Challenge answered, part one: Saturday am

Saturday, bright and early after a hearty American breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, our first stop was the Bank of America, not an obvious tourist destination in anyone's books, but free, and the staff were most helpful with our query. We even got to see Jimmy, our friendly bank manager, in order to exchange cheery waves. [Compare that one, England]

Then, after spying the feet-achingly long queue for the cable car, decided to take the Muni to Fisherman's Wharf. A caveat to the spend as little as you can is the fact that I was already in possession of a weekly Muni pass, but for those of you who are counting my cents, it cost $15 [£7.50] (with a $1 extra payment to ride a cable car, as opposed to the usual $5). Happy?

OK, so our first proper stop was the tourist mecca: tacky, noisy, bustling, dripping with people, magpie like, ready to part with dollars for anything bright and glitzy, and preferably magnetic to stick on their fridges; you've guessed it, Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf. We passed droves of people trying on silly hats and eating chips (as in fries and not crisps, this all gets very confusing) despite the early hour. We weaved round the pier, taking in the views of Alcatraz and taking pictures of the more incredibly named shops. We fast found our first free sight, but smelt it long before, barking, boisterous, sea-lion show-offs doing the aquatic equivalent of strutting their stuff whilst the humans lapped it up. Nature's glitz and glamour and all for free - they weren't even selling fridge magnetics, and still the people loved them. Apparently they arrived at the dock after the 1989 earthquake, and as they are creatures of habit, keep coming back. Pier 39 is all the richer for it.

Feeling buoyant, we made the first mistake of the day and decided to go to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum. We had a voucher for $3 off per adult so paid $11.95 [£5.98] each. Billed as a museum of the unbelievable, it was. A pseudo scientific freak show, and poorly executed at that. A pre-runner of Big Brother style voyeurism for those who come armed with no pre-knowledge of anything whatsoever. It had some highlights and would be more suitable for children, but of the weekend, it was our biggest single spend and biggest disappointment, especially compared to all that we saw for free.

Still, all this walking was making us hungry. A jaunt up to Ghiardelli Square, named after a big chocolate company, and now a San Franciscan landmark, led us to Loris Diner, a 1950s style hamburger joint. I had downloaded a 20% off voucher from their website which meant lunch for 2 (a club sandwich with coleslaw, and a BLT with chips, and 2 orange juices) came to $21 [£10.48]. The portions were huge and meant that we didn't need dinner. I imagine we wore off some of the many calories climbing the hill up to Coit Tower....