More photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tibes/show/

Well I awoke today to the sound of the car park door. Banging. Banging. Banging. Banging….

I haven’t gotten much sleep in this hotel, but there’s only one night to go. For the price and location, I’m not too upset. To be honest none of the hotels I’ve walked past haven’t looked all that great, and most of it comes down to luck. I tried going to grab breakfast at 7 am today, to beat the rush. It was just as busy as yesterday though, so I don’t think it really matters when you go for breakfast. Given I almost scalded myself with piping hot coffee because I was still half asleep, I might delay my trip to the breakfast room tomorrow. Or at least stick to OJ. (The drink, not the infamous footballer).

When I returned from breakfast I was awake enough to notice that the sky was very overcast. Not a great start to the day. I went inside and showered, and dressed ready for some biking action - sports socks, comfortable shoes, jeans, and two long sleeved shirts. I left the hotel room to find that it was no pouring with rain. Great!

Instead of the bike ride, I decided to check out some of the city-based sights I hadn’t seen yet and see if the weather improved. Stupidly I didn’t go back inside and change into more sensible clothes. I did grab the umbrella I packed though. I headed straight up Geary St, the street the hotel backs on to. This led me to one of the churchs that I read about in the lonely planet guide. It’s got very unique (modern, futuristic) architecture. I took some snaps of it with some difficulty given that it was now beginning to rain with some force. I might add that none of the photos from today came out all that great. The conditions were difficult, the lighting was boring and my inspiration and enthusiasm began to wane as the weather got worse.

Anyhow, I headed from the church a few blocks through the Pacific Heights neighbourhood to Alamo Square. This is a really beautiful neighboorhood, with lots of older Victorian houses. If I were to live in San Francisco I could definitely put up with living in one of these places. Opposite Alamo Square are the “Painted Ladies” (see the pics), which are a row of six old style victorian homes, which managed to survive the 1906 (?) earthquake unscathed. There are other house like these around, but not all in the one spot. It’s quite a picture-postcard scene, so I tooks some pics (which aren’t all that impressive given how overcast the weather is). While I was trying to take some pictures without me or the camera getting soaked, I was attacked by a lady’s dog who was off his leash. This did not improve my mood.

I left Alamo Square and took a walk through a few suburbs of San Francisco I hadn’t seen before, towards the Civic Centre and Union Square districts. I’d already passed through the Civic Centre when I’d arrived, but I’d been too flustered to take much notice. I was about half way through when I had to give up on the camera entirely and pack it away. Just holding on to the umbrella was a challenge. The wind was gusting, and it was bitterly cold. The rain began to rain so hard I couldn’t even tell which direction it was coming from anymore.

By the time I got to City Hall, I was just about ready to pack up and go home. My shoes were full of water and my clothes had several damp patches. I don’t think the umbrella will be making any further trips. R.I.P. I spent some time walking around window shopping at the different shops and malls in the Union Square area since it was way too wet to take any photos. Eventually I need to use a bathroom and so my new goal was to find a public bathroom. There are a handful of them on the street kind of like the automatic ones in Melbourne, except the ones Melbourne actually work. All the ones I found were closed and wouldn’t open. I’ll also add that you need to insert a quarter (25c) to use one.

None of the fast food restaurants or cafes here seem to have public bathrooms. Or if they do they like to keep them hidden. The shopping strips here aren’t the same as in Australia either. There’s a lot of small street shop-fronts, they’re sort of jack-of-all-trade shops that might cover say, cameras, music gear, electronics, cash, etc. Or prescriptions, groceries, price-line type products. It’s hard to tell sometimes what shops actually sell, if you aren’t familiar with the name. The malls also are mainly clothing outlets and food, not much in the way of other shops. There’s no public bathrooms in the downtown malls either.

Eventually I found a Borders. I love Borders. I used the bathroom in Borders, as I’ve been known to do at Chaddy on occasion and then settled down to read some books and get out of the rain for a while. I didn’t end up buying anything, because I’m trying to be careful I don’t have too much luggage to carry back. There were a couple of books I’d consider getting as presents though.

When I left the warmth of Borders, I realised just how damn cold I was. I decided I’d go back to the hotel and change. I’d rather be comfortable and tired, than wet, sick and tired. It was a 30 minute walk back to the hotel and a 30 minute walk back downtown. I grabbed a quick burger (I’m doing so much walking, I’m not worried too much about food choices… when in Rome). When I came back out into the street, I was greeted with an afternoon hail shower. The first few blobs caught me by surprise, by smacking me first in the nose then in the eye. Up with the umbrella again.

The rest of the afternon I spent further through Union Square to the financial district, checking out all the shops and sights. On the way back I tried to find the Borders store again, to pick up one of the books I saw, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I was sure I knew which block it was on, but I walked around the area for fourty-five minutes looking for the damn store and I couldn’t find it. I remember when I first saw it that it was tough to spot, because it didn’t have a big banner like the other stores in the street. Eventually I gave up and walked home. I picked up some snacks and some fresh water at the Asian cafe again. They’re very friendly in there, the Asian woman who serves is really funny, because she ends every sentence (in a thick accent) with a question… Yah?? Today I resisted the urge to answer the question, otherwise we could get stuck in an infinite loop of questions and answers, and I’d never get away.

Anyway, tonight is my last night in San Francisco until Friday, and I still haven’t been across the bridge. The weather is meant to improve tomorrow, so I’m thinking about stowing my luggage here in the hotel lockup and doing the ride tomorrow over lunch before going to San Jose. If I just do the ride across the bridge and ferry back without doing any of the extra stuff it’s only meant to take 2-4 hours. I bike pretty fast anyhow. Fingers crossed….