Tour Diary - Day Nineteen
Jan. 31st, 2017 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanOpen up that Golden Gate...
Saturday 22nd of August - Oakland, San Francisco
A leisurely start to the day, now that the majority of our travels are behind us - a kind of bittersweet feeling, as thoughts start turning towards home, family & beloved pets... as well as jobs, bills & debts
Breakfast at a cafe on Lakeshore Drive. The waiter asked if we'd like coffee. I said yes, as Julia ordered a latté. I was about to order the same, but he took off. When he returned, sure enough - Julia got her latté & I got the drip-brewed stuff they give everyone free refills of, just to get rid of it. Nice pancake breakfast, but I'd recommend not asking for a side order of bacon. Julia did & it cost more than the bagel she wanted it with...
Then... what to do with the day? We had a list of places we were interested in seeing, so headed for the Bay Bridge to cross back to San Francisco & promptly drove into a 25 minute traffic jam. Once on the bridge itself, everything went smoothly enough, I've no idea what or who caused the delays. First destination was the Painted Ladies - 5 houses across the road from Alamo Park that are famous for... well, just being 5 houses that look the same apart from their colours & more subtle differences. Nice, but...?? I think the combination of a long time in the desert & countryside, away from people, crowds & cities in general, as well as the morning traffic had got to me by this point - I was annoyed by the behaviour of the crowd there & their lack of respect for other people (especially photographers) & property... apparently it's okay to sit on the front steps of a house that isn't yours & pose for selfies, while everyone else is across the street trying to take pictures of the houses, not you & your clueless mates. Julia wisely decided it was time to go...
Nearby is the house used for exterior shots in the TV shows 'Full House' & 'Fuller House' Here, the crowd was significantly smaller, possibly because not everyone knows the show, but probably because it's currently covered in scaffolding being repaired/renovated. I stayed in Travis, as we were parked illegally, while Julia went to take a picture
Next - the Camera Obscura at Cliff House. This had been recommended by our Air BnB Host as worth seeing, so off we went. Cliff House is, of course, on a cliff overlooking Ocean Beach. Being Australian, we were a bit critical of the beach itself, but the large rocks just offshore, hosting pelicans & huge seagulls were pretty special. The Camera Obscura is a leftover attraction from the amusement park that was here in the early 20th century, since demolished & now mostly covered in housing. They charge $3 to enter through small flapping doors, into a dark room where...
... there's a large disc in the middle of the room, showing the view of the rocks just outside (that I'd just photographed!!). The story is that it's a 'pinhole camera' from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci, long before film or selfies, that allowed scientists to study Nature in detail, whilst hidden from prying (& presumably hungry) wildlife. They had a few 3D holographic pictures on the walls inside which were nice... but I want my $6 back
Next, into Golden Gate Park, drawn there by the large windmill I could see from Cliff House & was curious about. Turned out it's a Dutch windmill, 'nuff said. Time to head for Fishermans Wharf to shop for sunglasses, chowder & whatever else holds our interest. A long drive through the Park to get there, then up & down some of San Francisco's famously (notoriously?) steep streets looking for somewhere to park Travis, eventually finding a spot about 10 minutes walk away, but at least it was a free one
Fishermans Wharf on a Saturday afternoon was busy with tourists, touts & a passing parade of low-rider cars doing their hydraulic tricks for the crowds. We hit just about every discount store in the area without finding the style of sunglasses we were looking for, but there were plenty of stickers, magnets, t-shirts, posters & coffee mugs that were fun to look through. No, we didn't buy any. Chowder time... we found a place that served 2 kinds of chowder in bread bowls with a choice of chardonnay or pinot noir to go with it. No choice for me then... chardonnay it is (I hate pinot noir). A few more discount stores, then over to Ghirardelli Square, home to the deservedly, internationally renowned chocolate makers, who also do a nice line in ice creams, thickshakes & gelato, which we tasted, bought & drank on the way back to Travis. The sunset sky over Sausalito & the Golden Gate was a sight to see as well...
6.30pm - too early to call it a day, but thanks to the chowders, we weren't hungry enough to stick around & try the restaurants, so decided to head back to Oakland. Or at least we tried... What we did first was sit in traffic for an hour as we crawled to the Bay Bridge approaches. 7.30pm is still too early to call time, so we planned a stop in Berkley to check out Gilman - the club known as the home of punk, well... of American punk anyway. Not sure how the owners of the now defunct CBGBs in New York would feel about that. The club was a small door in a building masquerading as a cane furniture repair shop. We saw a few youngsters going in & regrettably decided we were too old & not dressed down enough to go in, so headed back to Oakland, via a huge natural foods supermarket, where Top Chef contestants do all their shopping
Back in Oakland we found a little bar that had all the hallmarks of the archetypal dive. Small tables... eccentric clientele... friendly bar staff... piano player!!. Most importantly, they had Glenlivet 12yr old behind the bar. You can't get it in Australia any more, so it was like running into an old friend who'd left the country. I took a glass of my old friend over to the piano, where there were 'Singalong Books' laid out. A bit of karaoke then...? I chose 'Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong, the piano player found a good key for us & I growled my way through it, to gentle applause. This seemed to encourage the rest of the patrons to give it a go, as the piano was soon surrounded by would-be crooners flicking through the books of old standards & show tunes. Another Glenlivet? Don't mind if I do
2 would do though... now it was time to call it a day
Saturday 22nd of August - Oakland, San Francisco
A leisurely start to the day, now that the majority of our travels are behind us - a kind of bittersweet feeling, as thoughts start turning towards home, family & beloved pets... as well as jobs, bills & debts
Breakfast at a cafe on Lakeshore Drive. The waiter asked if we'd like coffee. I said yes, as Julia ordered a latté. I was about to order the same, but he took off. When he returned, sure enough - Julia got her latté & I got the drip-brewed stuff they give everyone free refills of, just to get rid of it. Nice pancake breakfast, but I'd recommend not asking for a side order of bacon. Julia did & it cost more than the bagel she wanted it with...
Then... what to do with the day? We had a list of places we were interested in seeing, so headed for the Bay Bridge to cross back to San Francisco & promptly drove into a 25 minute traffic jam. Once on the bridge itself, everything went smoothly enough, I've no idea what or who caused the delays. First destination was the Painted Ladies - 5 houses across the road from Alamo Park that are famous for... well, just being 5 houses that look the same apart from their colours & more subtle differences. Nice, but...?? I think the combination of a long time in the desert & countryside, away from people, crowds & cities in general, as well as the morning traffic had got to me by this point - I was annoyed by the behaviour of the crowd there & their lack of respect for other people (especially photographers) & property... apparently it's okay to sit on the front steps of a house that isn't yours & pose for selfies, while everyone else is across the street trying to take pictures of the houses, not you & your clueless mates. Julia wisely decided it was time to go...
Nearby is the house used for exterior shots in the TV shows 'Full House' & 'Fuller House' Here, the crowd was significantly smaller, possibly because not everyone knows the show, but probably because it's currently covered in scaffolding being repaired/renovated. I stayed in Travis, as we were parked illegally, while Julia went to take a picture
Next - the Camera Obscura at Cliff House. This had been recommended by our Air BnB Host as worth seeing, so off we went. Cliff House is, of course, on a cliff overlooking Ocean Beach. Being Australian, we were a bit critical of the beach itself, but the large rocks just offshore, hosting pelicans & huge seagulls were pretty special. The Camera Obscura is a leftover attraction from the amusement park that was here in the early 20th century, since demolished & now mostly covered in housing. They charge $3 to enter through small flapping doors, into a dark room where...
... there's a large disc in the middle of the room, showing the view of the rocks just outside (that I'd just photographed!!). The story is that it's a 'pinhole camera' from a design by Leonardo Da Vinci, long before film or selfies, that allowed scientists to study Nature in detail, whilst hidden from prying (& presumably hungry) wildlife. They had a few 3D holographic pictures on the walls inside which were nice... but I want my $6 back
Next, into Golden Gate Park, drawn there by the large windmill I could see from Cliff House & was curious about. Turned out it's a Dutch windmill, 'nuff said. Time to head for Fishermans Wharf to shop for sunglasses, chowder & whatever else holds our interest. A long drive through the Park to get there, then up & down some of San Francisco's famously (notoriously?) steep streets looking for somewhere to park Travis, eventually finding a spot about 10 minutes walk away, but at least it was a free one
Fishermans Wharf on a Saturday afternoon was busy with tourists, touts & a passing parade of low-rider cars doing their hydraulic tricks for the crowds. We hit just about every discount store in the area without finding the style of sunglasses we were looking for, but there were plenty of stickers, magnets, t-shirts, posters & coffee mugs that were fun to look through. No, we didn't buy any. Chowder time... we found a place that served 2 kinds of chowder in bread bowls with a choice of chardonnay or pinot noir to go with it. No choice for me then... chardonnay it is (I hate pinot noir). A few more discount stores, then over to Ghirardelli Square, home to the deservedly, internationally renowned chocolate makers, who also do a nice line in ice creams, thickshakes & gelato, which we tasted, bought & drank on the way back to Travis. The sunset sky over Sausalito & the Golden Gate was a sight to see as well...
6.30pm - too early to call it a day, but thanks to the chowders, we weren't hungry enough to stick around & try the restaurants, so decided to head back to Oakland. Or at least we tried... What we did first was sit in traffic for an hour as we crawled to the Bay Bridge approaches. 7.30pm is still too early to call time, so we planned a stop in Berkley to check out Gilman - the club known as the home of punk, well... of American punk anyway. Not sure how the owners of the now defunct CBGBs in New York would feel about that. The club was a small door in a building masquerading as a cane furniture repair shop. We saw a few youngsters going in & regrettably decided we were too old & not dressed down enough to go in, so headed back to Oakland, via a huge natural foods supermarket, where Top Chef contestants do all their shopping
Back in Oakland we found a little bar that had all the hallmarks of the archetypal dive. Small tables... eccentric clientele... friendly bar staff... piano player!!. Most importantly, they had Glenlivet 12yr old behind the bar. You can't get it in Australia any more, so it was like running into an old friend who'd left the country. I took a glass of my old friend over to the piano, where there were 'Singalong Books' laid out. A bit of karaoke then...? I chose 'Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong, the piano player found a good key for us & I growled my way through it, to gentle applause. This seemed to encourage the rest of the patrons to give it a go, as the piano was soon surrounded by would-be crooners flicking through the books of old standards & show tunes. Another Glenlivet? Don't mind if I do
2 would do though... now it was time to call it a day
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-31 09:35 am (UTC)Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).