The first thing we did when we arrived in San Francisco was
put the top down on our mustang and head towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It was
like fulfilling a lifelong dream as my hair tussled with the strong, cold winds.
We headed to the view point but saw nothing except thick fog that swallowed up
the bridge almost completely. Disappointed tourist forced smiles for the photos
that would sadly not have the bridge in it. We were in San Francisco for 3 days
so we hoped that it would eventually clear for us when we visited again.
Michael had booked a hotel on Market Street in the heart of
San Francisco for $65.00 a night which was very cheap. We were happy with our
bargain and we also managed to find a good rate to park our car for 2 days at a
garage just around the corner on 7th Street. Pleased with ourselves
we took out our luggage and headed to our hotel.
You wouldn't believe it but walking down Market Street was
like entering the set of Ken Kasey One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. About 90%
of the people around us were absolutely bonkers. People were ticking and
shouting random words as they rocked back and forth. The homeless congregated on
the pavements huddled over stolen shopping trolleys that they held all their worldly
possessions. This was not the San Francisco I expected to see and it saddened
me. It made me realize how lucky the British are to have the healthcare to look
after the mentally impaired, here they were left vulnerable and exposed.
We spotted our hotel and as we walked towards it I peered
into a group of people sat on the floor to see them injecting needles into
their arms. Horrified we marched through up some tall, dark steps and the smell
of disinfectant to cover smell of smoke and urine hit you as soon as you walked
in. We then went to reception and we were greeted by a man behind a bullet
proof glass. This definitely made up our mind that we did not want to stay here.
The man told us we could not refund our money and pushed our room keys under a
tiny hole in the glass adding that they had a shared bathroom system. Reluctantly we decided we would look at the
room and had to climb another set of stairs covered with carpet stains. We
walked down a long hall and read signs on the door like “PARTY PAD,” and “I JUST
SELL DRUGS BUT I DON’T TAKE IT, I LEAVE THAT FOR THE NIGGAS,” and so forth.
Dismayed, we located our room and pushed the door open to
find a bare walls and dirty sheets. We then heard coughing and realized that
our window looked directly onto another person’s room. Not wanting to stay a
minute longer we left our luggage and took our valuables and decided we needed
to find somewhere else to stay for the night. Luckily we just had to turn the
corner on 7th Street and we found Good Hotel. It was a lovely looking
hotel with a boutique feel but the downside was it was going to cost $180.00 a
night. We decided to treat ourselves and stay the 2 nights, we felt so relieved
to had gotten out of our nightmare. Safe to say the man at Budget Inn was not surprised
when we returned to get our bags and check out.
After a dismal start we were thankful to find that San
Francisco did have a brighter side. We hopped on the tour bus and covered all
interesting spots like, China Town, Union Square and Fisherman’s Wharf etc. We
even went to Alcatraz which was really good and something I would highly
recommend. We ended up having a lovely time. Please follow a link to an article
I wrote for more about our time there at http://myfriendslike.co.uk/san-francisco/
Here are some pictures.....
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