As I stood in a left wing bookshop, the faint smell of cannabis could be detected from a passing couple of hippies. It was hard to believe I was in George W Bush's America.

In reality, I was not. The United States is a country of opposite extremes. Life in cities like San Francisco is liberal, laid back, forward thinking and confident. Most people vote Democrat. I don't need to describe what life is probably like in Crawford, Texas.

The bookshop was in the Haight area of San Fran, which is one of the most iconic symbols of the 1960s. It was here, in 1967, that the infamous 'summer of love' took place. The Haight's reputation for drug fuelled, psychedelic lifestyles attracted thousands of young Americans from the more conservative parts of the country. It still does today, to an extent. I was quite shocked my the sheer number of young white kids, who looked liked they'd been travelling for days rather than substance abusers, that stopped me in the street and asked for money. They had obviously just left home, either in search of some kind of mythical new life or to escape their current existence. The area felt more like it was living of its past rather than offering some exciting alternative present, I have to say.

From the Haight I wondered the short distance down to the Castro, which is the city's principal gay district. This is an extremely pleasant, well-kept district with a multitude of bars, cafes, restaurants and cute little shops. The rainbow flag was resplendent everywhere. Virtually everything about the place is gay - the residents and businesses. This is what marks the area out in comparison to other gay parts of cities I have seen across the world - it is a genuine community. In England we have areas where there are a few bars, maybe the odd business like a sex shop, but that is pretty much the extent of it (apart from some bits of Brighton). In the Castro they have gay bakers and the local cinema only shows gay films. I'm not necessarily saying I want to live somewhere like this, but it is unquestionably different. There is no such thing as a gay community in London, as such. There are bars in Soho, a couple in Clapham, tons of clubs in Vauxhall and a few pubs in Earls Court, but there isn't a part of the city that has the pink magnet underneath it. We have areas where there are bars, we do not have communities.

One of the things I love about San Francisco is its size - it's very small by American city standards. This means it is virtually all navigable by foot. I have greatly enjoyed just strolling around its streets and just simply being there. It is a testament to a place that you can see the best of it by doing nothing out of the ordinary. You don't need to build a big gallery or start bungee jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge to love San Francisco. Talking of the famous bridge, I took a harbour cruise out to the bridge on Tuesday afternoon. It is beautiful, but I don't think any bridge or any harbour compares to what there is in Sydney. Once you've experienced that on a perfect summer day, there really is nothing to better it. Still, SF looked lovely from the water. Its skyline is remarkably un-intruded - there are no ugly tall buildings, quite the opposite in fact. The white houses give the place a continental flavour that clearly owes much to California's Spanish heritage.

The boat was overwhelmingly filled with Indian tourists. Virtually every single one of them boarded the vessel clutching a McDonalds takeaway, which momentarily depressed me intensely. I could not understand why the people of a country that produces some of the finest food in the world would want to eat that crap, but then I reminded myself we were, after all, in America. Visiting a country and eating its cuisine is not actually that odd.