I love Vegas. I probably shouldn't, as it goes against my personality traits. But there's something about the place that entices me in. Perhaps I'm a sucker for bright lights. Either way, it is somewhere I recommend everyone should go at least once.
As with my previous two visits, the city is temporarily holding some of my money until I come back to win it back from them... I lost some playing poker (standard) but thoroughly enjoyed the buzz of playing alongside human beings again. The highlight was seeing a petulant early 20s kid throwing his empty can of Red Bull in the air when he lost his remaining tournament chips. Lovely lad I'm sure.
Didn't play much by way of table games. Lost about $30 at Roulette. Jess already mentioned her exploits at video poker. We also also played some video craps, but I still do not really understand the game!
We visited old Vegas, Fremont Street. Definitely a different vibe to the strip, but good fun and cheaper, which is nice for the money-conscious visitor.
Took an internal flight to San Francisco. Only took 90 minutes, which after some of our epic train journeys, was a nice change! The bus from the airport to the hotel took an hour, but for $2, cannot moan! Our hostel isn't great, but better than the cockroach room in Orlando. Thankfully the shower is 3 steps outside the room.
As with a few other places, we have been on some walking tours, using the 'Free tours by foot' company, where you tip at the end based on what you think it was worth and what you can afford. Chinatown tour was very interesting. Went into a Buddhist shrine, passed dozens of tat tourist shops, learnt a lot of history of the Chinese in San Fran (biggest Chinese population outside Asia), saw groups of old men playing cards and generally holding court in a park (I can see me doing the same when I retire) and saw a woman hand-making fortune cookies! Also passed through Little Italy and saw places where the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac et al.) wrote and performed.
The next day we were guinea pigs on an inaugural Haight-Ashbury tour, which is/was hippy central. Less interesting tbh. Did go in a cool record store.
Our final tour was an all-in-one city tour, of which we only did half as the second part covered Chinatown again. We saw a lot of wedding parties at city hall, the interior of which was stunning.
San Fran has an interesting aboveground public transport system. Every form is either electric or bio-diesel. Some of the buses run on overhead electric wires which the geek in me finds strangely intriguing. The F line is a cable car which is hugely unreliable, but seemingly only in one direction (one couple waited 45 minutes when it is supposed to be every 5-12). By far the coolest is the cable car that goes up and down the hills of the city. The views are awesome plus it is very quaint. It is also the only US national historic landmark that moves...
We got a CityPass again (got one in Chicago). It included free public transport, which was a bonus. We went to the Exploratorium, which was as cool as it sounds. Lots of kids as it was a kid-focused place, but lots of neat interesting interactive exhibits, including some funky hand-eye coordination stuff. We created ice in a vacuum (ok, the machine did it, but we pushed the buttons!).
The California Academy of Science was another excellent museum, mainly for its mock-rainforest section, with its dozens of butterflies and other cool creatures. Jess got some good photos whilst I was busy turning and twisting to follow the butterflies! They had a skull exhibit, which was freaky but engaging at the same time. The size of certain animal skulls is quite surprising.
Finally today we went on a 90 minute cruise around San Francisco bay, taking in views of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. Seeing the top of the bridge disappear into the clouds was another cool sight, as was the unforgiving surroundings of Alcatraz. No wonder nobody escaped! Last on the city pass was a small aquarium on pier 39 (huge tourist trap) which was a lot better than expected, mainly due to two 25 metre-ish tunnel tanks full of rays, sharks and starfish. I touched a ray and a starfish in a different tank. Slimy!
Tomorrow we head back to the airport and head to our final stop, Los Angeles. Not much in the way of plans. The obligatory wander around Hollywood, plus an LA Dodgers baseball game. Jess wants to get a foam finger, a la mid 90s Gladiators!
Mike
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