After rooming with two French guys who decided to get up at 8 o'clock, I decided to explore the Hostel, and all of its wondrous residents. I happened to meet two Belgians who were visiting San Fransisco for the first time, and a very talkative Yankee, who was very keen in explaining why coffee on the east coast was just the same as coffee on the west coast. Thankfully, Scott awoke from his beauty sleep, to where we agreed that we would start our day, act like a bunch of tourists, and get Sean out of his bed.

The sight seeing turned out to be slightly uneventful in the beginning, but it did pack in the sights, that is for sure. For example, Union Square, which nestles nicely into the heart of downtown, is surrounded by shops, boutiques, and everything thing that makes Americans hard core buyers. It passed by mostly unnoticed, but we did happen to take some shots of the square itself.

Continuing on, we entered Chinatown, the home of cheap eats and cheap items. Sean and Scott (from my perspective) were like a couple of toddlers who woke up on Christmas morning, excited about all the new “toys” they could get their hands on. Needless to say, Scott bought two shirts, and Sean bought two shirts and a wooden back scratcher. I myself was looking forward to some Chinese Food, but sadly, none of us were hungry, and we pushed north to Fisherman's Warf.

However, before we could reach the plethora of piers, I noticed on the map that there was an attraction called “Coit Tower”. With a famous picture of San Fransisco including a shinning white tower standing on a hill residing in the depths of my memory, I beckoned to Sean and Scott to make a momentary detour. Although Scott begs to differ, I thought the view was worth the 5$ admission. The sight was quiet incredible, offering un-paralleled views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Downtown San Fransisco, and the whole bay. Outside the front of the tower, was this toilet that cleaned itself, and gave instructions into how to use itself, and had an automated door. Quite incredible, if I do say so myself.

After hiking down the hill that Coit Tower stood upon, we landed smack dab in the middle of Fisherman's Warf. This series of piers used to be a bustling port welcoming in ships who had received a gigantic catch of fish, but now is quite the tourist trap. However, that deterred none of us, as we wanted to get into the “tourist” spirit! So we continued down the boardwalk, observing salesmen, break-dancers, an array of seafood, and quite competitive seagulls. Nevertheless, we went on a hunt and got some delicious sour dough bread, which was gutted out and filled to the brim with clam chowder. After lunch, we continued down the boardwalk to find us some Ghirardelli Chocolate and polarized Sunglasses for Sean and Scott; we found both :-D.

At this point and time, we decided to change our direction and maneuver south back to the hostel, diverting here and there for sights. One of these sight was Lombard Street, home of the “curviest road”. We decided to sit on the side of the road and watch a number of drivers attempt the crazy feat of maneuvering between the hedges that represented the sides of the road, all the while taking pictures of ourselves and chuckling with regards to the tourist who were trying to get a picture while standing on the road, narrowly dodging the on coming traffic. Although the area was quite silent with respect to the rest of the bustling metropolis, there was a multitude of loud squawks that grabbed our attention. The owners of this jibber-gabber was a flock of Red-masked Parakeets, who descended from released pets and successfully survived the harsh metropolis.

We continued south, hiking (yes, hiking) up the very steep Nob Hill. Apparently this hill used to be home tycoons from different industries in the early 1900's, but now is home to fancy hotels and Grace Cathedral, a beautiful, large, and stoic church with a multitude of stained glass, candles, dark bricks, and a very large Organ. Exploring took quite some time, and we were eventually kicked out, although our curiosity was never quite satisfied.

Now that we are back in the hostel, we are exhausted. However, we are looking forward to our interview with Joe Brown, an associate editor at Wired Magazine, and spending a chuck of the morning in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and UC-Berkley.