San Francisco, CA

After the splendor of Yosemite National Park, our next destination was the city of San Francisco. Guess we went from Diego to the Bay as Dr. Dre once rapped. Anyway, after some hellish traffic along some steep hills, we arrived at our destination WITHOUT our navigational system (goe gedaan!). We spend 5 night and 4 full days in "Frisco" (never say this to the locals though) and it was one of the nicest cities we visited so far (and at a great hostel called Amsterdam Hostel). We systematically explored all the different neighborhoods of the city (e.g. China Town, Haight-Ashbury, Mission, Fisherman's Wharf) on foot and probably in total walked more than a marathon. On our final day, we rented a couple of "cruiser" bikes and decided to go see the Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate bridge (BTW which is NOT the one we describe on our DVD-footage. That was the Bay Bridge... come on, it was dark!)

We ended up biking the entire day from 9:00 until 17:00 and covered well over 35 miles of steep and less steep terrain. We almost got run-over a couple of times and both our asses hurt like hell but it was worth it, especially the route over the Golden Gate Bridge. The slideshow also includes some pictures of that trip as well. But wait! There's more. Yes, we also shot a little video while bike the bridge for your enjoyment. Check the "Biking the Golden Gate Bridge" post for that one.

Finally, we went to the most famous chinese restaurant of the city: House of Nanking. We actually had to wait in two lines for half an hour to be able to eat something. But, if everybody was this crazy, it must be good and it was. Still, it was an, oh say, swift experience. When it was our turn we got pulled into what can best be described as a tile shack, a menu pushed in our hands along with two soda cans and bang... there was the food. It tasted great and was relatively cheap but we were out of there in 15 minutes! Talk about fast food! They were more efficient than any McDonalds ever even hopes to be. Ok, got to stop yapping. More stories and impressions when we return. Vaya con dios!