Day 21 - Los Angeles - Sun setting on my holiday

I'm definitely done with hostels. I'd gone to bed, pretty late actually, like 11pm, and none of the other three people in my room were back. I was drifting off, and then the lad underneath me, who is 20 and acts even younger, gets back, clearly drunk and brings with him a takeaway! Not only that, but something that is really smelly. I was tempted to remind him of general social etiquette, like there are plenty of places in this hostel to eat your post-night out food, and non of those places are your bedroom, but refrained from doing so. But seriously?
This is the same person, who when I introduced myself and said where I was from, his first words were "oh s***, Brexit, yeh we were studying this at my school" (he's Danish). So European students are discussing Brexit at school now? Great! Maybe they'll solve it before we do.

I was actually stressing a bit, because the Uber app for some reason wasn't working, so I decided to try Lyft instead, which seems to be really popular round here (it's an Uber competitor), but having pre-scheduled my rides to gymnastics, I still hadn't received any confirmation that a driver had been matched, and had no idea when they match you with a driver. The longer this went on, the more I was regretting my decision and feeling like I was going to be wasting my day.
However, ten minutes before the allotted time, I got a notification that a driver was on his way and this all ran smoothly and I was at the gymnastics club in plenty of time, so needn't have worried.
It's weird having to get taxis everywhere, but this is how things are in LA, because public transport is non existent. It's pretty bizarre given that they are so environmentally conscious here. They are definitely going to have to up their game in terms of public transport for the Olympics in 2028.

Gymnastics was pretty hard going to start off with, as I felt quite unfit, although kept reminding myself I haven't exactly eaten healthily, but when the conditioning session had finished, I was pleased with the work I did on beam and vault. But it reminded me just how much I miss the sport, and although I'm sad my trip is coming to an end, I'm jumping at the bit to continue with my training and of course the gymnastics world championships start on Friday! (I'm also looking forward to being back in my own bed)

I spent the afternoon sunbathing on what appeared to be a virtually empty beach, before enjoying the last of the summer's ice cream (although I'll probably eat some tomorrow morning before my flight, and if I remember correctly I might have some in my freezer at home). Having checked in for my flight (always a priority especially for long-haul to make sure you get a good seat!) Rather appropriately, my seat number is 30.
I then settled to watch the sunset. I decided to splash out on a cocktail at the restaurant I was having dinner at (I had some rather peculiar but delicious fajitas made with a vegetarian steak substitute. Not sure where the tortilla's were, but I didn't miss them). I chose a Sidewalk (the name of the restaurant) Sunset Margarita.  I took this photograph of the trees from the restaurant, and as I'd already ordered it was a bit difficult to get up and move and get a better angle, so am slightly annoyed about the lamppost else it would have been a stunning shot to round off what will be an incredibly diverse range of photos and memories - from ice on glaciers to desert wilderness, from red rock to blue and emerald lakes, from imposing mountains to quirky non-trees, from forests to palms and sandy beaches, God’s creation is truly breathtaking and we must all act now to ensure this beautiful creation doesn’t disappear.

This has been a holiday full of diverse and wonderful landscapes just as I had hoped and anticipated. Now the editing begins!

Day 20 - Los Angeles - Celebrity houses, oh how the other half live!

When I was on the bus home yesterday I realised that they had only validated my ticket for 24 hours. Grrrh, so it meant I was deliberating as to what I could do today. Do I chance wandering around making a stab at finding the bus again, only to find that I might not be able to get the bus because of the bus company's incompetence or do I not bother, book onto some other tour, complain try and get my money back etc.?

I had done some research into the celebrity homes tours which all looked pretty good, but unfortunately most started in Hollywood, so I actually had to get there i.e. my bus pass would be pretty useful. At breakfast I had the sudden brainwave that apparently there was a bus from outside my hostel which ran till 9.30am (I forgot to mention that on the way back home, the bus stopped right outside the street across from my hostel).
With that in mind, I rushed through what I was having, neglected my cup of tea and rushed off, with the thought, if the driver rejects my ticket at least I haven't wasted half the morning walking over to a stop in Santa Monica where I still don't know where the stop is, only to find my ticket is rejected. I also put my tea in my room thinking, if things don't work out, at least I have a cup of tea to come back to, to reheat, when I can come back to the hostel and replan my day.

9.30am came and went and then I glanced down at the map (which I had from being on the bus yesterday) and realised I was probably, (I can't be certain) in the wrong place. I decided to stay put for a bit, and then the bus rocked up. I decided, old school style, to flag it down, so have absolutely no idea if it stopped intentionally or whether the driver was being polite. She clearly wasn't in a hurry and realised the mistake with the ticket so all was well. I had to re-listen to the commentary again from yesterday as I was pretty much doing the exact same route, but never mind. I hadn't actually booked my celebrity homes tour yet, but as they ran hourly I thought I'd chance it as I got to Hollywood, as I had no idea how long it would take to get there, with it being Sunday. As I got nearer, I thought I wouldn't risk the 12pm one, so booked the 1pm slot, but decided to wander over to the meeting point so at least I knew where it was. When I got there, luck would have it that they actually had spaces on the 12pm, and would I like to go any earlier? Awesome!

First stop on the trip was the Hollywood Sign. I'd snapped a pic of it yesterday from a distance, but it didn't look particularly good in the rain, whereas today the sun had come out and plus we were much closer.

Leonard DiCaprio's Hollywood Hills House!

We then drove around the Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive, where there are a bunch of very nice houses with pretty awesome views, many of which are owned by celebrities. The downside is that this is a high risk fire area. The other area of town very populated by celebs is of course Beverly Hills, which we would visit later, but the bonus to living in Hollywood Hills (other than the views) is that the houses are a lot more spread out. There was a beautiful place which had an infinity pool (I'm still not convinced I could deal with that), and then a small property worth $13.5m belonging to non other than Leonardo DiCaprio! The biggest shock was that it was only $13.5m. There are places round here that are between the $3m and $5m mark. London is such a rip off!
We also got to see the former home of Whitney Houston.

We passed by various film locations too - unsurprisingly a lot of scenes from films are shot here in Hollywood - most of these passed me by, but there was one which I was aware of from E.T. I'll have to rewatch that, and look out for it!

Off to Beverly Hills next which is probably even better known for being the place to live if you are someone and have money. Elvis Presley lived here at one point (his home is now rather aptly owned by the owner of the Hard Rock Cafe), we also got a sneak peak at the residence of the King of Pop when he died, and got to see the house exterior of the pop star creator (albeit for a few months...), Simon Cowell.
There were loads of other beautiful houses which just belonged to random people with lots of money. It's a very pretty neighbourhood. One random fact about Beverly Hills is that all the trees on each street match, so if one street has palm trees then the whole street will have palm trees on both sides all the way up. Another street might have oak trees and so on.
People can also offer up their houses for filming if they wish.
I've taken a photo of the famous Beverly Hills shield. This is copyrighted and is in high demand to be used in films. It can only be used for personal photography - in professional cases a fee needs to be paid! I'm not making money off this blog so I'm okay haha.

After we had finished gazing into the homes of the rich and famous it was time to have a look at how else they spend their wealth. Shopping! Rodeo Drive is a street full of designer shops. You can tell my knowledge of fashion by the fact I hadn't heard of half of the places! Apparently, if the blinds are drawn in the shop, it's because there's someone famous in there who doesn't want to be papped.

I really enjoyed the tour, although I think it's pretty crazy to think that people are that interested in where celebs eat and shop. I was just interested in the nice looking houses and slightly curious about who lived in them! Apparently there are some equally nice houses in Malibu, just along the coast, where there are tours to as well, but I think I'll run out of time what with my plans for gymnastics tomorrow.

When I got back, I started off on a walk to watch the sunset, which then turned into a walk to find food too. I ended up in Santa Monica so decided to explore the Pier a bit. I ate a weird veggie hot dog. The jalapeño sauce was a definite let down.
The Pier is also the end of Route 66.


When I got home, I still had the cup of tea, which I reheated, so a win all round!

Last day tomorrow, and my plans are basically to go to gymnastics if I can figure out the Uber / Lyft apps and then chill.

Day 19 - Los Angeles - acclimatising to England?

Okay, this was NOT what I had in mind when I woke up this morning, especially after last night's beautiful sunset!
In fairness, the BBC weather forecast had predicted it would be overcast today, but it hadn't predicted rain, although I packed my rain jacket just in case...turns out I was right to be prepared.

I wasn't best pleased with the start to the day either. I had a 48 hour hop on hop off bus pass, and aside from being slightly worried about whether the buses would accept the confirmation I had on my STA travel itinerary sheet, rather than some official looking voucher, there was also the issue of where the nearest bus stop was. Last night's hostel receptionist was pretty useless and there are no maps in this hostel, which is pretty irritating if you ask me as normally hostels are pretty clued up on things like this. The guy this morning was extremely helpful and phoned up the company (who were confused about which stop was nearest...) and I ended up wandering around for absolutely ages to find the bus. None of the stops are labelled so its a case of wander round, hope for the best and flag down a bus roughly in the right area. Turns out the main reason for all the confusion (other than the lack of bus stop labelling around the route), is that they have changed the route as of a week ago, which actually does include a stop near our hostel, but this also seemed to vary depending on the time of day.
When eventually I tracked down a bus, as predicted the bus driver was confused by my "voucher", but let me on anyway and said I'd need to register it further down the line. I kind of expected this but at least after all this trouble I was able to get on a bus, but still frustratingly I'd wasted half a day.
I suppose on the plus side, the weather had put tourists off and my bus was pretty empty, so I didn't find myself queuing to get on it. I did, however find myself sitting inside, rather than on the top deck (which had been so popular in San Francisco) as it had started raining and was rather chilly.

This is where the Oscars are held!

Even though I was later in the day, it made more sense to head over to Hollywood which involved changing buses, because of the way Los Angeles is designed (there are three hop on hop off bus routes and where I'm based you have to connect at one point to get onto another). At least I was able to find out more about the city, although as I learned, barring facts about celebrities who have spent money/got into debt/died/struggled to make ends meet before coming famous LA doesn't really have much else in terms of history and culture so the buildings aren't particularly interested. When there is a point of interest which says "this is LA's largest cemetery" you know they are scraping the barrel. One of the stops "Pinks Hot Dogs", has individual hot dogs named after celebrities.

Harry Potter

I passed by the stop for Beverly Hills, which I will return to when the weather is better (which is meant to be tomorrow) and headed for the walk of fame and the home of the Oscars - the Dolby Theatre. What I didn't realise is that the walk of fame actually includes musicians as well as actors and they have a different symbol underneath the name of the star. So I found the likes of Elton John, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and so on. There were also Disney characters like Mickey Mouse. I expected it to be a lot busier, and I think the weather and the lack of school holidays was a huge advantage as it meant I got some really clear photographs. Whilst I was there, they were setting up for a film premiere. Not sure what it was for, but I gather this is a frequent event here in Hollywood.

Day 18 – Lake Havasu to Los Angeles via Joshua Tree National Park

Lake Havasu - view as I woke up

Wahoo! Final night in a tent over and done with. I’ve really enjoyed this tour, but I’m not going to miss sleeping in a tent. First surprise of the day was finding out there was no water in the campsite. At least I’d already had a chance to go to the bathroom before it ran out, because I was up very early – repacking my rucksack so I could put my sleeping bag and blow up mattress right at the bottom. So I really hope that the hostel I’m staying at don’t ask me if I have one.

A gecko

Michaela, our tour guide pointed out that running out of water does happen when you’re in the desert.

A Joshua Tree 

We also had the opportunity to eat up and take as much food as we wanted because it was her last tour of the season. Everything dry that was left would be donated, but the refrigerated goods would need to be thrown.

Then we were off. Los Angeles is surprisingly far away and it was going to take the best part of a day to get there, with rest stops in between and obviously a good stop at the Joshua Tree National Park, which would be our last stop of the trip before Los Angeles.

Joshua Tree was so named because explorers thought that the branches of the Joshua trees resembled the upstretched arms of Joshua leading them to the promised land. However, a Joshua Tree is not actually a tree, but belongs to the Yucca family, which also includes succulent plants and shrubs.

As well as the Joshua trees themselves, the park is characterised by its rock formations and stark desert landscapes. We went on a short walk to explore, adding yet more contrasting photos to my already contrasting portfolio! 

Then we hit the road again. Next stop, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula - town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula, this was the original name given to Los Angeles, although this was later shortened to Los Angeles and is now commonly abbreviated further still to LA.

Sunset on Venice Beach

It was weird saying goodbye to everyone, although I was actually staying in the same hostel as a few others and we went to watch the sunset on Venice Beach that evening. I'm looking forward to a few quiet days to explore the city and a relax a bit before heading back to cold, rainy England.

Day 17 – Grand Canyon to Lake Havasu

Sunrise over the Grand Canyon

We had some more time this morning to explore the canyon as we weren’t leaving till 10.30am. Consequently, myself, and a few others decided to get up in the early hours of the morning to watch the sunrise (which meant getting up at 4.20am in order to get the free shuttle bus over to the view point). It was totally worth it and the colours were much better this morning. There was a bit of cloud cover, which without would have made things even more spectacular, but even still, it was pretty awesome. As we were already out and about, we decided it would be worth going on another walk to see a different perspective of the canyon. This one was even more stunning than the one we did the evening before. I’m really grateful for the extra time we’ve had here to explore and it’s a shame we didn’t quite have as much time in Yosemite to do something similar – oh well.

We then set off towards are campsite for the trip, making a trip down the famous route 66. This was started in 1926 as the USA was starting to expand and railways were no longer sufficient. The route was built from Chicago and finishes up in Santa Monica, in Los Angeles, California. It passes through eight different states and three different time zones. We stopped off at a quirky little fast food restaurant, which served typical American food – burgers, fries and milkshake. As we were actually eating burgers for dinner, I had opted for packing my own lunch but I tried a strawberry and marshmallow milkshake, which was AMAZING! The restaurant had all sorts of memorabilia devoted to route 66, which was pretty cool.

London Bridge

We then headed off to Lake Havasu, our camp for the night, making a stop off at London Bridge, where very aptly it was raining. Yes, the one place it rained on the trip – London Bridge. Haha. This stop off point came from a man who wanted to create a retirement city in the middle of the desert and needed a unique attraction so bought the original London Bridge for $2.46m in the 1960s, although he actually thought he was getting Tower Bridge. At the time, there was nowhere to put the bridge, so he had a canal created as well, which I thought was a bit clean if it was meant to represent the River Thames…

Thankfully, the weather had cleared up by the time we reached our campsite, right by Lake Havasu, which was really stunning. We had an American themed party that night which was a really lovely way to spend our last night. We are off to LA tomorrow, via Joshua Tree national park.

Day 16 – Las Vegas to Grand Canyon

After a very late night, it was nice to find out that today was a bit of a driving day today, where we would be spending most of the day getting to the Grand Canyon, ready for sunset this evening. 

The Grand Canyon is a canyon, which was formed as a result of erosion carved out by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and has a depth of over a mile. Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of rock. Geologists believe that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago and since then the Colorado River has driven through its tributaries and the retreating cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.

The main cause of the erosion that formed the Grand Canyon was water; most scientists agree that it formed when the Colorado River started carving through layers of volcanic rock and sediment between five million and six million years ago and it continues to erode today.

We actually arrived at the Grand Canyon in plenty of time for us to explore independently, although not without getting a glimpse of it from the main sightseeing viewpoint first. Myself, and a few others went on a walk, which went down into the Canyon, although it only went so far because we had to be back in a specific place for sunset. You can do the full hike, which takes roughly 12 hours, and we met some walkers on the way who had done this. I’d love to have had a lot longer and got much further in, but it was still amazing getting this different perspective.

We then settled down to watch the sunset. If I’m being honest I was expecting there to be more colour over the canyon itself, but the sky was incredible.

Day 15 – Bishop to Las Vegas via Death Valley National Park

I had a slightly better night’s sleep last night, although still not the greatest – I’m definitely not cut out for this camping lark – and when I woke up it was absolutely freezing, especially given we were getting up an hour earlier to make sure we were in Death Valley before it got too hot and in Las Vegas in plenty of time. We’ve been warned that although it is really cold now, temperatures are going to peak in the 40s later today when we reach Death Valley, so to dress accordingly. There was no way I was walking around in a summer dress now, so I decided to rock a totally new outfit which consisted of PJ bottoms, over the top of my dress, with a hoodie. That way it would be nice and easy to slip off when it started getting nice and warm.

Although I did get a bit of sleep on the bus, I was determined not to sleep too much, because I didn’t want to miss much of the scenery as we said goodbye to the Sierra Nevada, and made our way into one of the hottest, driest places on earth – Death Valley National Park. It also has the lowest point in North America, at Badwater Basin, which sits at 282 feet below sea level.

It is so named, because during the gold rush, some explorers decided to take a short cut across this desert (obviously a mistake). Although only one of the group died, they all thought they would, and dubbed the area Death Valley as they finally exited.

Around 10, 000 to 12 000 years ago it was home to an inland lake, which has since cleared up, leaving salt flats, rich in sodium salt and borax which were later exploited before tourism took over. The park is also home to sand dunes.

The scenery is spectacular and it’s no wonder that scenes from Star Wars and other films are shot here. It really is other-worldly, giving impressions of moon-like/Mars-like surfaces. 

We had a chance to walk around, although spent limited time out and about, because it was pretty toasty and despite plastering myself in sun-cream I was amazed how quickly I started to tan in the space of a few minutes.

Then we set off for “Sin City”.

Las Vegas, is also in the middle of the desert, and took off when work began on the nearby Hoover Dam, which brought in an influx of young, single, male workers who didn’t have much to do when they finished work – gambling was a way they could keep entertained, once it became legal.

Now, the place is famous particularly for “The Strip”, a four mile long road of extravagant hotels and casinos, including many which take references from landmarks around the world, like the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and the Venice canals.

Later that evening I had a chance to wander around a bit to see some of these sights, but more later.

We were staying at the Hotel Golden Nugget, which, given our budget, was unsurprisingly off the strip, but still pretty extravagant. All hotels are pretty quirky and ours has a swimming pool, which had a shark tank in the middle of it. I took a photo on my phone, so the quality wasn’t great.

There were fruit machines pretty much everywhere and it just seemed like another world and even the road outside our hotel was pretty colourful.

After a bit of a mix-up with the booking, our tour group left for a party bus, slightly later than planned, which took us to the famous Little White Wedding Chapel – home to many celebrity weddings over the years, a stop at the Las Vegas sign, and then a visit to the Bellagio Fountains show. It was a bit of fun, but a total rip off for the price, especially given alcohol wasn’t included and I had hoped we’d be stopping off at more of the strip on the way.

After the party bus ended, I went for an explore of the strip, and the Friends geek I am, was absolutely determined to visit Caesar’s Palace, which is where the Vegas episodes (some of my favourite ones) are set. I should point out, that you can just walk into any of the hotels and wander around. I kind of wish we had another day to explore purely for sight-seeing as it is so different to anything else that I have ever witnessed.

I was absolutely knackered by this point, and with another 7am start the following day to ensure we made it to the Grand Canyon in plenty of time for sunset (which is pretty early at this time of year), I wanted to maximise the opportunity of sleeping in a bed rather than a tent, albeit for 5 hours!

Still it was a good experience!

Day 14 – Yosemite National Park to Bishop via the Tioga Pass

Wow, packing down the tent was certainly easier than putting it up. I did not sleep at all well last night. My pillow kept deflating and I couldn’t get comfortable. I was at least grateful that I had my blow up mattress with me. I misunderstood the packing list and thought I needed to purchase one, when actually they provided them, but turns out it was pretty handy as they don’t blow up very much so having two was definitely a plus.

We were up pretty early as we were planning on exploring more of Yosemite this morning to see some Sequoia trees. It was pretty nippy in the morning, although warmed up pretty quickly.

We made a stop by a lake in the park for lunch, which was really peaceful and uninterrupted by other tourists. We were then back on the road again, driving through the Tioga Pass, which is a stunning mountain pass on the route out of Yosemite. It sees snowfall, because the mountains are high and there was snow in some places even at this time of year. Really beautiful!

We were camping again this evening - I was pleased to say that we were all a lot quicker putting our tents up. It was a lot colder this evening, so I’m really glad I have my Canada clothes with me. 

We’re up pretty early tomorrow as we’re heading to Death Valley National Park, and are aiming to reach there before it gets too hot.

Day 13 – San Francisco to Yosemite National Park

Early start this morning as we had to leave San Francisco bang on 7.45am. As breakfast was only served from 7.30am at the hostel, it was all a bit of a manic rush to get food, but thankfully everyone was all on time for a prompt departure.

I can’t say I’m sorry to see the back of San Francisco and I’m looking forward to being on the road again and seeing what the USA’s scenery has to offer.

I was kind of hoping to catch a final glimpse of the famous bridge again on route out of the city, but fate would have it that today was a day when San Francisco’s famous fog was surrounding it. I honestly had no idea how frequent the fog was so it sounds like I got really lucky with my own photographs of the bridge. Michaela (our tour guide for the trip) also explained that the bridge was originally meant to be painted black and gold, but they overspent on budget and only got as far as putting the primer coat on, the red/orange colour that it is now. It blended so well in with the environment around that the colour has stuck to this day.

Other than various pit stops, today was largely a driving day, with an estimated time of arrival into Yosemite National Park for around 3pm.

Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and was the second national park to be established in the USA (the first, being Yellowstone). The park receives around 4 million visitors per year and is home to 250 different species of animals and fish including the mountain lion and black bear. Sadly we didn’t see either, but we did see a very photogenic chipmunk.

It is also home to around 1500 species of flora and fauna.

The park was created by volcanic activity along the fault line, which pushed the Sierra Nevada upwards, causing the streams in the area to flow faster, speeding up the process of erosion. A series of glaciers also emerged, also contributing to the sculpting of Yosemite Valley and various other canyons in the area. 

After stopping for a few pictures of the commonly photographed spots, El Capitan and the Dome, we had a chance to go for an explore of the national park, including to a rather non-existent waterfall – at this time of year it was more of a trickle. By the visitors’ centre we came to the “Big Tree”, as it was known. This was a tree, which had fallen down about 20 years ago, but was around 1000 years old. They had marked various points in history on its rings, including when America was first discovered.

When then headed back to the campsite, when we got to play with putting up our tents. Most of us were complete novices and so this was easier said than done! Hopefully it will get easier…

Day 12 - Final Day in San Francisco

Painted Ladies

I had to check out of my hostel room today and re-check back in, because the tour company I’m going with are placing us in the same rooms. Not entirely sure why I couldn’t have stayed put given that people have come and gone from my room, just seems like someone at the hostel wasn’t very good at logistics – why am I not surprised?

I had a leisurely breakfast, chatting with one of the girls in my room (who wasn’t coming on the tour) but who I’d gotten on really well with, before going to ask the reception staff what time I could recheck back in again. I used this opportunity to provide some feedback about the #sleepingbagsaga. I was pleased it was fed back to the manager and also it’s pretty evident that it wasn’t “San Francisco rules”, but just the hostel’s policy. 

I then set off to have a walk around the Civic Centre area of the city and Alamo  Square, which were places my Hop on Hop off bus had been through, but were clo

Haight Street

se enough to my hostel that I didn’t get off on route. Alamo Square has a nice little park area which was very popular, given it was a Saturday lunchtime, but the main attraction are these Victorian houses all around, which are painted different colours – known as the painted ladies.

The Civic Centre is home to City Hall (very popular for weddings) as well as the opera house, theatre and symphony hall. The symphony hall is designed to look like piano keys coming down along the side of the building.

Symphony Hall

There is also a Jazz centre, which is considered to be the first ever purpose built centre for jazz performance and education, and has photos of well known jazz musicians along the side of the building.

I also visited the Haight district, which is definitely the hippy district!

When I got back to the hostel it was time for a meeting with the tour guide for our trip and a chance to meet the group. The majority of people seem to be in their mid to late 20s and there are a few 30+s which is nice. There are only 14 of us, so there will be plenty of room on the bus.  I’m really looking forward to getting started with this tour. Off to Yosemite tomorrow 😀

Day 11 - San Francisco - Some peace and tranquility

After the somewhat stressful nature of the past couple of days, I was really looking forward to getting away from it all today with my visit to the Muir Woods, an area with Californian Coastal Redwood trees, away from the City. I was also pleasantly surprised that I had booked an 11am tour, with a pick-up, which meant I had a nice lie-in and no stress of finding the meeti

ng point. Well done me.

The tour had an optional drop off on the way back in a place called Sausalito where you can wander round before getting the ferry back with views of the Golden Gate bridge and then make your own way back. There were by now new staff on reception, and I asked them for advice about getting back, as well as other questions, again the lady I asked wasn’t particularly friendly (although no where near as bad as the man who greeted me when I arrived at the hostel) and very lacking in local knowledge. For a hostel, I thought this was pretty appalling. Thankfully her colleague jumped in – a really bubbly lady – who knew exactly what she was talking about. I’m glad that not all San Franciscans have a negative energy.

As it happens, when the coach arrived for my tour, I was met by Al, who informed the tour group that his name was exactly as it sounded. Haha. I sat at the front and chatted to him whilst he was doing the pick-ups and we had a laugh about not learning to drive in San Francisco. I was impressed with how he managed to drive a 40-seater coach around the city!

Once everyone had been picked up he started providing tour commentary about the San Francisco as well as driving, which was particularly impressive, but also informative and amusing. It was nice to have someone making us laugh, although he went to great lengths to point out that San Francisco was awaiting a major earthquake any minute as they occur every 95-100 years and the last major once was in 1906 (although they had a smaller one in 1989) “you do the math, we are long overdoo. San Franciscans know it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when”. I have started to notice, when wandering round San Francisco by the bay area, that there are signs about what to do if there is an earthquake. There are, what I assume are sirens, and notices telling people to go to higher ground – I guess in preparation for tsunamis. 

Muir Woods are located about an hour outside of San Francisco and are home to the Californian Costal Redwood trees. These trees actually covered much of the Northern Hemisphere 150 million years ago, but only two species of redwood remain in the USA now, both in California and both with limited ranges. These are the coastal redwood and the giant sequoia. Coastal redwoods are the tallest living things on earth and the tallest tree reaches 379 feet in the Redwood National Park (different to the one I visited). In Muir Woods, the tallest was over 258 feet. 

Interestingly, fire is essential to sustaining the growth of redwoods as it destroys bacteria and fungi that kill the redwood seeds. Redwoods are able to survive forest fires due to their

bark, although if the fires are too hot then their bark can become damaged.

The woods became such a popular place to visit that the authorities had to start issuing permits to visit, as parking is limited and so people were parking further up the road, and with such narrow, winding roads to get there, it was unsafe with people walking along.

Other than the odd over-exuberant, Janice-from-Friends, American, the woods were incredibly peaceful and I was sorry when I had to leave and head back to the bus. I could easily have spent the afternoon there just meandering, lost in my own thoughts. It was beautiful.

We then headed back towards San Francisco, via Sausalito, which is a fishing town that has continued to remain as a community as opposed to welcoming in modern developers (who would definitely exploit its beautiful seafront views). It has a very Mediterranean feel to it, and I could easily have been in Italy or Greece.

It was then time to board the ferry to head back to San Francisco. I had hoped to get a decent photo of the bridge again, but it was a bit hazy. The views of the Golden Gate Bridge are variable and it is very common for it to be surrounded by sea mist and even fog so I’ve been really lucky with the photographs I’ve got.

I felt like an ice cream, and after purch

asing a significantly pricey single scoop, and totally not worth the price I paid for it, I checked in on the local WiFi only to see something come up which said Starbucks, Google. I knew Google’s Headquarters were nearby, so I thought it would be pretty cool to check out them. So I googled Google and set off to find them. Only I was disappointed, because the address on Google was incorrect. Oh dear. Google needs to update their search engine!

Day 10 - San Francisco - Part 2 - Panning for Gold, striking lucky with steel...

So I made it to the bus stop eventually - it should have been a 15 minute walk haha!
There was a bit of a wait for the next Hop on Hop off bus, that was definitely my fault for not being more organised and getting up earlier, and when the first one came it was full. The second one was also pretty full too, with only seats downstairs, however I did get lucky when the guide said there was one seat upstairs i.e. any solo travellers. It also meant that the guide basically moved me to the front of the queue haha, so I got a 'window' seat on the top deck (open top bus).

The tour was pretty interesting, although so much information to take in at once. We went through places which I'm going to go back over in a couple of days and visit, because they are closer to my hostel, but the thing that really struck me was just how hilly San Francisco is. It's definitely not a place for someone to learn to drive...
There is a street like the picture here called Nob Hill. I don't think this one is this street, but Nob Hill is famous for a Cable Car. Unfortunately the Cable Cars aren't currently running due to them doing maintenance work for the next few weeks :(. I actually didn't know this when I took this photo, and took it for a different reason (David, this is one for you...ring any bells, like the film with the name of a headteacher you always for some reason like to call me by?).
For people who aren't my brother, the reference is to the Princess Diaries, where Mia (Anne Hathaway) struggles to get up the hill in her mustang up the hill.

Anyway, other than looking for Princess Diaries references all day, I did make a trip to a rather well known landmark. I believe a few other people have visited it too. Apparently it's the most photographed bridge in the world and one of the most photographed landmarks. It's also 3km long!

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Hop on Hop of Bus drove across the bridge to the other side, so that's where I decided to disembark and planned my route to walk back over and then along the coast to Fisherman's Wharf. Unlike Sydney Harbour, you can walk along this one for free, although as mentioned it's 3km.
Even with all the fencing along the way (unfortunately it's also one of the biggest suicide points in the world), there were so many great opportunities for photographs and it was a lovely walk.
When I got to the other side, I asked at the tourist information point about walking to Fisherman's Wharf and he reckoned it would take about 40 minutes to an hour. Another one where people must be sprint walking! It definitely took me double that, although it was a lovely walk.

When I reached Fisherman's Wharf, I popped into the Arcade, which someone from the Canada tour had mentioned to me, as it's a place which has a load of Victorian arcade games. I also stopped by some old fishing boats which have been restored - these are originals, not replicas.

It was a long, long walk and I felt like a nice treat. I couldn't believe it that a) I couldn't find anywhere that sold ice cream. Iced beverages yes, but gelato/ice cream, NO and b) the absolutely enormous Krispy Kreme donut restaurant. Yes, restaurant. I wish I'd taken a photo, there were rows upon rows of donuts.

I was absolutely shattered by the time I got back and pleased that my bedding had been replaced. I'm looking forward to getting out of town tomorrow to the peace and tranquillity of Muir Woods, to visit some Californian Redwoods.