Go West!

On our way to San Francisco, we had a couple of hours stopover in Las Vegas. Flying in, we had some great views of the desert, a couple of canyons (although not THE grand canyon) and a lot of suburban development stretching out to the mountains. Walking past the pokies in the airport lounge, we grabbed a taxi and asked our driver to take us to a casino. This was a bit confusing for the guy, so Jenai practiced her spanish again and we were soon on our way to 'The Strip'.


The Strip, Las Vegas

It was hot for the first time on our trip, probably in the mid 20s, a world away from NYC. So we wandered through a couple of casinos, winter coats in hand, to see what we could see.

First stop was the New York New York casino, where we wandered through a replica Greenwich village (for the 2nd time that day, surreal) for some cheap eats. The atmosphere was silly but fun. Then to the Mandalay which resembled a large RSL/pokie den trying to be opulent with marble columns and chandeliers. And that was it for Vegas. Perhaps we'll come back again for a show on a weekend desert adventure. Or maybe to visit one of those drive thru chapels, just kidding!!

Then to San Francisco. Pretty quickly we decided this was a place we would like to spend more time. The city is picturesque, surrounded by the Bay, with enough tall buildings to feel like a city but not overwhelm you. It's also a nice size to explore on foot, with rows of 1900s apartments and houses interspersed with village style shopping strips.


North Beach in San Fran

Over the next few days we divided our time between sightseeing and a little bit of job hunting. One of the first things we did was a boat cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz for some kodak moments, then wandered all over the city exploring the neighbourhoods. Of these, probably the two most interesting were the Haight, home of the hippies in the late 60s (and still hanging on to this fading image) and the Mission, an area that has been home to numerous waves of immigration over the years but is now pretty much all Mexican with Spanish the main language on the streets. Needless to say Jenai was happy.


Getting a work out San Fran style

Exploring so many neighborhoods soon had us wishing we'd bought a topographic map to show us the hills, but we probably needed the exercise and the views at the top were always worth it. We also managed to catch some live music and sample some of the culinary benefits of being in a city with a lot of international influences.


Chinatown

We had been told that there were a lot of homeless in San Francisco but were still surprised at the scale of the problem, there was probably someone begging on every second block in some neighborhoods. We also had a fun run in with US bureaucracy whilst trying to buy stamps, a long story but basically after a long fruitless search of unattended post offices eventually ended up having to pass through crowds of anti war protesters, show our passports and be scanned through airport style security at the Federal Court building then negotiate the maze-like basement to finally buy our stamps....The things we do to get postcards to you guys!!!

We also took a couple of trips out of the city to Oakland and Berkeley, across the Bay. Berkeley was a bit like wandering through a whole city like Glebe, dominated by the university. The grounds were pretty impressive, especially some of the rich frat houses, and we couldn't help feel a little envious of the life that some of the students seemed to enjoy. Also interesting to see the marketing for college sports, the football stadium had huge banners emblazoned with the names and sweaty pictures of two of the major star players up at the entrance.


View of the city from Coit Tower

But our time in San Fran had to end, with places to go and people to see. So we hired a car and drove off into the sunset (well timed to coincide with the congested freeways at peak hour) to Northern California.

All the photos:

San Francisco