San Francisco

Fuck me, i am so fucking lazy.

San Francisco.

my god the first night was amazing. We pull into this really cool part of San Fran called the mission, where Peter and Nick our next couch surfers live and try and find a park in our huge new car, found one a few blocks away and head down this huge hill to his street. San Fran is very hilly. it gets old really quickly. 

After a hilarious incident with some half eaten, some mouldy strawberries which makes us look like we are high we find Peter's place,  a lovely 3 bedroom apartment with a extremely comfortable couch and get the usual traveler chit chat out of the way.

We have a few drinks and decide the best way to get to the Black Lips. Taxi.

We arrive and head straight to zee bar, the Black Lips aren't on for a bit so we enjoy the harsh and very loud sounds of Cerebral Ballzy.

I have never heard any of the Black Lips songs, i have heard their name but never delved further. i should have though. 

This show was amazing, it definitely helped that Jaymee and I gave into the show and let it over take us. We were in the pit, with the sweaty fans, jumping like maniacs and banging our heads like we were trying out for the next air guitar championships. Feet were jumped on and beer was poured on us but this show was so electric it just added to the atmosphere.. there isn't many times in my life where i can honestly say i enjoyed being trampled, sweaty and beer covered but this was one of them.

The show breezes by and before you know it we are in the cold San Francisco air reliving the show and deciding on a place to continue the night.

Dive bar it is. We stay for a few drinks, Peter's friend lets me punch him- he was twice the size of me and i did ask PLUS he didn't even flinch, something that makes me want to punch harder.. not a good habit.

its getting late and we decide to leave, as there is 5 of us we cannot find a taxi and have to walk home, something i usually don't mind doing however it was really cold but in saying that everything happens for a reason. We walk past a camper bus, you could call it parked on the side of a street, Jame turns to me and says that she hears music, we all stop and hear the music. I walk closer and look through the door window to see a man playing the Bongo's in a fur coat, i knock and he lets us in.

There was about 6 or 7 people on this bus. it was about 2am and here they were, just jamming and being bizarre. We joined in, Nick grabbed some Bongos and the rest of us danced. It was so so weird but a fantastic way to end the night. 

My inner Mum set in and i pulled the plug, the girls didn't seem to impressed we were there and untimely it has the possibility to end bad, we get a few photos to remember this night forever, thank them for the dance and head on back.

We stay up for a bit more, Peter challenges me to knife edge push ups- which we both fail at and we give Nick a tiny plastic baby in a clear ball before we all crash.

Day 2

Please just kill me.

this is the worst hangover i have ever had. I don't even know why but it is bad. 

I take some panadol, we get ready and head out to explore. I barely make into 3 stores before i need to leave because i thought i was going to throw up all over the shop, I stand on the street willing myself not to throw up, its a lovely area and vomit would really not suit it.

Jaymee comes out and i tell her i need to sit down before i go anywhere, so we find a side street and sit in the sun so i can mourn my sober self.

When i start to feel like i am not going to embarrass myself in broad daylight we venture around Mission. 

Vintage stores, beautiful houses, used books, bars, beautiful people ( and not just as in nice but as in attractive), food and street graffiti is what Mission is and i love every inch of it. It reminds me so much of Sydney but with no added attitude and judgement.

I get the biggest and most amazing Falafel i have ever eaten, it was literally a foot long and i ate it in an hour or less, it took Jaymee 2 meals to eat hers it but in my defence i hadn't eaten since Santa Cruz.. 24 hours ago.. i totally deserved it.

We catch a tram and go exploring. it was very cold day and we were so used to having a car when exploring we spent most the day wondering and not seeing anything we had planned.

The actual plan was to go to Lombard Street. The cities curviest street but we ended up on the opposite end of the street and could only see it in the distance. We gave up and wondered back to find a bus stop home. We got the buses wrong and found ourselves completely lost , we tried 3 more buses before we gave up and caught a cab, something we don't do lightly and got back around 7pm.

As lame as we were we stayed home with Nick and watched Clockwork Orange.. even more bizarre than our Bongo Bus experience.

Day 3

such a good day.

we woke up super early because we needed to move the car for street cleaning and by super i mean 6:30am.

For the next hour we were in a Laundromat and catching up on things that are so hard to complete when you are travelling and experiencing so much.. i think i wrote Disneyland in that laundromat.

the list.

Lombard Street

Pier 39

Magic Show

Golden Gate bridge

Sausalito 

Long boarding

Art gallery

City Lights- the Beats paradise

Unicorn Spotting

Vegan Dinner

Vintage Shopping

We finish a beautiful day. It was good weather, we met some lovely locals, had an amazing Vegan meal at Herbivore and Peter invited us out to a sort of open mic nite that happens once a month at this lovely bar called 'The Make out room'. 

The decor was 80's prom night, it was darkly lit and filled with 'cool' kids.

this was a first for both me and Jaymee and it was so much fun, it was supporting a local website that actually cared about culture and all the cover fees went to paying this guys rent (who runs the site) plus a pornography raffle.. sex toys anyone?

The show starts and we sit on the floor - new experience right there. There were authors, poets, singers travellers, all sharing a piece of their life. Some were intense and other were hilarious but all of them were inspirational.

it was nice to do something like this, just like going to Yoga in LA i felt that this was a very San Fran thing to do and it was great to have the option, i even picked up a  cd from one of the performers- John Craige , he was a babe and now every time that i listen to him i can go back to that same place and feel everything that i felt for SF. 

It was an amazing city, everything you could want in one and i hope that one day i get back there.