On the West Coast

Today we left Washington DC and flew to San Francisco. The trip on Alaska Airlines was pretty good until Ronan left Ian's expensive noise cancelling headphones on the plane. That mishap threatened to derail our day completely but Ronan eventually calmed down.

After checking into our hotel, we headed out to check the local area. In our ignorance, we walked in the wrong direction and ended up in the scariest, most depressing neighbourhood I have ever seen. The streets were filthy and we were literally stepping over homeless people. I was completely freaked out. We made a fast turn and headed back in the opposite direction. After crossing a few streets, we found ourselves in a beautiful neighbourhood. San Francisco seems to change characters street by street.

We wandered through the Nob Hill area where the homes are beautiful and the streets are so hilly. We visited Grace Cathedral and the Cable Car Museum. We walked through Chinatown where a big street festival was happening. We walked back through the Financial District and, almost by accident, found ourselves in the poshest, most upmarket shopping streets. Within a few kilometres we saw life in all its manifestations.

So far, I think that San Francisco is interesting but the sight of homeless and struggling people on the streets is heartbreaking. Both Ronan and I noticed how few homeless people were in New York (and those we saw didn't look like they were doing that badly). But here is SF, there is so much human misery on display. It is really sad and, I suspect, it may interfere with our ability to enjoy this city.