San Francisco - first impressions

I've never visited the States before, so San Francisco was my first opportunity to see what life is really like in the USA.

One part of growing up in the UK that must be the same for kids all over the world is that I've had a steady diet American culture through movies and tv for as long as I can remember. The majority of this, due to the nature of the entertainment industry, has more specifically been Californian culture, which makes this place seem like some kind of strange home from home.

As we made the short drive from the airport to Addy's house everything around us seemed familiar and alien at the same time. Big yellow school buses, over-sized cars, 6 wheel pickup trucks and shiny big-rigs, drive-throughs, freeways, brands and business names familiar from a thousand films and now suddenly here in real life. The overwhelming feeling is that you've somehow walked on the set of a movie.

One surprise was on the streets all around us, where people were the opposite of the obese, shuffling fast food fetishists that lazy stereotyping had lead me to expect. But then again, this is California - America's heartland for health freaks, organic eating and clean living.

San Francisco itself is beautiful. As soon as we arrived I started daydreaming about moving here sometime in the future. It's one of those cities where every sidestreet seems to have something new and interesting going on, and the different neighbourhoods all seem so different, but at the same they all have an undefinable San Francisconess to them. Or San Franciscocity. Or something.

The diversity of the city's population is reflected in the awesome selection of food choices available to you here. Food is really important to both of us, and we've been really spoilt by the quality of everything here - sushi, Vietnamese, Californian Cuisine; it's all amazing! Tasha's managed to keep me on the straight and narrow in terms of avoiding unnecessary fast food, but I did manage to sneak in a truly mammoth burrito. I fell asleep almost immediately afterwards though - think my body went into shutdown in an attempt to avoid any further calorie intake.