San Francisco

 This weekend I had the best time visiting my friend in San Francisco. 

Mitchell dropped me off at the airport on Friday night (and then went home to play videogames). The flight only took an hour and I arrived in San Francisco just after 10pm. I met all the roommates and Corine's little dog Aristotle. 

On Saturday morning we headed out for our first tourist adventure. On the way, we passed Lombard Street which is the iconic uphill road which zig zags all the way down. 

We went to Fisherman's Wharf which is by the sea and has a lot of small shops and cafes. To one side is Umbrella Alley which is a random alley which local artists have decorated with really colourful murals and art. 

We then went to Pier 39 which has a load of eccentric tourist shops selling souvenirs. It sits over the sea and we actually saw a sealion pop up out of the water! It disappeared too quickly to get a photo, but it was so close. From the pier you can also see the rock prison Alcatraz across the bay and could just about catch a glance of the Golden Gate Bridge. A great place to combine all of the iconic San Francisco attractions!

Alcatraz

Some of the shops on pier 39

We then went for brunch with some of Corine's roomates with bottomless mimosas. A lot of them were international and European too, so it was nice to talk. Done with brunch, we went to Ghirardelli's chocolate shop, which is famous for its ice-cream. I got a chocolate shake and then the group of us went to the bay beach to drink them and watch the sunset. 


We'd been told about a tower which you can get a great view of the city from, but with all the fun we didn't have time before it got dark.

On Sunday we were off to see the Golden Gate Bridge up close! But first, we stopped for breakfast. I got a bagel (which taste so much better in the US) and a honey matcha latte. It was a really cute place and they even gave Aristotle the dog a treat. 

For our bridge adventure we started at Baker Beach which is a little to the south. It was a lovely beach with sand and big waves and you could see the bridge. We were lucky to go on a clear day, because apparently the city is usually quite misty and you can't always see it from so far away. It was pretty chilly in the wind so we didn't stay long on the beach. Instead, we started to hike up the trail towards the bridge. 

There were a lot of stairs, but it wasn't too long to get to the top and there were plently of viewpoints along the way to get some good photos of the water and the bridge. When we got to the top there was a visitor centre where I could get a map to add to my collection and we were so close to the bridge we could actually touch it! 

After that it was time for lunch so we got the bus back into town and got a late lunch. I got a nice salad and this place also gave Aristotle a free dog treat. After eating we walked to the cable car stop to catch a ride. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turning on the way, but it meant we got to walk through a lot of the city we wouldn't see otherwise and see a lot of the interesting houses San Francisco has.

We got to the cable car stop just as the sun was setting and jumped on for a couple of stops so we didn't have to walk up the huge hill back to the house. 

Ding ding!

I had some dinner and then it was time to head back to the airport where Mitchell picked me up just after midnight. My thoughts on San Francisco: a very cool city, I really enjoyed being able to walk to everything again (even if it was all uphill). There are so many cafes to try and all the streets are all really clean and friendly. There's still so much to see next time, like Chinatown and Japantown and all the museums, so I'll be back, maybe one time I'll even bring Mitchell. 

Love to you all

Emily and Mitchell

xxxxxxxxxxxx


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