Travel Diary: San Francisco

Hey guys, 

I'm back! If you don't follow me on social media (and if you don't, then you probably are thinking I just vanished off the face of the earth, as I haven't published a post in just over 3 weeks!) I know, I'm a bad blogger, but I have a genuine reason for this; I was going on a tour down the west coast of California! So, therefore, I thought that I would do a travel diary-esque blog post for each place that I visited, along with recommendations of places to visit and eat. And I will also apologise for the sheer length of this post, as it's going to be pretty long, so grab a cuppa and get comfy!

So first I had to mention breakfast. The first day that we visited, we went to a cafe which sold food such as pancakes and waffles, and in all fairness they made a pretty decent pancake! 

However, the next day, we thought that we would try something a bit different, and went to a cafe called 'eight am', and I'm gonna be honest, their breakfasts were amazing! After visiting here on the second day, this turned out to be our go-to for breakfast. I had a fruit and granola parfait every morning and it was sooooo good! My dad opted for the 'avocado three ways' (how very blogger of him) and mum had the same as me! So yes, if you are ever visiting San Francisco, be sure to check out 'eight am'! I don't think that they have a website, but the restaurant is located on Colombus Avenue.

You may have already seen this if you follow me on Instagram (if not, my username is @loveellenagrace, and you should definitely follow me #cheekyselfpromo) , and this was breakfast in Haight-Ashbury. I also had a croissant but I ate it before my drink came, so I apologise. Soz, but food.

For a couple of the days that we were in San Francisco, we went on an open-top bus tour. This was so we could see all the main sights, as we wouldn't have fitted everything in otherwise! On the tour, we visited places such as Union Square, the Golden Gate Bridge and Haight-Ashbury. 

 
We also visited Pier 39, which was nothing like I was expecting it to be! It had restaurants, shops and even a carousel! It was so cute, so we spent a couple of hours wandering around here.

After wandering around Pier 39, we visited Alcatraz! We did have to book this a couple of weeks in advance as this normally does sell out, but we managed to get tickets, as there is only one company that can take people to the island. This was probably one of the highlights of our trip to San Francisco, as it was so interesting! When you get there, they give you an audio tour and take you round all the different areas, such as the cell blocks and the recreation compound. However, the recreation compound was shut when we were there due to refurbishment, so we unfortunately didn't get to see this.

Plus, we got to meet one of the guards who used to work there as he was there to do a book signing, which was amazing. He told us that, during his first hour of working there, he witnessed a murder! But yeah, it is definitely worth a visit if you're ever visiting San Francisco, but be sure to book well in advance!

Very blurry picture of Alcatraz (I had to zoom in A LOT)

Me and mum on the way to Alcatraz on the ferry, with the San Francisco skyline behind us

Me outside one of the cells, they were awful

After visiting Alcatraz, we went back to Pier 39 as we had only seen a bit of it due to having to rush to get the ferry. And I am sooooo glad that we did! We heard a lot of shouting and 'awwww's' coming from the end of the pier, so we ventured to investigate what was going on. And look what we came across! 

Look at how adorable the seals are! I had never seen so many seals in one place before, and they were all so lovely.

Obviously, we had to visit the Golden Gate Bridge! On one day we actually cycled across to Sausalito, as our hotel had free bike hire. It was so bizarre, as San Francisco was incredibly foggy, yet Sausalito was bright sunshine, and the only cloud was that over San Francisco. 

The weather was quite bizarre in San Francisco, as I had heard that it was foggy and a bit chilly, yet I kinda thought 'nah it won't be, it'll be okay, it can't be that cold'. Well, it's fair to say I was wrong! It was quite warm in the city, yet if you went near the bay, the temperature would drop about 10 degrees!

Just for the comedy value, here is a very unflattering photo of me on the Golden Gate bridge whilst cycling across

lol, why am I stood so weirdly

So on the last day, we visited Haight-Ashbury, which was actually really cool! Here is the 'hippy' part, where each building is brightly coloured, and shops that stock clothes of a 70s vibe were a'plenty. It was super fab, and the tie-dye shop that we visited had free glitter that you should use 'to spread the sparkle', and I was very tempted to get some and throw it at random people who were grumpy. But I didn't. Because that would probably be a bit weird.

And of course, we had to see/ride on a cable car. These are famous in San Francisco, and around the world, and were really cool to see in real life. Our hotel, The Argonaut, was next to the Powell and Hyde stop, which was where an advert was filmed years ago. Therefore, there was a massive queue outside of here every day, and people would wait 2 hours just to get a ride up the street!

However, we got a tip off our bus tour guide, who told us to get the California Street line, as the queue was a lot shorter. So there's a little tip for anyone who is thinking of visiting!

So there you go, that was my time in San Francisco! From here, we went to Yosemite, which I must say was absolutely stunning! This will be my next blog post, so be sure to look out for that! Thanks for reading this very long post, and I hope that you enjoyed it!

Where have you visited this summer, and what was your favourite part of summer?

Much love amigos,

Grace x