEN, now this is definitely the coolest suburb I have ever been in; we ate in North Beach (Which is pretty much Little Italy). We had some great pizza and I tried some delicious cheese fries (I haven't exercised very much since arriving... uh oh!)
After the appetising lunch, they took me to Pier 39 which from what I gathered is a massive tourist spot, but we got there just before sunset and it was wonderful! I got to hang out with Optimus Prime, check out Clooney, Jolie and J-Lo and see some seals of some sort. Pier 39 was a really cool place, kind of resembles Darling Harbour, although ten times cooler.
By now it was getting dark and I had to bounce. The guys dropped me back off at the Caltrain and I caught the express back to Mountain View (only took 45 mins!). Saw John and Hope before they went to bed and I walked down the street (which is really pretty on a Saturday night, lots of lights, restaurants, book shops and of course Starbucks - which is where I started writing this).
They kicked me out at 11pm and now I am in bed finishing this. So far, best day in America... yet. I am surrounded by great people, in a really cool neighbourhood, a hugely eventful day and now... Zzzzzz
