Friday 6 July 2007

Day Two: Guitars, Walking, Hills, Not really that funny.

HI. I'm tired today so its going to another short one. I think that's fair really, I have been walking around this crazy city all day. I'm pretty sure this city doesn't have a clue what it wants. The hills are all over the place. These rant just little pathetic hills... these are steep hills! I should know - I challenged my self to run up one. Mission successful! WOO.

Today was a busy crazy mess of a day. I woke up quite late because last night I watched 3 movies (it was movie night, WITH free popcorn. 'Free popcorn' only meant one bowl of popcorn between about 30 people, but still, its the thought that counts.) After the unsure shower - I didn't really know the process of the shower arrangement. I assumed I couldn't walk about in my boxers - the usual get-into-the-shower gear and so I just put on an old t-shirt and wandered down the hallway. First off, actually, I nipped downstairs to get some of the free soap and shampoo at reception. Result. I have run out of that kind of stuff, so I'm going to have to get some products before I start my crazy America travels. Well, the America travels have begun already as I am in America, but you get the point.

It was free, all you can eat pancakes this morning at breakfast and I thought perfect! A nice easy breakfast were I can just sit back and be served. Not so fast! All they did was make the batter. Now, you Clarke people know that I never make pancakes, I honestly think I have not made more than 3 on my own. Its a good thing that the batter was ready because that is completely unexplored area on my part! The batter that was 'assigned' to my stove was REALLY thick, so the first one that I attempted was a really fat one (still quite nice!) then the second I spread the batter love about a bit on the old saucepan and it was looking good. Then it came to the flip. The pancake broke up into a lot of little people. I didn't have the strength to start again so I just cooked off the little bits and I was done. Drowning it all in maple syrup I guzzled it all down. Nice.

First off I set out to go visit Guitar Centre to hunt out the guitar I'm going to buy in the states. The people there couldn't be less helpful. As soon as I said I was just looking, and even though I was going to buy the guitar in a Guitar Centre store, and I was not going to buy it here they just pointed me in the direction of the acoustic guitars. The choice was good, but they only had one of the guitars in store so I couldn't compare them next to each other. In the end I just sat playing a guitar for a while. I was playing Blackbird, by the Beatles, and some other guy started playing it. Whenever he stopped I started playing it again. He didn't show any interest in me, but I was having a whale of a time. I found some tabs for the song Classical Gas, so I was playing about with that for a bit. Eventually I gave up guitarism and walked on down the street, destination: The Waterfront.

I didn't quite make it there because on the way I saw a barber. Initially I walked on past, I think I was a bit scared of going into a barber shop out of England and I was even more scared of asking for the wrong thing and walking out of the shop with an afro or braids or something crazy. There was only two guys in there the barber and the barbered, theres a new word for you. I started chatting to them (I'm finding chatting to people real easy over here, yesterday over tea I got talking to a guy called Grant from New Zealand. Good stuff.) they welcomed me to San Francisco and all that jazz and I told them about what I had done and what I was doing here. They told me all about themselves and the haircutee, another one - just hitting them out today, paid and left. I struggled through a description of what I wanted done with my mop and he set to work. The haircut began and we kept talking all the way through. He started giving me a real big plan of what I should be doing with few days in Mexico and that was a literal plan - what roads I should take, how I should make the day come round in a full circle by getting buses here, there and everywhere - it was all a really good plan, but I knew as soon as I got out of his store I would forget every word. For now I just kept nodding to whatever he said. Some more chat chat chat and it was done. It looked like what I would get at home, so I was happy. Paid the man and walked out the door, turned the corner and headed on down to the waterfront. I was quite proud of myself for actually getting the haircut done. I didnt think I would do it and go home with hair down to my knees. If only. I was hoping to see the Golden Gate Bridge pretty clearly BUT San Francisco gets a good fog, better than I have ever seen in England, and so I could only see the bottom supports. Oh well, took a picture anyway. *Pictures update: Still looking for that Internet cafe - I have loads to upload though. Good news for you!* After that I wandered about fisher mans wharf until I ran into some your guide person - I wanted to get to Alcatraz but it was all fully booked. He told me to come back tomorrow in the morning and he will see if he can fit me in. Good stuff. I ended up just getting a sight seeing tour of downtown San Fran. Hopped on that and a few million photos later I had to get off the bus to get a jumper from the hostel because it was SOOO cold. My plan was to get back on the next bus that came around but only when I had got off the bus did I realise that that was the last bus of the day. Oh well, I can finish that off tomorrow...

On the way back from the water font, later on in the day I returned to check out Pier 39. I had been recommended to check out that specific pier and it was well worth it! It was awesome! They had everything you could possibly want on a pier and I will tell you it was ALOT better than the ones we have in England. So, anyway, on the way back from the waterfront... I got one of the classic cable cars that you seen whenever a TV or Movie shows San Francisco. I even got the ride for free because the car was too crowded to get to the ticket man. Perfect! That was real fun because you go up and down all the roads. It was just like a slow roller coaster. Wooooo.

On my route to get a jumper I saw a little ticket booth selling tickets for different shows. I wanted to actually do something so I bought a ticket for a little comedy showcase. Looked quite good. It was karaoke night at the hostel and although the prospect of listening plenty of bad versions of Wonderwall all night long was immensely appealing I went for the comedy show. It was in a theatre called 'Our Little Theatre' that was completely literal. The room was tiny, with enough chairs for about 20 people. Oh well, it was still pretty good fun. I laughed. A bit. On the way home it was really cold. I put my hood up and I immediately felt like a 'rude boi'. I watched 8 Mile a couple of days ago and so I felt sufficiently G'ed up like a gangster. I expect I looked like an idiot. Oh well.

Im pretty sure San Francisco road names were just based around the surnames of my friends. Today I saw Ellis, Taylor and Howard streets. I think the rulers of California should show more respect and make up there own names rather than stealing them from my friends.

Well that brings you up to speed on Philly's today. I think I'm just going to wander on down to the TV room, I hear some screaming cats still pouring out there hearts. It might be fun. Soon you will be able to check out my photos, they will tell you about my day better than this blog ever could.

Love always,

[clarke]

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