San Francisco

I've been in town for 4 day now, and this is the first chance I've had to sit down with a computer. This city has been a real whirlwind! I crossed the Golden Gate bridge on Sunday, Memorial Day. Very hectic, as all the other tourists combined with locals out enjoying the beautiful weather made for absolutely packed bike lanes. Pelotons of road racers whipped around tourists on rental bikes who were mingled with pedestrians caught up taking pictures of the gorgeous views of the Bay area. Through all this madness, I struggled across the bridge and by chance got chatting with another rider headed into town on a stripped down single speed. Wayne is a homeless-by-choice wandering artist, camped north of the city in a state park somewhere. He rides the 20 miles into town every day to keep fit and hang around Golden Gate Park with the drummers, performers and hippy types that gather there. Wayne decided to change his plans for the day to show me around, for which I am endlessly grateful. We rode into town via the Fisherman's Wharf/North Beach route, which is packed with visitors and street vendors. Wayne is a tour guide at heart, and he pointed out all the best places to eat and visit that we passed, along with things that I never would have found on my own; back alley shops and a museum dedicated to the poets of the beat generation. After trying a few places, we eventually found the Adelaide hostel, tucked into an alley just south of Chinatown. Wayne left me here, where I've been living for the week.
My first day on the town, I went exploring with a pair of travelers from the hostel, Eilin and Johannes. They're taking a few weeks to visit the west coast, after completing a study-abroad semester in Vermont. We wandered up to the Beat Museum, hung out in Washington Square taking in the sights, and eventually walked all the way north to the Fisherman's Wharf via Lombard St, the twistiest street in San Fran, and one of the steepest. Fisherman's Wharf is the heart of the summer tourism district, so it was packed with people, restaurants, street vendors and the like. Right in the middle of all this, a group of sea lions have taken up residence in the harbor, making for an interesting tourist attraction. In the summer proper the group numbers almost 300 strong, but at the moment only about 50 or so are hanging around for the winter.
Yesterday was a busy day as well; I took my bike out to go exploring, and this proved to be an excellent decision. Everything in San Fran is within comfortable riding distance, so I crisscrossed through the various neighborhoods from 10 in the morning until 8 at night. I'll post some pictures of what I've seen as soon as I can, but for now we're being kicked out of the hostel for the day; there's come construction going on that they want us out of the way for.
-Nick