San Francisco's ABC: Alcatraz, Ballet and Climbing!

I arrived in San Francisco (or SF as the locals say) last night after a pretty uneventful flight and airport shuttle into the city. One thing to say about the flight though, on a 4 hour flight costing 140 quid you'd think there'd be grub. Apparently not. American Airlines don't feed you but you do have the option of a complimentary soft drink or purchasing a snack or "adult beverage". I wasn't impressed.

Got into my room and my dorm buddies seem nice enough, no obvious axe-murderers anyway. I've got the bed under the window on one of the busiest streets in SF. The street is full of bars, restaurants, clubs and "adult entertainment venues". Wonder if they also sell "adult beverages"? I'm just glad I have the ability to sleep anywhere and the noise won't bother me.

Woke up early this morning, had breakfast and decided to go for a wander to get my bearings. I headed up to the piers where all the tours leave from to book my Alcatraz tour. I'd already been warned by dorm buddy Vanessa, French girl, very nice, that there's only one company authorised to land on Alcatraz so they book up fast. Sure enough, the earliest tour I could book myself on was Thursday 16th at 12.30pm. BUT, I'd also heard that it's better going on an earlier tour as there are fewer crowds. People can stay as long as they want so the crowds build up throughout the day. Knowing this I booked myself on the Early Bird tour at 9am on Friday 17th. $24 including tax for the boat trip and tour around the prison. The audio tour features ex-prisoners giving their account of life on Alcatraz and has apparently won awards year in year out. Looking forward to it.

After that I took a leisurely stroll around the tourist trap piers, think Brighton pier with more expensive shops. It was nice enough but exactly what you'd expect from a pier aimed at tourists. So I headed to Stern Grove where, informed by the info board at the hostel, I knew San Francisco Ballet were performing. For FREE! My favourite price. I tried to walk the whole distance but after realising my map wasn't to scale and I was attempting to walk approx 10 miles in an hour I hopped on a bus. $1.50 plus free transfers for the following 90 minutes, although as I discovered today 90 minutes last much longer here than in Britain. My 90 minutes lasted about 4 hours because the bus drivers rarely check the times and you hold onto your ticket. Fantastic.

The SF Ballet were amazing and the park was packed. Seriously packed. We're talking main stage at T in the Park packed (OK, maybe Belladrum) but definitely over a thousand people. It's amazing what FREE does to the audience numbers at the ballet. Most people had been there for hours with picnic blankets, small tables and hampers full of wine and cheese. I did try sitting close to people and smiling hoping they'd share but I didn't have a very good view so I staked out a spot in front of the tech desk - always the best spot in the house. I arrived too late to catch the first piece but I did catch a George Balanchine piece which was good but just your standard traditional ballet then Paul Taylor's Spring Rounds which was just gorgeous. Set to jazz music and with relaxed, colourful costumes in a 1940s style the dancers were so fluid and quick I was grinning like a maniac watching it with toes tapping, obviously. Stern Grove runs a free arts festival throughout the summer every year. Next week is the last week but it's opera so I might give it a miss.

And so on to C: Climbing. It's no wonder I couldn't walk the distance today. Apart from 10 miles in an hour being a tad over ambitious the hills are mental. Seriously mental. I walked up one today, Broderick Street between Villeja and Broadway that was at a 28 degree angle. 28 degrees! It was actually a bit scary at one point and I was holding onto the wall in case I slipped on some leaves (leaves are slippy you know, just ask British Rail) and at the top was a sign saying... HILL!! HILL-arious. (sorry)

I took loads of photos today and will get them up as soon as possible but it's almost 7pm, my feet are killing me and I'm hungry so I'm going to change my shoes and head into Chinatown for some food. I get free dinner here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and snacks are so cheap (and so big) in certain places that I'm actually better off eating out that buying stuff to cook. Sounds good but we'll see...