Wearing flowers in our hair

In the morning we got picked up by a bus for our half day city tour. I have to say, I was expecting a local guide, but was had a Glaswegian with a thick Scottish brogue. Granted, he had been living here for 33 years, so he did know his stuff. I think we had it a lot easier understanding him than the Americans on the bus did!

He took us on a tour around the city, and gave us a bit of background and history as well. SF has experienced two big earthquakes – one in 1906, and another in 1989. I remember the 1989 one being all over the news in NZ, with the freeway collapsing and things. We went around Fisherman’s Wharf, Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, up to Twin Peaks for a great view of the city, and to Haight St – the centre of the Summer of Love, and there was even a guitar playing hippy sitting on the hill! We also saw the Victorian houses, the painted ladies, and the view that was at the beginning of Full House, back in the day. The Victorian houses were probably the highlight for me – loved the colours and the detail.

SF is very hilly – I was glad we didn’t aim to do all of that by walking. It’s also a lot colder than anywhere else we’ve been – the high is around 22 degrees, so it’s about 10-20 degrees colder than anywhere else – it feels like we’re back in winter. This is typical SF apparently though. It’s also very foggy in the morning, and it’s unusual to see the Golden Gate Bridge not shrouded in fog.

After getting back to the hotel, it was afternoon nap time, and then time to hit the Thai restaurant again. Another thing I’m fond of in the US – the shops open later in the morning, and close later in the evening – normally 10am–8pm. Makes a lot of sense, and the shops are busy in the evenings.

There are a lot of homeless here – about 6,300 at last count. The population of SF is about 810,000 – and doesn’t change much, due to it being on the tip of a peninsula, there is nowhere for it to expand. There are height restrictions in a lot of areas, so you can’t build too tall, and the land is already taken up there’s nowhere else to build, so nowhere for the population to expand. The surrounding areas (the Bay Area), are made up of separate cities, and add about another 7 million people, but are not technically part of San Francisco.