“…be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”
Well that is the most famous song about San Francisco and a global anthem for the Hippy trail in the 60’s. Peace man, ban the bomb, free love, legalise drugs and wear what you feel. History right?..yeh right, it’s all still living right here in this amazing City
The flight up from Los Angeles wasn’t too late, so I caught the train into the centre of the City. I once again had low intelligence for the best place to stay so I went for a brand that I had used in Tokyo and the services description seemed right. I saw it was 2 blocks one way and 2 blocks in another from the central station called ‘Powell Street’, so easy to find. The only problem with that is that when you come out of a Station, you don’t know what side of the road you are on and you can’t see Street signs because there are so many signs. As I came out the Station, I was hit with Buskers and Beggars which is part of the scene in downtown San Francisco. I headed up a main thoroughfare for 2 minutes before spotting someone who looked like a tourist information guide. Actually he looked like Shaggy off Scooby Doo, but he was helpful to give me a very direct line in the opposite direction to where I was walking. I’ve always been pretty good at math. If you walk 2 blocks in the wrong direction and 2 more then in a square, if you are totally wrong, you then have to walk 4 blocks in the opposite direction and 4 in a square to get you to the destination. That means that you might walk 12 blocks, when you wanted to do 4… Still with me? Direction, as in life, is everything!
As directed I found the Hotel on the corner of a block, which was as I had expected and the right quality. I wasn’t into venturing out this evening as I had no real bearings and I was approached by about 10 beggars on the way to the hotel. Not only that, I was to find out that the area is full of Wacky people (probably political incorrect, but accurate I assure you). My safe haven for the evening was the Hotel’s cocktail bar and a leisurely chat with the bar staff of what ‘Frisco had to offer.
One thing I noticed was how long daylight time there was here. It didn’t go dark until 8.30pm, which is the lightest evening I have seen since August last year. What that means is that you have more tourist hours that you can use if you want to.
So next morning, I caught up with the Rarotonga blog and posted some pictures of the fish etc over a USA tradition of a cup of Starbuck’s coffee. I caught up with a couple of brothers who were travelling after doing their studies and we had a really pleasant discussion of travelling and direction. I am finding that young and old share this same conversation point.
As a quick venture out I ‘retraced’ my steps of yesterday evening (left out of the Hotel Door and a couple of blocks back) back to the Tram turning point. Hmm, that corner looks a bit different and I can’t see any trams, but there are lots of people lying out on the ground or hanging out in groups. It seems I was a bit different for the area. People were walking by talking to themselves. Halt, 180 degree turn and back into the hotel.
The weather wasn’t that good, cold, rain in the air and it was grey with odd break of light sky, but I decide to have a Tourist Bus ride to see the whole city and in the right direction. My Concierge helped me, so I asked a final question. “are there areas I should avoid?” He started shading in a number of blocks on the map to make a rectangle. “Yes, if you turn left out of the hotel and cross the road…you don’t want to be there”. Turning right was fine! Got it!!
With that bearing I was now on the game and I would have caught a Cable Car to my next destination up the hill (San Francisco is amazingly hilly) but at that time the Cable broke down and the Cars started queuing up at the terminus, however a little walk was good. It’s a Public Holiday today and there are lots of people about, so it feels like a Saturday. At every corner there are beggars or musicians, some claiming to be war veterans, some just wanting money. One sign of a lady just said ‘Pregnant, Stressed Out, need money’. The tour guide later would point to a fact of why these people head to San Francisco. First the weather here is a temperate climate all year around and if you can show an address in SF you get free healthcare. Buskers also earn between 30 and 60 thousand dollars a year. Plus there is a constant smell of ‘grass’ in the air, so I guess they have a lot of ‘gardeners’, dig what I mean dude?
As you move away from Downtown it gets a bit saner. On the tour bus, we made our way around a circle of the City including a good viewing point for the Golden Gate Bridge, a ride across the Bridge and a second viewing point for those memorable photo’s. The City has an amazing contrast of weather. Temperature, moisture, wind etc Well the Bridge was whited out by fog, even very close up. As you moved into the bay, you could see clearly across the water. It was as though there was a big net catching all the sea mist and holding it around the bridge.
So, tour done and a little lunch (a juicy steak that the Guide had recommended), I continued to walk higher up the hills to get a few photo’s of the wavy slopes and at the top of one high point, I dodged the low level traffic to get a shot down hill, just as a fellow traveller was also contemplating the same shot. We struck up the usual ‘job break-travel’ chat and it seemed we had some common travel stories. The traveller was ‘Olivia’ from London who was a welcome smiling face on a greyish afternoon. Olivia was traveling through and only in SF for the day and flew back to the UK the next day. We walked and talked as we headed back towards downtown and I gave her my warnings of ‘no go zones’, but as it felt like a Saturday afternoon I thought that a glass or two of wine might be in order. Well, Olivia was aiming to get to China Town, which we did in theory as we got to a French restaurant and bar right across the road from its Welcome Gate. We chatted our available tourist time away on a myriad of topics, some where we both at times lost the plot of the conversations. We chatted through the afternoon and stayed on for Dinner as well, until all the other guests had gone and the waitress said that she needed to leave too. It was a lovely day and I really thought her company was charming. I can apologise to her now for using up her day in the Restaurant and missing her tour of China Town and the rest of San Francisco. (Olivia, I have put a shot of the Hill and the China Town gate on the page in case you wanted it!)
So, on to my second and final day I headed up to the Cable Car to have the ride over to the Wharf. It is a really cool City, with quaint pastel colour buildings. I jumped off at the intersection with the ‘Crookiedest Street’ (Lombard St) for photo’s and then into Fisherman’s Wharf for a well earned Crab Bisque in a Loaf which I tucked in before thinking of the photo.
My prime objective for the afternoon was to take a shot of the Bridge from a suitable harbour point, as it is the icon of the City (apart from Weirdo’s, wacky backy and flip flops). As I ambled around Aquatic Park, a harbour ring-fenced by a circular quay, I spotted in the distance one of the large America’s Cup sailing boats out in the Bay. They quickly go out of sight as they tack across from side to side. I was standing next to a couple of people as this was happening and the lady pointed out towards the bridge and said she thought it was coming. You could see a feint twig on the horizon and then as it turned, you could see how big and fast this thing was. There were two boats about 10 minutes apart and they were flying. They have aqua-foils on the hulls that lift the boat out of the water. Absolutely incredible! Further on I caught up with a couple of sailing fans who had their camera’s at the ready for another sail-by. It wasn’t to happen, but we chatted and laughed for about an hour and a half about anything and nothing. What I hadn’t realised was that I was pointing straight at the sun. I would later find out that my biggest tan of the trip was happening, or reddening to be exact.
Before I headed back to the return cable car, I returned to the wharf for some more seafood. This time a plate of a dozen oysters, 10 of which were good, and a basket of fried prawns which were really juicy. This was again a nice day and I had been distracted differently today by the sight of a beautiful boat in the right setting.
So I have enjoyed my stay although I still think that they have some wacky people.
Onwards to Phoenix and Arizona, where the temperature will change again by at least 40 degrees fahrenheit.
Dave's Sabbatical 