San Francisco

Wednesday

From Merced I took the train again towards San Francisco. I had to change to the thru-bus service at Emeryville, which went into the city and over a bridge. I was the last person to get off the bus and the driver was about to finish his run so he was kind enough to take me straight to the hostel at Fort Mason. We passed by Pier 39 and through The Streets of San Francisco on the way, the trip took a lot of the day and I was glad to check in at the hostel; it certainly looked well used and a popular place to stay, and this was the quiet season! I explored the nearby shops, I found a Safeway(!) and did some shopping - only a few days left of my holiday so I could afford to splurge a little.

That evening I read some more of The Hobbit and tried to relax after my hard days' travel. There were many interesting looking people about and there were interenet terminals too; one girl was trying to send emails and a guy kept asking her questions about how to use the terminals, I felt sorry for her. On a table I found a leaflet on Alcatraz - hmmmm...

Thursday

In the morning I noticed the same girl was sending emails again from one of the terminals, rather than wonder around town aimlessly on my own I decided to ask her if she'd care to join me for the day - she said yes! As it turns out this girl was from Newcastle and had just arrived in the country, she was doing a lot better than I was but then again she'd been here before. We set out looking for excitement and adventure and really wild things.