Californication

Well today has turned out to be a most interesting day. Waking up at 9am with the sun firmly bedded behind clouds and the chance of seeing sun as likely as winning the lottery I decided to 'venture out' to try to find a few things to see and do.

Walking down the Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 I realised exactly why I had tried so hard to afford going there. It was like a tourist trap with everyone trying to sell me their tour letting me know that it was indeed the best place to see the bay and the city! Signs are posted everywhere selling all manner of goods 'guaranteed to be the lowest prices' when you know that they have inflated the prices ten fold as they rub their hands together waiting for another gullable tourist to walk through the door!

Whilst taking photos at the end of the Pier 39 I was asked by these three middle aged American ladies to take their photos. They quickly recognised my accent and asking me where I was from proceeded to give me their business cards and tell me about the herbal products I can buy if I become a reseller for them in the UK! Have to admit I felt very weird as they were clearly on holiday but had some inpulse to sell themselves and their company to every stranger they met!

Anyway I decided to head for the maritime museam which was cool ( and free!) and then onto the tram.The trams here are an interesting invention. They criss cross a few of the main streets and bustle with people holding onto the sidebars for dear life. To get on and off them you basically step of, preferably when the tram is going slow.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty terrible which meant the Golden Gate bridge was not worth seeing as I wouldn't be able to see a thing. So I jumped onboard a Metro train and headed for Castro which is the Gay Capital of the city and pretty much the country. Stepping of the metro signs on the walls advertise the latest HIV treatments and all manner of drugs which are, I guess, important for gay men. Castro has a reputation for being an extremely interesting place to walk around and this isn't far from the truth. For blocks in all directions rainbow flags fly proudly from every lamppost. Gay San Franciscans are proud of the fact that the flag was created here in San Francisco.


Every shop in the area also boosts rainbow flags and even the camera shop is drapped in raibow flags with pictures of gay men kissing on film a way they use to sell their products. But walking around the suburb you get a fell for the liberal nature of the city and can see why its so famous.

I decided that I would visit Ocean View on the beach front. Taking the Metro it made its way through the suburbs until eventually it reached the beach front. I had made a very bad decision in choosing to come and visit. As the weather was bad i couldn't even see the sea and it was raining! Strangely enough the weather in San Francisco is meant to be like the guy with four seasons in one day!

Ducking into a rather cool and laid back cafe by the seaside I sat down and started chatting to two pretty funky older people. Judith and Steve are probably both in their 50s and were relaxing over the weekend. They both seemed to be the kind of older relatives you always wish you had, the kind you could relax and chat to for hours about amusing and also serioues issues. Steve used to be a musician and spoke about the musical legacy of the city and the state of California. What was fascinating was that they both discussed the liberal nature of the city delving into the politics, history and pyschy of the people. Steve explained beautifully that the north is a liberal stronghold whilst the south is very Republican in nature. Turns out Bush has never visited San Francisco, hardly surprising as he'd get pelted with all manner of things!

There is a referendum on Tuesday which the Governor has decided to use to circumnavigate the Democrate held legislature. I thought they would be able to explain it in more detail. Everywhere you go at the moment in city you see these posters saying "Vote No on A' and so forth. Turns out there are about 10 different things people have to either vote Yes or No on.

Returning back to the hostel I headed out for a bite to eat with Rachel who is an English girl and Dave an American i was sharing a room with. A few blocks along with noticed the police had blocked of the road and about a dozen police bikes where parked up with poliuceman everywhere. My first reaction was to think something bad had happend, maybe a murder, but then the suited men with earplugs nearby gave it away. Turns out that the royals are in town!!!! So here I am in San Francisco and what did I do? Waited for half an hour in the rain freezing my arse of to see Prince Charles and Camilla!!!! How surreal, i went half way around the world to see my royal family!

Lying in the crowd waiting for our royals to come out was an amusing experience. The crowd was about ten people deep with two Irish fellows in a particularly rowdy mood. This tiny little Asian American pushed her way through the crowd saying 'are they here are they here' like she had just won the lottery! Wearing a rain make coat she was clearly an ardent royalist for one reason or another even though she was American!

The crowd was a mixture of Americans and tourits. I think the Americans were mostly curious about what was going on and so to probably where the tourists! We stodd in the crowd taking the piss out of each other, doing amusing accents and basically making a lot of noise!

I have a theory. I think we should sell the royal family to the Americans as they clearly love them more than we do and for a few hundred million we could even throw in a few castles! Now that would be a good business venture if you ask me.

The two Irishman were in their 40s, with dark hair and very broad southern Irish accents. After we saw the Prince for all of 20 seconds we ran into the nearest Irish pub (O'Neils) and proceeded to get drinking. In the period of maybe 2 hours I drank 7 pints of Guinniss! I even managed to drink Kevin under the table as he finished the night by running out the pub!!!

Royals and the Irish guys