San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO

DAY 1

Oh what a day. We woke up early  to see the Golden Gate Bridge pass over us as the ship entered the harbour. It was still dark and the sun hadn’t started to rise yet. It was a lovely sight entering the harbour at this hour and seeing the sun rise over the city. We docked  alongside at Pier 35 which was not a container terminal and near the downtown area.

We left the ship at about 7.45am and started our walk. First on the list was to find San Francisco CrossFit to buy Tim a T-shirt. It ended up being quite a long walk up and down some VERY steep hills. It was in an area called The Presidio which after all the steep hills was on the flat. We also stumbled along the Palace of Fine Arts which was an amazing outdoor structure set in beautiful gardens and lake. This was close to the water and to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

After this we headed back along the way we had come and stopped at an American Diner to show the boys and let them have some dinky die American food.

Grahame and I ordered a cappuccino each and it was virtually the size of a soup bowl with a handle on it - making it a very large mug. The boys had hotdogs, fries and milk shakes. I was actually surprised by the price. It would seem American prices have caught up with Australian prices. When we lived in the US food was very cheap, that was also a long time ago too but I was surprised.

Harison found a $5 note on our walk which made him happy. We continued on to see the house from the Mrs Doubtfire movie. So back up the steep hills. Then onto the house and park that is from the Full House series (think Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen). Then onto the Painted Ladies, a row of beautifully maintained Victorian period homes that always feature in movies and synonymous with San Francisco pictures and tourism. Then we walked to the city hall area and library. Union square was next. There was a lot of homeless people around this area which was quite disturbing to see. Now we used to see homelessness a lot in Melbourne CBD but the amount of people on the street here was crazy. Very sad to see. I actually felt a bit unnerved in this area and was happy when we left . The fancy shops were in this part of the town not unlike Swanston, Bourke and Collins Streets in Melbourne.

We started to head back to the ship then decided to hop on a cable car and walk back down through the famous Lombard street that is so incredibly steep that 9 switch backs are in place. The cable ride was fun and of course up the steep California St. Once we got off we had to walk to Lombard St and we were walking slightly down hill then turning into Lombard St we had another huge climb to get to the notorious zig zag part of the street. Then the downhill part was all steps then at the bottom it was another climb up again. Our poor aching legs. The final stretch to the ship was downhill to the flat. By the time we got back it was 5pm. We walked nearly all day. We had beautiful weather and saw lots of interesting sights. It was a truly great day and we all enjoyed it.

From our map Elliott calculated that we walked approximately 20 kms. And I can tell you our legs certainly know how far we travelled and how unbelievably steep those hills were.

Tomorrow we do it all again!!

SAN FRANCISCO - Day 2

I had the worst sleep ever.  I obviously pulled a muscle doing all that walking yesterday (it was probably from trying to race Elliott up one of the steep hills and my hip was really really really sore (the kids and Grahame think I am pretending).  Grahame and the boys were raring to go to walk another 20km, but I was in pain.  I could barley walk.  So my kind considerate loving husband (his words) decided that he and the kids wouldn’t walk; and he organised for all of us to tour the city on an “open aired” double decker  tourist bus.  So we spent the best part of about 4 hours on the bus taking in all the city had to offer, including a quick drive by of where San Francisco meets the Pacific Ocean.  We certainly have the better side of the Pacific in Australia.  The beach in San Fran was really windy, cold, and the sand was grey.  The tour took us through the fantastic Golden Gate Park. what an amazing place, I’m sure nothing like this exists in Australia. It was a completely man made park with every single tree hand planted and all the lakes man made too. The California Science Academy was here, a museum, botanical gardens, Japanese Tea Gardens, meditation gardens, playing fields for all sorts of sports, lakes to practice fishing in, lakes for remote controlled boats, dog parks, play equipment for kids, golf course,walking and cycling paths everywhere. It had 5 windmills that used to pump water for watering the whole park. the windmills are still standing. A truly beautiful peaceful place in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a city.

We learnt about the different styles of architecture and famous buildings. There are too many beautiful homes for one city. We learnt that that flat parts of SF are all re-claimed as they were once marshes. The beautiful City Hall building has had its foundation re-constructed on water and barrel type of construction and can move 4 feet in any direction. This is to help it stay upright and not crumble  in the event of an earthquake. We drove through an area that is known as the “hippy” suburb. It’s all peace,love and drugs there and it has not moved on since 1967, stuck in a time warp. Overall, the tour was an excellent way to see the city and I was able to come along as all I had to do was sit and listen to the tour guide’s commentary.  Thankfully my darling husband booked the tour so I wouldn’t miss out on our last day in San Francisco. I would recommend doing this in San Francisco if you are short on time. Although you can walk, the hills are savage, though great exercise at the same time.