On The Town!!
Sep. 8th, 2021 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanDay 3 of the 2012 tour...
September 13. Thursday – San Francisco
Nargle... fargle... blargle... who invented 6.15am on holiday??!! Thank god for our new Nespresso machine!!
An early rise was needed to get to the Ferry Building by the Bay because that’s where our ‘San Francisco Comprehensive Tour’ left from at 9am & we had to catch the 38 bus into town along with a selection of the city’s workers. A short walk brought us to the wharf area with the Bay Bridge photogenically enveloped in fog.
Our guide Tom met us at the front of the Ferry Building & 27 of us, including two Australians from “out past Windsor”, herded off to our bus, driven by Ruben – taciturn, but friendly enough
Past the Fisherman’s Wharf area then up to Lombard St – “the crookedest street in America... other than Wall St”, which we walked down in the company of at least two other tourist groups. Not as long as I thought it would be, but certainly steep & definitely crooked.
Then on to Chinatown with accompanying stories of how the Chinese were treated by Americans in the late 19th & early 20th centuries – not very well, of course, just like Chinatowns everywhere around the world, but now quite an appealing corner of town nonetheless
A climb up some of those steep streets of San Francisco to the posh end of Nob Hill, where high-end Hotels & rich residents rub shoulders & a visit to the Grace Cathedral... notable for being the first place of worship I’ve ever been where photography was allowed & tolerated by clergy, staff & congregants alike. A quick stop in at the Tramworks Shed & Museum to see the city’s cables being pushed & pulled to get the trams around town. Noisy, greasy & a not unpleasant but pervasive aroma of lubricant. We picked up some nice postcards with the noble intention of writing on them & mailing them some time before we fly home... maybe...
Golden Gate Park was the next feature & to get there we passed through some historic neighbourhoods & past the gold-plated dome of City Hall, getting a lesson in modern city design along the way. Apparently, after the earthquake & great fire of 1906, it was written into the city building code that there had to be a minimum gap between houses, to not only prevent your place burning down with your neighbours, but also to allow firefighter access between buildings... Once in the park, we headed for the observation deck in the De Young Memorial Museum for another photo opportunity of fog-bound San Francisco... the weather was not being co-operative at this stage, but given the park is only up the road from where we’re staying, I’m sure we’ll get back there in the next day or two
Through the Presidio, past the George Lucas-owned ILM complex & down to the Palace of Fine Art – a leftover from an early 20th century Exposition which the citizens liked too much to tear down – Sydney developers take note... Not enough time to go inside, but the outside & surrounding grounds would be a nice place to spend more than the ten minutes we had
Over the still mostly fog-shrouded Golden Gate, but by the time we pulled into the first viewing area, the fog had cleared enough to get some nice views & photos of most of the bridge & parts of the Bay. Then down the hill into Sausalito for a long-awaited lunch (we hadn’t had breakfast), before catching a ferry back to where we’d started. Lunch was at Cafe Tutti, a place recommended by our Guide for its clam chowder & which claimed coffee was their specialty. Well... the clam chowder was pretty good, but that claim about the coffee was false advertising to anyone who knows what coffee should taste like – which is nothing like what was served to us. Thank god for our new Nespresso machine!!
We caught up with the rest of our group by a fountain with three seagulls perched on it. These gulls were huge compared to the ones which steal your fish & chips in Sydney. American seagulls could steal your Labrador... & probably you as well if you don’t let go of the leash... The ferry trip back to San Francisco was a highlight so far. The day turned sunny, burned away some more fog & the views of the Golden Gate & Alcatraz were just like in the guidebooks
Headpecker!!
A walk along one of the piers to get photos of the Bay Bridge, now also free of fog & some more close-ups of those giant seagulls. Fatigue slumped us down next to the tram/bus stop where the 31 took us on the scenic & not-so-scenic (Turk St is definitely to be avoided unless you’re heavily armed) route back to Richmond & a couple of hours downtime before dinner with Chris P in yet another gastronomic test of my stomach’s limits
Question: What’s the strangest thing you can think of to sprinkle over sweet potato chips? Umami Burger’s answer is cinnamon sugar & it’s an odd, not entirely pleasant taste. Fortunately the burgers were delicious &, for the first time since arriving, the meal wasn’t overwhelming, even with a shared piece of Bacon, Maple, Bourbon Pecan Pie. A rare win for my forlorn hopes of losing weight in the USA
Our after-dinner expedition took us back to the Palace of Fine Art, which is lit up quite impressively at night, making photos with the new point’n’shoot cameras easy & numerous as we walked around the grounds, disturbing night joggers, ducks, swans & two raccoons. Afterwards, Chris dropped us off on Geary St near Walgreens so we could pick up a few more essentials before walking the last few blocks back to our rooms for an early night to complement our early morning. Charging the SatNav overnight, as we’re picking up our rental Ford Escape tomorrow. I‘m looking forward to the challenge of driving on the right... from the left side. Let’s see just how friendly & tolerant these Americans really are...
September 13. Thursday – San Francisco
Nargle... fargle... blargle... who invented 6.15am on holiday??!! Thank god for our new Nespresso machine!!
An early rise was needed to get to the Ferry Building by the Bay because that’s where our ‘San Francisco Comprehensive Tour’ left from at 9am & we had to catch the 38 bus into town along with a selection of the city’s workers. A short walk brought us to the wharf area with the Bay Bridge photogenically enveloped in fog.
Our guide Tom met us at the front of the Ferry Building & 27 of us, including two Australians from “out past Windsor”, herded off to our bus, driven by Ruben – taciturn, but friendly enough
Past the Fisherman’s Wharf area then up to Lombard St – “the crookedest street in America... other than Wall St”, which we walked down in the company of at least two other tourist groups. Not as long as I thought it would be, but certainly steep & definitely crooked.
Then on to Chinatown with accompanying stories of how the Chinese were treated by Americans in the late 19th & early 20th centuries – not very well, of course, just like Chinatowns everywhere around the world, but now quite an appealing corner of town nonetheless
A climb up some of those steep streets of San Francisco to the posh end of Nob Hill, where high-end Hotels & rich residents rub shoulders & a visit to the Grace Cathedral... notable for being the first place of worship I’ve ever been where photography was allowed & tolerated by clergy, staff & congregants alike. A quick stop in at the Tramworks Shed & Museum to see the city’s cables being pushed & pulled to get the trams around town. Noisy, greasy & a not unpleasant but pervasive aroma of lubricant. We picked up some nice postcards with the noble intention of writing on them & mailing them some time before we fly home... maybe...
Golden Gate Park was the next feature & to get there we passed through some historic neighbourhoods & past the gold-plated dome of City Hall, getting a lesson in modern city design along the way. Apparently, after the earthquake & great fire of 1906, it was written into the city building code that there had to be a minimum gap between houses, to not only prevent your place burning down with your neighbours, but also to allow firefighter access between buildings... Once in the park, we headed for the observation deck in the De Young Memorial Museum for another photo opportunity of fog-bound San Francisco... the weather was not being co-operative at this stage, but given the park is only up the road from where we’re staying, I’m sure we’ll get back there in the next day or two
Through the Presidio, past the George Lucas-owned ILM complex & down to the Palace of Fine Art – a leftover from an early 20th century Exposition which the citizens liked too much to tear down – Sydney developers take note... Not enough time to go inside, but the outside & surrounding grounds would be a nice place to spend more than the ten minutes we had
Over the still mostly fog-shrouded Golden Gate, but by the time we pulled into the first viewing area, the fog had cleared enough to get some nice views & photos of most of the bridge & parts of the Bay. Then down the hill into Sausalito for a long-awaited lunch (we hadn’t had breakfast), before catching a ferry back to where we’d started. Lunch was at Cafe Tutti, a place recommended by our Guide for its clam chowder & which claimed coffee was their specialty. Well... the clam chowder was pretty good, but that claim about the coffee was false advertising to anyone who knows what coffee should taste like – which is nothing like what was served to us. Thank god for our new Nespresso machine!!
We caught up with the rest of our group by a fountain with three seagulls perched on it. These gulls were huge compared to the ones which steal your fish & chips in Sydney. American seagulls could steal your Labrador... & probably you as well if you don’t let go of the leash... The ferry trip back to San Francisco was a highlight so far. The day turned sunny, burned away some more fog & the views of the Golden Gate & Alcatraz were just like in the guidebooks
Headpecker!!
A walk along one of the piers to get photos of the Bay Bridge, now also free of fog & some more close-ups of those giant seagulls. Fatigue slumped us down next to the tram/bus stop where the 31 took us on the scenic & not-so-scenic (Turk St is definitely to be avoided unless you’re heavily armed) route back to Richmond & a couple of hours downtime before dinner with Chris P in yet another gastronomic test of my stomach’s limits
Question: What’s the strangest thing you can think of to sprinkle over sweet potato chips? Umami Burger’s answer is cinnamon sugar & it’s an odd, not entirely pleasant taste. Fortunately the burgers were delicious &, for the first time since arriving, the meal wasn’t overwhelming, even with a shared piece of Bacon, Maple, Bourbon Pecan Pie. A rare win for my forlorn hopes of losing weight in the USA
Our after-dinner expedition took us back to the Palace of Fine Art, which is lit up quite impressively at night, making photos with the new point’n’shoot cameras easy & numerous as we walked around the grounds, disturbing night joggers, ducks, swans & two raccoons. Afterwards, Chris dropped us off on Geary St near Walgreens so we could pick up a few more essentials before walking the last few blocks back to our rooms for an early night to complement our early morning. Charging the SatNav overnight, as we’re picking up our rental Ford Escape tomorrow. I‘m looking forward to the challenge of driving on the right... from the left side. Let’s see just how friendly & tolerant these Americans really are...
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Date: 2021-09-08 02:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-08 10:30 pm (UTC)