Sunny San Francisco III

No proper blog entry for yesterday. We got up late, after a late night out with some other Aussies, a guy from San Diego and some English girls.

I haven’t yet explained the awesome breakfast that the hostel offers though. In Australia the bagels are doughy and tough to chew. Here they are fluffy and light and delicious. They come in a variety of flavours – at our hostel they have plain, onion, cinnamon and fruit (sultanas) and everything (a bit weird with peanut butter). So we have been eating bagels for brekkie every day which has been awesome. Also, they have pre-made coffee in big urns (on the first day I thought it was just hot water, so I ended up with a coffee soaked tea bag… oops). They also have English muffins, toast, fruit salad (about the only fruit I eat each day!) and porridge. They have two types of peanut butter, grape jelly, strawberry jam, orange marmalade, nutella, blackberry jam and of course butter. YUM!! And best bit – it’s free.

So, yesterday we went out to South Hayward (deep east) to hunt for RVs. We took the BART subway system and I got to see American burbs for the first time. Not a whole lot of luck (we didn’t see a single RV, just some lush looking vans), but I did get to try my first Wendy’s cheeseburger, which even had real onion and was pretty tasty. I rate the fries – they still had potato skin on them. A lot of walking was done that day, so I think that counteracts the fast food. I hope. Then it was back to the city.

We caught up with some American friends, one who is in San Jose and works for Google and one who just finished grad school south of there (can’t remember where – sorry John!) and had a feast in China Town… for $11.95. We had chicken ‘potsticks’ (dumplings), spring rolls, chicken on sticks, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli and fried noodles. We also had fortune cookies and delicious green tea ice cream for dessert. ‘Be patient. Etc.’ (not literally that, but something pretty basic like that. I think it is referring to my impatience at not finding an RV yet). A bottle of nice Napa Valley wine was $19.50. MUCH better than Aussie prices!! It was great to catch up with Neil and John, whom we saw last time at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich last year… after quite a few steins of beer.

It was interesting comparing cultural differences, especially as we do speak the same language, but have so many different ideas/expressions etc. They also told us some of the things happening around San Fran (national pot-smoking day holiday from 4.20pm today etc.) and also places not to miss on our trip. It was a great night, just a pity that Neil had to work today – otherwise it would’ve been bigger!

After that we went back to the hostel, caught up with some people who were heading out, so we tagged along and went to a bar a couple of blocks away. Shocking prices. $2 beers including Coronas and Peronis as well as $2 spirits. Lucky we didn’t start their sooner…!

Today has been pretty quiet. We have booked a car for Friday for four days (how’s that for alliteration!). We will head to Sacramento to try our luck at buying an RV there – apparently we picked the worst city to try and buy one! Also, we chose the worst weekend to rent a car – as a traveller it’s easy to forget that this weekend is not only Will’s birthday, but also Easter!!

So tonight we’ll have our $5 dinner (bolognaise, salad and brownie) and stay in to watch a movie. We might actually get up earlier tomorrow! I do love the breakfast til 11am though. More tomorrow!