San Fran!

Hey, hey, hey folks. I'm back!

I've been back in Blighty a few weeks actually but, as per usual, it's taken me a while to get my sh*t together. Apologies. I also returned to work a couple of weeks ago which was a bit of a shock to the system after my extended hiatus, but I guess I'm kind of getting used to it now. Anyway I had a fantastic time in San Francisco and LA and would like to show you the pictorial evidence...To tell the truth I took an absolute ton of photos and it's been quite hard deciding which ones to select. I'm going to put up a few posts on various places and locations we visited a bit at a time, seems the best way...

As said we had an amazing time and I would wholeheartedly recommend San Fran as a place to visit. LA was a different story - still good to see and with some worthy aspects but an altogether difference experience to SF - all those things you've heard about it being kind of vacuous and soulless do appear to be true and Dionne Warwick was pretty spot-on when she said "LA is a great big freeway". SF by contrast has a lot more character and eccentricity (reflected in the city's inhabitants as well as architecture and surroundings) and if I had to choose a place to live in the US, SF would definitely be the one for me.

Anyway here's the first batch of piccies and I shall attempt a commentary in places...

The Castro, in case you've never heard of it, is the number one GAY district of San Francisco and in fact one of the gayest areas I've ever visited in any city! I'd venture to say more so than Soho in London or Manchester, Amsterdam and Paris. Strictly speaking it's not the only gay area in SF - there are other places like SOMA but this district had the biggest proliferation of gay bars, clubs, restaurants and shops that I'd ever seen. Another thing of note is the wide ethnic mix amongst the gays and lesbians in SF - more than other cities it seems - lots of Asians, Blacks and Hispanics, which I think is great. I also noticed that quite a lot of the lesbians and gentleman in San Fran dress quite alternatively - more funky and retro in style than the usual cropped t-shirts and jeans that UK fags so often sport, which is refreshing...Anyhow we loved most of the bars that we visited. One other point of note is that the gays and lesbians in SF seem much more integrated into the city and to the "straights" it's not such a big deal - we spotted quite a few couples walking around holding hands, even in the "non-gay" areas, which was cool!

This is the lobby of the first hotel we stayed in - very nice place indeed and very central, only a few blocks away from Union Square. The hotel also had free wine from 5-6pm which we took advantage of!

When looking out of our hotel window, this was the view we were presented with ... a wacky and way-out mural, man.


Union Square, which is the focal point of Downtown SF.

Loved the big heart sculptures!

Macy's, which we visited on a couple of occasions. In fact we did tons of shopping and I came back home with a big fat overdraft. One of my justifications for spending so much is that you get more US dollars to the pound and thus most things over there are comparatively cheaper. For instance, after a recent "moaning about my age" post, I invested in not just one but four pots of "Dramatically Different" Clinique moisturiser, purchased in Macy's and recommended to me by a fellow blogger - thanks, Barry! Each pot worked out to only about £16, a bit of a bargain to say the least! Clinique products in the UK cost a bomb. So worth it, eh? In general I was impressed with the shops in SF - they've got Gap, H&M, even Body Shop but there's loads of other good places too.

Gustavo couldn't resist posing outside "Victoria's Secret"...

And now for some more San Fran scenery and architecture...This place made me think of 23 Barbary Lane, from Armistead Maupin's wonderful "Tales of the City" series i.e. this is how I imagined the place might be, with it's windy staircase on the outside. Very quaint!

Typical street view looking down a hill. Yes SF is very steep in places. In spite of the fact that the US is one of the most obese nations in the world, I didn't actually see many fat people around, but given the amount of hill climbing people in SF must have to do, it's little wonder...

And look at the car parking! I have to say, having to park one's vehicle in this fashion would really scare me. Or rather, starting up your car and moving off without sliding down the hill!


One of the famous cable cars of San Fran. They're so cute and extremely popular with the tourists. What I couldn't work out to begin with was why they are called "cable cars" when they're clearly not the type that hang from the sky. However I found out later. Any ideas, folks?

On one of our first days we took a cable car ride up to Fisherman's Wharf and whilst queuing were kept entertained by this sax-playing dude...

Later on I encountered this diva-esque lady in a shop window...very Scissor Sisters! Loved it!

More houses...




We also had breakfast/brunch one day in a typical American diner, with some great paraphenelia...





And now for a food intermission. Here's me eating eggs benedict - which was sooo yummy and I ended up plumping for this dish on a few occasions! Whilst on the subject of food, you've probably heard that the portions of food served up in US eateries are enormous - and it's true. You get far more to munch on than in the UK. I thought this would only apply to your typical fast food, burger-and-chips type meals, but NO!! Wherever we went, whatever type of cuisine we went for ... our plates were always full to the brim... be that Thai, Italian etc. Often delicious food but too much to stomach and when you didn't finish everything on your plate the waiting staff would sometimes get offended, or at the very least act like there was something wrong with you. "Whaaat? You don't wanna order deseeert?" Sorry!

Another example of brunch - a bagel with turkey, egg and cheese inside. Yummy but plenty of calories in there! I definitely came back from my excursion fatter. What would have happened if I'd been there 6 months?

This was the view from the second hotel we stayed in in San Fran! Great view though I did get distinct feelings of vertigo when I stepped right up to our room window:


Gustavo being all artsy looking down at the view...

Coming soon: The Golden Gate! Alcatraz! The Painted Ladies! And more besides...

Oh and how could I forget: meeting Matty!! Yeehaa!!