And here I thought "hilly" was an exaggeration

[fredericks]

Our first full day in San Francisco was spent walking around taking in the closest sites. We headed down The Embarcadero and poked our head into the shops along the way to Fisherman's Wharf, along with signing up for a nighttime tour of Alcatraz (very much stoked about that one). Fisherman's Wharf struck me as an upscale version of Coney Island, what with all the shopping and seafood and ambiance and the like. Next was Ghiradelli Square, which ended up being a bit of a let down with the construction and half the complex being out of commission. From there we made our way up the damn near vertical Hyde Street to "Crookedest Street", which was neat (how *do* the people who live along that street back out of their garages? I'm still contemplating, and all I've come up with is "very very slowly") and then sauntered over to Chinatown. We really didn't get to look into all the nooks and crannies of Chinatown, but it did remind me of all the best parts of Queen's Main Street area instead of Manhattan's Chinatown, a big plus. I think we'll head back there tomorrow before we go over to the Golden Gate. After that it was just to come back to the hotel, where I'm sitting on the upper floor taking in a view of the bay and some random well-lit suspension bridge. My internal clock's still operating on EST so I'm inclined to shower and hunker down in a little bit, but it's just wrong to contemplate sleep when the bedside clock says 6PM (unless you're a Flanders, of course).