Simply golden: San Francisco is the American city that has it allSaturday - so it must be San Francisco. Returning after half a lifetime to somewhere you once found happiness is not necessarily a sensible move. But here I am on the tour bus with James Blunt. I'm writing a book on what turns out to be a gruelling pop marathon - 213 performances, 58 countries in only 15 months.
The trouble with such a hectic schedule is that more often than not you see little of each city beyond the walls of your dressing room or hotel. But for me San Francisco has such poignant memories that I simply have to explore.
The last time I found myself at the junction of Haight and Ashbury, I was a 19-year-old hippie with shoulder-length hair hoping to study creative writing at San Francisco State College.
Back then I lived and loved a little with an almost unknown singer called Janis Joplin. Joplin got me a job working the lights in The Fillmore, the city's iconic concert venue, where she was performing. Incredibly, I'm back in the Fillmore tonight watching not Janis but James Blunt on that same stage. My life has gone full circle.
'We cannot change unless we survive. We cannot survive unless we change,' says a placard on Haight Street.
I've changed down the years - and so too, I quickly find, has San Francisco. Of course, the climate is the same. The city is at its balmy, fog-free best in spring and autumn - and it's never truly cold. Even in November and December you can expect temperatures of 60F.
Today Golden Gate Park is bathed in a warm haze as I cycle past. A bike is the best way to get to grips with the city. But plan your route with care - some hills are steep enough to ski down.
Bike And Roll has high quality rentals - you'll need all the gears you can get - and provides a friendly guide for sightseeing. Cycle hire starts at around a fiver an hour, including helmet.
I took the easiest tour - a gentle two-hour peddle, mainly on a dedicated bike path from Fisherman's Wharf along the bay past Fort Mason and the Palace of Fine Arts to the Golden Gate Bridge.
It's best to invest in the £40 San Francisco Pass
(www.citypass.com/city/sanfrancisco). This gives you unlimited cable car rides as well as entry into five attractions, including the must-see Museum of Modern Art.
San Francisco is all about diverse communities. Haight Ashbury looks much the same but a lot smarter than I remember. Boutiques and restaurants have sprouted alongside the souvenir shops selling bubble pipes and psychedelic T-shirts.
Pam Brennan arrived in Haight Ashbury as a child with her hippie parents at about the time I left. She now runs a psychedelic museum and walking tours. 'What you've missed out on are decades of decay,' she told me. 'Now the whole area is becoming wonderfully retro.' Let's hope that's what I, too, have become.
Castro, the focal point of the city's gay community, is a relaxed bohemian neighbourhood where 'normal' is a word devoid of definition.
Japantown, the two Chinatowns, North Beach and the mandatory trip across the bay to Alcatraz should not be missed. But venture farther and you will be rewarded.
Angel Island, reached by ferry, is a state park with miles of hiking trails. Climb to the top of Mt Livermore for spectacular views of the city skyline. On a clear day you can see all five bay bridges.
Fisherman's Wharf has gone from blue collar Industrial to Renaissance Chic to Tasteless Tacky. Now, this end of the city is upbeat once again with the emergence of new restaurants and designer hotels that make it an ideal place to be based.
Guitar hero: Working on the James Blunt tour had brought Peter to San FranciscoThe Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf is a short walk from the shops, and the restaurants of Pier 39 are just a block from the historic cable car station at Ghirardelli Square. An outdoor heated pool and open fire pits on the terrace will keep you warm on cool evenings.
Do visit the old San Francisco Ferry Building at the Fisherman's Wharf end of Market Street, reached on the F-line by restored trolley buses from around the world. It houses a market place of local food and wine-related shops and reasonably-priced restaurants. Food should play an important part in any visit. Twice a year (January 15-31 and June 1-15 in 2011) more than 100 restaurants offer big discounts such as three-course dinners for £21 - a saving of 25 per cent.
San Francisco is strong on fish and seafood and my favourite is the no-nonsense Waterbar on the Embarcadero on the edge of the financial district. Oysters cost just a dollar each until 6pm. You can dine from Sunday to Thursday for £37, with a bottle of wine.
In this multi-cultural city try also Slanted Door in a corner of the restored Ferry Building. It has some of the freshest and most interesting Vietnamese dishes by top chef Charles Phan. Expect to pay £37 a head without wine.
Beautiful bars abound, but Bourbon & Branch in Jones Street is a reconstruction of the illegal speakeasy that operated on the same site in the 1920s as JJ Russell's cigar shop.
He didn't sell many cigars, but he did sell a hell of a lot of bootleg bourbon. To reach the secret library, a private bar within the speakeasy you need a password. It's 'books', by the way. Just don't tell anyone.
It's a relief to discover that San Francisco is just as wonderful a destination for me now as it was all those years ago. I'm glad I went back. But once again the show is over, the last of the trucks is loaded and I'm back on the bus. It's Sunday, so it must be San Diego.
Travel Facts
Virgin Holidays (www.virginholidays.co.uk) offers a seven-night stay at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf with flights and accommodation, but no meals, from £959pp in December.
Peter Hardy's account of the James Blunt tour, Different Country Same State, is published by Headline Review and available from amazon.co.uk at £9.49.
James Blunt's new album Some Kind Of Trouble is out now.
source :dailymail
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