Segway, Sausalito - San Francisco.

San Francisco



We arrived at Canberra airport at 8am, parents intact....but not for long. Needless to say there were tears, hugs and smiles coupled with nervous wees and poos and barfs.


Flight to Sydney was swell – a quick bus transfer to Sydney international. We sat there wtih broken backs – apparently 20kg backpacks aren’t that easy to get on, and seriously alter your centre of gravity. Fail. That is all. And so we sampled some of Australia’s finest Italian cuisine “mustard chicken pasta” to ease the pain. Who said carbs were the enemy?


We got through customs, as we were browsing through duty free, a kinda asian lady approached us and asked us if we’d like to play Wii. Because Ela is partially deaf (and perhaps RETARDED) – she responded gracefully “I don’t want no fucken Tandoori!!!” When the lady proceeded to look increasingly affronted, it finally clicked. By that time however, the damage was done. By this time Totti was in hysterics because she actually heard what the lady had said. Ela, fail.


After a long and painful 13 hour flight which consisted of crying babies, a turbine, a bum crack in Ela’s face, a broken entertainment system and turbulence which was enough to give Totti vertigo, So we just sat there making tampon jokes and dry retching cat noises to entertain ourselves. We finally touched down in San Francisco – yes, the home to Boudin and Clam Chowder.


Day 1


We successfully managed to get ourselves a shuttle direct to our hostel – thanks to Laurie’s. We arrived optimistic despite the rainy weather, only to have our spirits dampened by the pungent smell of stale pee and a complete effen mole at the front desk of the hostel. Maybe if she had a better haircut she wouldn’t have been so sad. We proceeded to try and check in – current time was 12:40, check in not permitted till 2. So the unhelpful bad haired staff agreed to let us store our baggage in a dingy lock and key cupboard. So with the slim ray of hope that the day would get better, we ventured forth into the San Francisco hills.


Following the recommendation of our customs officer at the San Fran airport, we located a Boudin’s bakery – the home of sourdough bread made from live yeast culture. Apparently there is some big clump of yeast (ha, yeast) that all the bread is made from – it’s meant to be over a hundred years old. Tasty. The most fascinating thing about the whole place was that the bread was carried from the bakery into the store in baskets hanging on an electric pulley system attached to the roof.


Despite being complete zombies after 2 days of no sleep, before calling it a day at around 5 pm. We got back to the hostel and finally checked in. Sigh. Our first shower out of home it was friggan insane, the water pressure was so hard that totti was like "dude! it's ripping my nipples off!" and then there was this mutant steroid munching mozzie in the bathroom. But no, it didn’t stop there – after a signle baked potato each for dinner, Totti found period stains on my sheets, when they were supposedly meant to be laundered, fail!! so we slept in the same bed hahahha we did find that particularly hilarious. We thought she may have contracted Chlamydia from the unsanitary conditions hahaha.


Sooo that pretty much sealed the deal – we were stepping up market and moving into a motel. Which turned out to be cheaper anyway. Take that, pee smelling hostel.


Day 2:


Perhaps the thing we’ve been looking forward to for about three months. SEGWAY! Yes, that’s right, we did. We caught the ferry to Sausalito (across the harbor from San Fran). We were greeted by “Segway Jeff” in the carpark behind the little Italian bar “A Taste Of Rome”.
After our Segway tour we caught the ferry back to San Fran, and geared up for our much anticipated Alcatraz Tour. We took the guided audio tour through the prison, a surreal experience to have walked through a place once home to the most notorious criminals in history.


Was a fun filled day – super tired by the end. So for dinner we ordered some Chinese takeaway, had a sanitary, mozzie free shower and passed out in a bed, period stain free sheets.


Day 3:


Soooooooooooooo... failed at being tourists today. While Ela was passed out, Totti decided to ignore the alarm and we slept till 11. Muahahaha. So we got up, dressed and went to eat brekky at Noahs Bakery, Pantene hair and all.


We decided to spend the day shopping, and did so on Market Street and on Union Square. It was so overwhelming we didn’t know where to begin – Macy’s, Abercrombie and Fitch, Westfield (craps all over ours) Nike Town – where we met “Rrrrolando” a kind young chap who offered to give us his number and show us around.


We then went for a dance right in the centre of union square where there was a latino band playing – good fun. And then possibly the highlight of the day – dinner at the cheesecake factory! Strawberry Creamsicle – vodka, crushed strawberries, ice cream and Disaronno. Yumo! With fried zucchini strips with ranch dressing to dip them into, and a MASSIVE Luau Salad. So – completely stuffed, we made our way back home with our take away apple and walnut cheese cake and some bubble bath to soak our calves in.


Day 4:


We did a hop on/hop off bus tour that took us around the main san fran attractions and most probably the highlight of the trip – across the golden gate bridge. Who would of thought we could get a kick out of going over a bridge? It was truly spectacular. Abit breezy, but spectacular.


We spent the rest of the afternoon in Sausalito – hiking around the upper suburbs. Starting price on a home is 2.5 million and rent is $2000 a week. Nice. After eating a hamburger in the park we decided to call it a day and get the bus back to San Fran – to see the “crooked” street. It literally is a street in San Francisco that zig zags from the top of a hill all the way to the bottom. That was pretty cool – aside from the calve burn and jelly legs we got from climbing Hyde street. But it was well worth it.


The evening led us to “Max’s” for dinner – where we met “Jorge”, pronounced hor-he, but to which totti liked to call him “hot hair”. Fail. We are working on he Spanish in time for our Mexican adventure. And so after a couple of nice drinks and a meal big enough to feed 4 people, we decided to take ourselves to the union sports bar where we met Aaron and Edwin – two drug dealers who looked like puff daddy – no really, totti actually asked “are you actually puff daddy” and “so are you going to call your peeps?” wtf. Much to ela’s pleasure, they did in fact reply “yeah, that’s exactly what we are doing”. But despite the good times, they were a tad to bleck for us, so we decided to phantom and head home. We were expecting a quiet walk back to the Monarch – only to be serenaded by an absolutely lovely homeless hobo Tanya – a middle aged black woman who could sing “and I am telling you i’m not going”. She kept trying to keep up with us, running ahead up the hill and pausing, busting out the spirit fingers and stating “this is where i’m at – and i am telling you” LOL. That really did top off a great night.


So now we move on to Hermosa beach, L.A. Sunshine, beach volleyball and ridiculously hot people everywhere.


P.S we did try Clam Chower – it tastes like powdery ass. That is all.
Check out some pics here: http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w313/ElaC10/San%20Francisco/


Say hi to your dad for us,


Kate & Ela xx