San Francisco was our first holiday destination in the US on our way to our new life in Vancouver, Canada.

Unfortunately our flight out of Sydney was delayed by two and a half hours due to fog, so by the time we got there on Monday, through customs and checked into the hotel, the day was a bit of a write-off. We went on our first of many cable car rides and had dinner at North Beach, the Italian district. As we were looking at menus a homeless person came up to Sara and started singing “My Girl”. He had one of those really amazing soulful voices. One thing I’ve noticed in San Fran is that the people who ask you for money are really friendly, even if you say no!

We got a late start on Tuesday as jet lag had overwhelmed us. We spent the day exploring the city – walking through the financial district to the Ferry Farmers Market at the wharf, then along to Pier 39. It’s famous for its amusements and the sea lion colony that lives just off the wharf on a series of pontoons. We found it all a bit tacky and commercial but it’s one of the sites of San Fran and the sea lions were interesting, if a bit on the nose.

Following the piers around the bay, we visited Ghirardelli Square where we treated ourselves to some of their famous icecream, which was recommended by a few past visitors.

Another cable car took us up the hill to Lombard St, the most crooked street in the city.

From there we walked down to North Beach then up the steep hill to Coit Tower, which affords great views of the city and bay. The day was beautifully sunny but the wind was really cold.

During our time in the area, we hired a car as we wanted to see Yosemite National park (see my separate travel article "Yosemite National Park (May 2007)") and a bit of the coast south of San Francisco so on our way back from Yosemite we made our way to Santa Cruz, on Monterey Bay. Unfortunately it took us most of the day to get there, thanks to a wrong turn on one of the minor highways.

The town of Santa Cruz was nice – a clean main street with lots of boutiques and cafes. We had a late lunch and walked down to the boardwalk. It had a good beachy feel and the obligatory amusements but wasn’t anything special so we didn’t spend much time there.

We headed north up the San Mateo Coast and saw some much nicer beaches, and even saw some more sea lions playing in the surf.

Back in San Fran, we checked into the local YHA for our last few nights in the city. Unfortunately they’d mucked up our booking so we had to change rooms, then in the second room I discovered the bed was broken when he went to lay on it and we had to get them to change it. It was all fine in the end but I think it made us realise we are now “flashpackers” and a bit over hostels.

On Saturday morning we hired bikes and rode along the foreshore to Fort Mason, near the Golden Gate Bridge. We climbed up the top and got some great views of the bridge (the fort was built long before the bridge). As a few people had warned us, the bridge is actually a fair way from the city centre so we are glad we didn’t try to walk it. Then we cycled over the bridge itself, which was a pretty cool experience.

On the other side, we stopped for a picnic lunch accompanied by views of the city and the bridge, before heading downhill to a little town on the bay called Sausalito. It’s obviously a very popular spot for locals and tourists alike as the place was heaving, and we locked our bikes up with hundreds of others from rental places. It was a relaxed atmosphere though – again lots of cafes and upmarket shops. We walked around the seawall and Sara thought it was rather apt when I heard a busker start singing “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”.

Riding further north, we left many of the other day trippers behind and cycled for about another two hours to Tiburon, where we caught the ferry back to the city. The ferry trip was nice as we got to see the city, the Bridge and Alcatraz from the water.

On Sunday we caught the tram to an area called The Castro, then walked up the hill to Buena Vista park for good views of the city, as its name suggests. Back down the hill on the other side, we reached Haight Ashbury, the trendy, hippy area with lots of antique record shops, alternative clothes shops and second hand stores. We were happy to stop for coffee and people watch. It was a good day for it as the Bay to Breakers run had just finished – a fun run where people dress up in weird costumes. Some even go naked!

We followed the crowd down to Golden Gate park, where there were lots of people chilling out with a bit of “herbal” help. A few people asked us if we wanted to buy some weed – it was quite weird because it seemed to just be in one pocket of the park. Further over we saw the evidence of the fun run – people in costume sprawled all over the grass having picnics and drinks, and dead drink bottles and rubbish all up the road.

From there we trekked quite a way to Alamo Square, where the beautiful Victorian houses you see on postcards of San Fran are. In fact that whole area has hundreds of old houses that have been renovated in the old styles and worth a fortune.

Later we went out for margharitas and Mexican, something you apparently have to try in San Fran. The city is renowned for having good food and each district has its own cuisine.

Then we went on a night tour of Alcatraz. The history of the island and its prisoners was interesting but not very spooky, which we thought it would be. The escape attempts were pretty adventurous and quite a few people never made it to shore, despite escaping the prison itself.

That was a good end to our San Francisco trip. It seems like a very liveable, friendly city and we felt like we did it justice.