Last day in SF

Today, I was going to take it easy. I was going to sit down in a nice coffee place and drink tea all day reading my Ewan McGregor book. Did I manage to chill and relax today?! My feet were unstoppable. I started off taking the bus in the direction of the Golden Gate Park but saw this beautiful building and decided to get off early. My Lonely Planet told me it was SF's town hall, which stood out in this city, it didn't really fit in with the architecture I'd seen all week. Just across from the city hall was the San Francisco philharmonic Orchestra building and opera. A notice indicated that guided tours were organised on Monday's so I thought, why not?

I walked in and thought I might have missed the 10am tour as it was quarter past, however, 3 old men (friends with my French lady?) were waiting for anybody who was interested in taking the tour. It cost me $3 and it was the best tour in the world! I got my private tour guide (or docent they like to call it) and he told me I was lucky this morning as the San Francisco Philharmonic orchestra was rehearsing! So not only did I get to see the building and was told about its history and conductors but I actually attended part of the rehearsal... He then guided me to the opera house where we entered back stage. He showed me the opera hall, took me back stage and on the stage and in the orchestra pit. It was absolutely amazing - and all that for 3$!!

I then started walking to a park with apparently beautiful views and wauzers, they were right! As with all journeys in SF, it was quite a hike getting up there but well worth it... After lunch I made my way to the Golden Gate Park through one of the hippy areas of SF. Rainbows everywhere. I wasn't all that impressed with the Park, the biggest man-made in the world. As you get closer to the Pacific Ocean, it becomes a lot colder, mistier and windier. And as today was a working day, hardly anybody was in the park which freaked me out a little. Quite a lot of homeless people live in the park - I probably would if I was homeless as the scenery is quite nice. My original plan was to have tea at the Japanese Tea Gardens but the tea was served outdoors and I was already freezing so I declined.

I then walked up to the Botanical Gardens, which are massive. If it weren't for the cold, mist and wind, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Once I made my way back into town, I found myself a nice comfy seat in Starbucks and drank tea for an hour, reading my book. At last. I bought some snacks for on the train, in case I get hungry half way between meals, and I also bought another book, just in case I run out of things to read.

Back at the YH now and me and 3 other girls in my dorm have had a right old laugh tonight. Two Aussies and one Dutch girl (who's the President of the Robin Williams website and she was in SF to see him - he lives here - and another thing, she's scarily tall!! 1.91m!!). They basically put a big black mama in our dorm who snored for the world. It was fun to start with but then the 4 of us got increasingly annoyed so I decided I wasn't having it! They've now put all 4 of us in another dorm where it's nice and quiet. I still like YH...

Got to sleep a little now as I need to wake up at 6am to catch the Amtrak bus to the train. No blogging till Friday at the earliest! Laters.