Went to Castro yesterday which was fun after hunting down an HSBC for more cash (it keeps evaporating out of my wallet) Ivana and I hoped on the F line for $2 up to Castro which was fun and had a wander round the streets and into a few shops one in particular that stood out was the most hilarious Pet Boutique where the gay owner was soooooooooo into our little furry friends I thought he was going to expire with excitement. I could've spent a fortune but managed to refrain (sorry Poppy). We then wandered down to Dolores and Mission but avoided the nudist beach ... well to be honest you didn't need to go to the nudist beach there were plenty of fine looking gentlemen without much on wandering/running up and down the main street. So we took our position in the floor to ceiling window in the Baghdad Cafe where I had blueberry pancakes with bacon and maple syprup and the obligatory Mimosa (poor mans bucks fizz if you don't know what one is) which was very nice.

We then got the F line back and went to SoMa (South of Market) and went to Yerba Buena Gardens and saw the Martin Luther King Jnr memorial and had a brief look into the SFMOMA (San Fran Museum of Modern Art) but decided to go back on Thurs evening when its half price. So we headed back grabbed a juice from Jamba Juice and headed back to the hostel and crashed forthe evening.



Today (Monday) I decided to do my own thing and headed up on the F line again to 15th and Sanchez (impressed at how I'm getting the lingo?) which is in Castro and walked up to Alamo Square which is where this typical picture post card shot is always taken. This is the only area of San Fran where the Victorians or Painted Ladies as they are called (houses) that weren't burnt to the ground after the 1906 earth quake and they are magnificent.

After that I decided to walk to Russian Hill and see Lombard St or the crooked street as its also called. Nearly walked into a very dodgy area but was s

wiftly avoided and instead walked past the Japan Centre which wasn't much to see but the streets were much cleaner here and there was a definite Japanese influence to the houses and the gardens.

After several more hellish hills I arrived at Lombard Street which was very pretty but a slight disappointment, I thought it'd be longer, oh well. So headed down to Fishermans Wharf for lunch via the old factory where the man from Del Monte he say "yes" which has now been turned into a swanky Mexican restaurant and plaza. En route I found a shop that I had read about called "After the Quake" not very reassuring but I did managed to finally get my Levis ... HURRAH!!!!!!

After walked back to the hostel via little Italy and China Town and bought some fruit and a sandwich for the trip tomorrow as we are leaving at 6.20am (UGH) and no food is included not back until 8.30pm ... long day so will sign off.

Ooooh but before I do ... and this is especially for Lulu ... mate look at the last picture and you'll see that the rope and Karabinas (spelling?) you bought me for my birthday were put to use for the first time last night, yep I did my washing ;-)