Matthew Tuffin Blog

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Source: Flickr

Source: Flickr

Source: Flickr

We arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning into Emeryville after quickly purchasing bus tickets we hopped on for a journey over the bay bridge and up to the ferry building. There we were dumped to make our own way to the hotel. On the way we noticed lots of people in fancy dress or in some cases barely any dress at all. They were all taking part in the bay to breakers marathon, with runners starting in down town at the bay running all the way across to the sea at the other end of golden gate park.

Eventually trekking up and down hills and arriving at the hotel we discovered because of the marathon the room was not ready yet (most hotels booking out on that weekend), so we head out for some lunch and a nice cup of coffee. At the same time we booked tickets for a sightseeing bus tour around San Francisco. We came back to the hotel and were given a lift to were the tour bus took off from down at the wharf. Be warned if you do visit San Francisco it can be very tourist as I discovered we went on the tour, all the places we stopped had a few tourists and around and it is not even peek season yet. However there are people from all walks of life and from all around the world.

The tour took off and we headed for the golden gate bridge and across it and hell yes what I can say is that it is a stunning sight to behold. I have watched a film that was based on people committing suicide off the bridge and I may say the majestic-ness off the bridge makes me think there can be worse ways to go. After the trip back across the bridge the bus headed up to twin peaks a small hill that overlooks the city from the south end and where you can see perfect views of both the west and east side of the city.

Coming down the hill we passed into the Castro district the gay and lesbian district made famous in the film Milk. Heading up the another hill (yes San Fran is made up of lots and lots of hills) we proceed to the top of Nob Hill and checked out all the expensive hotels that now sit on top of that hill.

Finally in the evening we headed to china town and checked out the local Chinese food which I must say tastes much better than any Chinese I have ever had in Perth.