I'm Jack Kerouac baby, I'm beat...

This morning we took the Cable car to Lombard St and walked down what they say is the crookedest street in the world, its not, thats Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa...apparently...but it is most impressive nonethelessl. How I'd love to have a go driving down there at high speed, which is a bit mad because it took me all my time just to walk down without falling over! :o)

We walked the rest of the way down Lombard and onto Columbus Ave then ambled through North Beach until we found Washington Square - our picnic spot for the day. It's in the shadow of the Saints Peter And Paul Church (where Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio were photographed a few days after they were married - although the wedding wasn't actually there, they just wanted the photos to show Joes folks! Today's debatably interesting factoid!) and was inhabited by an interesting mixture of tourist, local and tramp... I was most disappointed by the total lack of little Chinese men playing Mah Jong and Checkers in the sunshine - I was promised little Chinese men, where have they gone?!

Not far from here is one of the places I've most wanted to visit for years, City Lights Bookshop. Founded in 1953 by poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, it was the nations first all-paperback bookstore and also began publishing in 1955 - most notably Allen Ginsberg's Howl (yes, I bought it! What can I say, I'm a book geek). They now have over 100 titles in print.
It became a literary landmark for alternative culture and home of the beat generation, a lot of whom would hang out and write next door in Versuvios (there is even a Kerouac St nearby). It's a gorgeous place with a wonderful atmosphere, they actively encourage you to sit around reading with signs like "Abandon all despair yea who enter here" and "Have a seat and read a book". Theres a poetry room upstairs with sunlight streaming in the window and a couple of rocking chairs where you can make yourself comfy.
A real book-lovers paradise, I loved it, I could have been there for hours :o)

However, we are both pretty beat ourselves today - we've been hard at the sightseeing for a week now trying to cram absolutely everything in and its starting to tell on our poor tired bodies! So to avoid burning out when we still have 5 weeks to go (!) we thought that instead of going down to the Mission like we'd planned we'd take the cable back up to Powell Street and go into Lori's.

Lori's is the most fabulous fifties diner. It was wondrous! A Cadillac burger with fries, onion rings and a strawberry shake later and its back to the hotel to blip and bed!

I couldn't resist posting this photo of my wee pal Mags, totally engrossed :)