Category: Uncategorized

I’m not really old enough to remember much about the lead up Labour’s 1997 landslide victory in 1997, and so the feeling of hope that our society could change for the better is not one I’m overly familiar with. Great to have it back.

On my first day In San Francisco I decided to visit as much as I could on foot, given my jet lagged body state and the uncompromising value of the pound to the dollar making taxis (even Uber) very expensive. I started off by taking a walk to the Coit Tower. It was only a fifteen minute walk away, but I was quickly astounded by how steep the roads in San Francisco are – some of them even have steps instead of pathways because it would be impossible to walk up. I would not want to drive a manual car over here. With thanks to walking directions on my Apple Watch, I found the tower with no trouble and paid $8 to ride up in the lift. As I’ve always found on my trips to anywhere in the USA, the guides who work at these types of attractions are brilliant – brimming with a genuine love of what they do. The lady looking after the queue was as friendly as ever and gave me plenty of tips for other places to visit after this one. Once at the top of the tower the views were breathtaking – it’s not the tallest building in SF, but nevertheless the view is stunning.

After spending a good 20 minutes taking in the view and getting some good photographs (I was paranoid about dropping my iPhone from the top – I wonder how many people actually do that?) I went back down and headed towards the bay, assuming there would be something interesting to see there. I was not wrong. Pier 39 was brimming with live music (I got a signed CD from a band called The Luck – I’m sure they will be huge one day), performers, shops and stalls selling donuts, cookies, pretzels and everything else you want to eat but know you shouldn’t.
After watching a show and some excellent music, I mooched around for a bit, soaking up the atmosphere, before walking on to Fishermans Wharf. From here I caught a tour boat that took us out under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the former prison island of Alcatraz. It was a really fun trip, and the audio narration was decent. It did start to get rather choppy as we got all the way out to the Golden Gate Bridge, but this only added to the sense of fun.

After this, feeling pretty exhausted (my body thought it was 3am still), I sat looking out over he bay and read a little on my Kindle, soaking up the sun (I am now bright red and have since picked up some some tan lotion from Walgreens!). After this I went and ordered some dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe on Pier 39. I have a thing about Hard Rock Cafe – wherever I see one I’ve not been before I like to visit it. So far I’ve been to about 5 around the world from Florida to Barcelona. I like the fact that they don’t jus pop up in any old place, even if the menu is a little limited. Now feeling tied, my body thinking it was 5am (the locally brewed larger probably didn’t help with the tiredness) I started the two mile walk back to my hotel, where I promptly fell asleep.