Oakland/San Francisco.

I really liked San Francisco, it was one of those places you just liked instantly there was no need for it to grow on you. It is a really pretty place with interesting buildings and views. Though with all the hills we had to climb you were going to find a good view somewhere. We climbed what seemed to be one of the biggest hills around to arrive at the top of the wiggly Lombard Street, just to walk down it. This street is known as the world's crookedest street as it has eight hairpin bends and a 40 degree hill. The houses here were very pretty.



We walked to Pier 39 and took in the view of the Bay including Alcatraz. We did fancy going on a tour there but you needed to book in advance and we never got it together enough to do it. You could also see the Golden Gate Bridge which was a lot redder than I imagined, for some strange reason I thought it was going to look a lot... well golder. The pier area was a complete tourist trap with lots of shops and restaurants and a carousel which Willow loved. For me though the main attraction has to be the sea lions. 100's of wild seals just hanging out, the tourist board must have been ecstatic when they decided to move in, in 1990.
As we walked along there were various busker type 'performers', including some very intimidating statues. The best entertainment though was a man hiding behind a bush, jumping out at people scaring the living daylights out of them. Apparently he has been doing this for years and is a bit of a local celebrity. So forget training for years, go get yourself an old bit of bush and scare the heebie geebies out of people and you will be a hit.



Further along beside Aquatic park was a small sandy beach and I was surprised how quiet it was. From here you had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.



There is a China Town in Oakland and San Fransisco, the latter being on a much larger scale. Though in all honesty from an outsiders point of view in seemed more like a really long 'China Street' not really a town, but maybe we missed a lot of it. We were very close to Oakland's China Town and that seemed to have a more community feel to it rather than a tourist feel. It was also a lot cheaper.

When I was a child one of my favourite books was 'Call of the Wild' by Jack London. Jack London spent his childhood in Oakland and now by the waterfront there is an area named after him 'Jack London Square'. Lots of people had mentioned it is a really nice place and since it wasn't too far from the train we walked there one day to check it out. I have to say I was quite disappointed, there wasn't much there at all. At the far end there was a log cabin that had been built from the original log cabin in Alaska, though it was in fact nothing like the original as they used the logs to build two. It seem to come alive a bit more on Sunday due to the very nice farmers market which is held there every week. We also found a flea market on the way home.