city of love

my feet ache - i forgot what city walking was like - after all of these days being chauffeur driven around the big attractions, i fear i have turned into an american - walk!!!!!!!!!! no no no no no!!!!!! why would i want to do that when we could take the lovely dodge called hank we have parked outside???? because ricky says 1. that is lazy and 2. no damn way am i driving in this frigging (please excuse his american dub swearing) city ever again :) i am of course exagerating, its a joy to walk the streets of san francisco (and boy have we walked), however i am not exagerating the pain i feel in my feet nor am i exagerating about ricky's hatred of city driving in the states - to be fair to him it is quite a stressful past time.

what a beautiful city. i will even forgive it, its monumental hills, for they add such a character to the place, especially when you are whizzing up them on the front of a tram car hanging on for dear life. what a ride (ricky was too chicken and actually walked up the hills - even the drivers in the tram car thought he was mad, these hills are so steep, no one wants to walk them apart, from obviously ricky). the houses and architecture are so immense and the locals are a very friendly, very laid back mix of people who have made our stay a very warm one, despite the rain that has fallen. my only sadness is that of the amount of homeless people who are wandering the street. these are not your edinburgh festival seasonal beggars with the latest nike trainers but truly impoverished people who trudge the streets with their shopping trolleys, raiding the bins and muttering away to themselves. it is really heart breaking to see them, however what i find most awful is the amount of them. there are literally hundreds and those are just the ones in the city centre, i hate to think how many more there are. you think easter house is poor, think again.

still it makes san francisco a very real place to be, one where you get the impression that every day counts, its not fake and its so relaxed and cheery, if it wasnt for those damn hills it might have had a new couple of residents (that and the cold rainy weather). we have seen so much in the couple of days we have been here - of course the golden gate bridge (which was very eerily shrouded in that famous fog), alcatraz (a very bizarre establishment - its so much closer to land than i ever would have thought), union square for some shopping, fishermans wharf, chinatown, SOma, north beach (where ricky was once again exposed to the delights of strip joints and toples bars thanks to my usual directional sense - again he didnt complain) and the castro. The castro reminded me so much of morningside in the way its lined with cafes and boutique shops although the mainly young professional gay crowd were a lot more welcoming than the usual edinburgh blue rinse brigade fighting you for the last scone. it was a really cool place to spend a couple of hours and sample some more delicious food.

the food is the highlight -people had said to me before we came the it was a gastro delight of a place - they werent wrong - so much choice and such good quality - we are at present sitting trying to decide where we fancy going tonight -its such a hard life eh???

so sadly we leave tomorrow and we will find ourselves once again hitting the road and driving down big sur (or highway 1 to those not in the know). a lot of people have tried to tell me (including ricky) that it is one of the most amazing stretches of road i will ever see. i find this difficult to believe having seen so many wonderful things over the past couple of months, i will however keep an open mind -this is the only time i wished we had got a convertible as it would seem a highly appropriate background for our best best mamas and papas harmonising (we have been practising) .... California....... California Dreamin.......