Hi all!

Okay so updating our blog so far has been somewhat… challenging. However, we promise we will be more regular with our updates as Barbara has very generously sponsored our efforts to stay in touch with humanity and given us an early xmas gift of a miniature notebook computer! So we've done quite a bit since our last blog entry - met new people, seen new sights, said goodbye to San Francisco and hello to New York. Now in order for us to actually get out there and do some stuff today, we'll be posting one entry this morning on our last days in SF and separate one later tonight on our first days in NYC. Which I'm sure those of you who like to keep different colored foods from touching will appreciate.


You Should ALWAYS take the F-Train

So we last left off with our trip to the college town of Berkeley, which had both it's highs and lows (damn you cheeseboard pizza!) . The day after this, we are pleased to inform, was all highs. We had decided in the spirit of mixing tourism and adventure, that we were to cycle across that stunning San Francisco landmark, the Golden Gate bridge. Before we set out to do so, we decided to head back along Fisherman's Wharf to see some of the things we missed earlier. First we headed to the ghastly Pier 39 - it's a tourist trap with stallholders trying to hawk their services from 20 metres away. Keeping our gaze forward and avoiding any eye contact which may have been misconstrued as interest, we made our way towards the sea lions of Pier 39. As you can see from the photos, they were cute, but as you can't smell they were incredibly stinky. After this brief visit, we got directions to the famous farmer's market, held every Tuesday and Saturday at the Ferry Terminal. We were told it was a 10 minute ride on the F-Train, but we decided to walk it. It turns out it was a 10 minute ride oin the F-Train, which is a long way on foot. After eventually reaching the market, we spent some time soaking in the sights, sounds and smells (and free samples!) of this great foodie tradition, and then jumped on the F-Train and made our way back down Fisherman's Wharf to where we signed up to bike the bridge!

After a slightly shaky start, reacclimatizing ourselves to two wheel travel, we were off! We cycled down Fisherman's Wharf and through Fort Mason, through the Marina District getting great views of the bridge the whole way. After a brief detour (we took a wrong turn) to Fort Point, right underneath the bridge, we made a short but steep climb up to the beginning of the entrance to the bridge. Cycling onto the bridge was just one of those completely surreal moments in life. It was in a way, almost difficult to believe that this was the same bridge we had seen numerous images of over our lifetimes, and now we were on it, whizzing past the iconic red steel cables and pylons. We stopped for a few photo ops at the midway point of the bridge, where the views of the city were amazing. Hayley even saw a dolphin! Seeing a helicopter fly under the bridge was also pretty crazy. Eventually, we got back on our bikes and began the easy descent down to Sausilito. The only problem was getting our heads around American road rules, as we had moved from bike paths to roads! Once in beautiful town of Sausilito, we made our way past the main tourist drag to a Russell family favourite, The Lighthouse Café. It's a strange mix of Danish and Diner - the results are delicious! I finally got to experience my first big American burger. We then got on the ferry to SF and went back to Fisherman's Wharf to return our bikes.

We finished our day of exercise off by getting two enormous sundaes at Ghirardelli square, just near Fisherman's Wharf. Ghirardelli is a famous chocolate company based in San Francisco and part of their fame is due to their ice-cream sundae parlors. After finishing these wonderful treats, we waddled back onto the bus for a reasonably early night.


In Case of Tsunami…

OK Hayley here now. The next day we had a late start and spent the morning exploring Ocean Beach, just a few blocks from Wes and Brandy's place. We discovered sand dollars, a lotta trash and a tsunami evacuation route. We then packed all our stuff into our back packs and said farewell to Wes, Brandy and the beautiful Mouse (the dog!) We met our new couch surfing host Kirsten at her place in Jones Street, downtown SF. Her place was gorgeous and she was very welcoming- we got on great from the first day! That night we had arranged to meet my friend Jen from my time at UCSD. We had dinner at a great liitle Italian trattoria in Little Italy ("no reservations! no desserts!" the sign on the window proclaimed) We ate delicious fresh pasta and Ryan had a glass of Banrock Station (?!) We moved onto another café for dessert- GREAT canoli and further chats- it was great catching up on what Jen and other friends from UCSD are up to. On the way we stopped into Vesuvio's (a famous Beat hang out next to City Lights) for a very strong drink- it's an interesting little place filled with art deco ornaments and a lot of Beat Generation history.


The French Always Take The Stairs

The next day was a biiig walking day- after fuelling ourselves with French toast and pancakes at the delicious but cheap Golden Coffee Shop we walked all the way to the top of Lombard Street. This is the "crookedest street in the world", designed that way because a normal straight road would be too steep. Lots of tourists here so we quickly moved on to our next destination- Coit Tower. We climbed through the gardens to this SF landmark which overlooks the entire city. Great views and parrots!! See our pics. We descended via a set of the famous stair walkways- the only way to access some of the houses in the area which seem to built right out of the side of cliffs! These stairways are very green and pretty and make you feel like you're anywhere but the middle of a big American city. Would hate to work there though! As we began our walk, we noticed bags of concrete sitting at the top of the stairs and as we went down we crossed paths with a workman who said "Didn't you know you're supposed to bring a bag of concrete on your way down?" We really sympathized, especially when we saw where the stack of empty bags of concrete were! These stairs were also where we found the graffiti which became our quote of the day "The French always take the stairs…" We made our way back to North Beach for Panini's at Marios, a tiny café right opposite Washington Square. Then FINALLY Ryan got to experience a SF ritual- riding the cable cars - yay!

After arriving back in the center of town, we made our way back to Kirsten's to find her and a friend getting ready to go see a certain movie I had been dying to see - He's Just Not That Into You. They kindly invited us along to their girls night (which Ryan thoroughly enjoyed!) Following the movie (which I thought was a little disappointing after loving the book) we paid a visit to MOMA where I got in for half price and Ryan got in for FREE! Due to a supposed computer glitch but I think they just liked the cut of his jib. There were some excellent exhibitions and works displayed we particularly enjoyed pieces by Matisse, Picasso, Riviera and Kahlo. We even got to see artists working on a huge mural being painted in the lobby! We arrived back at Kirsten's to make her a thank you for having us meal - quesadillas. After indulging in carbs, cheese and a lot of laughs, we retired for the night.

Saying Goodbye- San Francisco Style

OK so we couldn't resist heading back to the Golden Coffee Shop on Friday , this time for over easy eggs and an avocado omelette- yum! Then we headed to Union Square to meet up with ILYA! Yay, it was so good to see him. After some aimless wandering and sheltering from the rain in starbucks, Ilya was kind enough to offer to drive to somewhere I'd been desperate to see Muir Woods (a Redwood grove) we made our way across the GG Bridge (this time by car!) and through the gorgeous hilly countryside of Mill Valley, We even saw wildlife (deer!) We soon arrived at the National Monument and it really was indescribable. We took a 2 hour hike, alongside streams, constantly looking up at these HUGE trees surrounding us. We are so lucky we were able to visit and maybe some of our photos from the day can describe it more aptly than I can. We ventured to Tiburon for lunch, a historical town which is REALLY quiet on weekdays. We drove back to SF in the driving rain and by the time we made some more plans it had stopped- yay! We paid a visit to the Fortune Cookie Factory where you can see how they make those lil parcels of wisdom and purchased some "adult" fortune cookies with fortunes such as "Fu Ling Yu says: Shotgun wedding is a case of wife or death". We dined at a fine establishment called Sam Wo's recommended by Kirsten. You make your way through the kitchen (?!) up some ricketey stairs, have tea and water slammed down on your table then eat a a whole pile of noodles for approximately four dollars - our kind of place. On their wall- "Only food on the menu and soda - no booze, no B.S, no coffee, no milk." For dessert we ventured to Ilya's favourite Chinatown bakery for chocolate covered fortune cookies, cream buns and sticky bow ties. Kirsten then came to meet us and we made our way to a bar in an alley (how Melbourne!) called Specs - another beat hang out. After a drink there we set out on an epic journey for Swensen's ice cream- a both Kirsten and Mum recommended ice cream parlor. We climbed alotta stairs and hills, trying to get there by ten, only to discover it doesn't close till eleven- the ice cream was delicious and the walk back down the hill, very relaxing! However the night was still young- Kirsten had a real treat in store for us- a genuine, San Francisco, drag queen revue. SO much fun! From Felicia Flame who sang only Spanish torch songs to "The Lady with the Liquid Spine" who must have been 70 years old if she was a day, it was night of delights. Ryan spent all his one dollar bills and I sang along like I belonged in the show especially to "I Have Nothing" one of the songs from the Body Guard by Whitney Houston. Let's just say I left saying "Ohh now I REALLY don't wanna leave San Francisco!" OK, that's the end of our SF adventures, we were very sad to leave and we have to say a BIG thank you to all three of our lovely couch surfing hosts- you made SF so much more fun for us!