8 April, 2012
Arriving into Oakland by train, then commuting by bus for another 45 minutes to the Ferry Building, San Francisco at 10.30 at night didn't have much of an impression or welcoming because it was raining lightly, and the wind chill factor was about 2 degrees which stung on our faces with every drop. Welcome to San Francisco-c-c-c-c-o (our teeth chattering). We arrived at the Powell Hotel, an old 6 story refurbished hotel - couldn't make out too much at 11 at night.
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| Flowers of San Francisco |
San Francisco and Bay area:
Arriving into Oakland by train, then commuting by bus for another 45 minutes to the Ferry Building, San Francisco at 10.30 at night didn't have much of an impression or welcoming because it was raining lightly, and the wind chill factor was about 2 degrees which stung on our faces with every drop. Welcome to San Francisco-c-c-c-c-o (our teeth chattering). We arrived at the Powell Hotel, an old 6 story refurbished hotel - couldn't make out too much at 11 at night.
Sometime early that morning, still dark, we were woke up in fright. Being in a city known for its many earthquakes we thought the sound was an earthquake but without the tremor. There was also the ringing of bells like the sound of the old ice-cream trucks that would drive up and down the streets back in the day, and ME thinking there was an emergency or something.
In our half sleep we looked out the window to find it was a "San Francisco cable car / trolley" rolling to a stop ...and our room was right above the trolley "turnaround" ie the end of the line at the intersection of Powell and Market Street. It is also where the trolley staff manually turn the trams around to go back in the direction from which they came. Never seen anything like that before and took a video of it. So check it out and see the ease this trolley is turned around by the trolley staff.
When we finally awoke later in the morning and went into the street the miserable weather had cleared into a beautiful day - still chilly but clear. What we found was amazing.
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| At the Trolley Turnaround - Market & Powell |
There were Street Artists and Buskers lined up at different points along the street, playing their music and plying their trade. These sounds echoed through the high rises and could be heard through most of the city. The place was bustling with locals, tourists, office workers and shoppers - and the crowd controllers managing the numbers waiting for the Trolleys.
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| Trolley in Training |
The queue for the trolley was 2-3 people deep and stretched for about 100 mtrs and got longer as the day grew. We decided to walk and take in the local sites. Later in the morning we jumped on a trolley and made our way to Pier #39, famous for its Clam Chowder in a Sour Dough bread bowl - and we just had to try it at "Tarantino's" - just scrumptious.
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| Clam Chowder at Pier 39 San Francisco |
One of the most famous Sour Dough Bakeries, Boundins, is located on Jefferson St at the Pier and just by coincidence there would be around the same number of people lining up for their breads as the number that queue up waiting for the Trolleys at the Market & Powell Trolley Turnaround. So that's where they all go. LOL !!
Tony took the opportunity to hang out of the trolley like a local, good thing he hadn't been trying the beers for his blog, because some of the cars and buses get awfully close to the trolleys.
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| Pier 39 Sea Lions |
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| Tony hanging off a San Francisco Cable Car |
We hung around Pier 39 and beyond most of the day because there is just so much to see and to entertain us including the Sea Lions which just laze around on pontoons. Be warned - they smell too !
We took a day bus tour in and around San Francisco which then took us to Muir Woods to see and walk around the national park with 300ft tall Sequoia trees. We were advised not to get into the woods too far, but we couldn't help ourselves and just kept walking and found these amazing tree trunks.
My guess is that it had docked at the wrong Maharajah, I mean marina.
We managed to then find our own way into Chinatown (hit and miss actually because we made a wrong turn somewhere AGAIN) and we later found out that San Fran has the largest Chinese population outside of China.
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| Chinatown - San Francisco Style |
One could be mistaken for thinking we were in a Kowloon street or any of the markets found in Hong Kong especially the little restaurants and "Take-Out" cafes around the whole area that are just so obscure that you would miss them if you weren't looking (Guess we weren't looking when we found Chinatown - LOL). TJ particularly liked it when he spotted BBQ quail hanging in the window and vowed to come back to buy some after our walking adventures mixing with the folk here. Big mistake - all those little quail had been sold just only after a couple of hours. Thinking we would be back tomorrow for the BBQ quail - Uhh Uhh - big disappointment ....the shop was closed. Unless we find any more somewhere during our travels we might just have to wait until China (September) for these tasty little morsels! But we did manage to find a nice little bar and grill on the waterfront and a Ice-cream shop called "Ben and Jerrys". Highly recommended and dotted across America.
Over the next couple of days we took public transport in and around the city including Union Square, the Aquatic Park where there were people actually swimming in the freezing cold water. Just MAD I say!
We didn't get over to Alcatraz but got some great views of it from the mainland. Apparently the currents that flow down the West coast of California flow directly from the Arctic/Alaska and the water temp varies between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius, and for the brave ones for about a month in October it warms up to 14-16 degrees Celsius. And I complain when the waters off Palm Cove drops below 20 degrees !!
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| Bank of America Pyramid, San Francisco |
We didn't get over to Alcatraz but got some great views of it from the mainland. Apparently the currents that flow down the West coast of California flow directly from the Arctic/Alaska and the water temp varies between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius, and for the brave ones for about a month in October it warms up to 14-16 degrees Celsius. And I complain when the waters off Palm Cove drops below 20 degrees !!
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| Refurbished Trolley (at cost of US$2.M) |
On one of our mystery tours on the public transport (MUNI) if there were places of interest we would do the "Hop On, Hop Off" thing and on our journey we found a Farmers Market at the Ferry Building. There were offerings of free samples and other goodies.
You need to check out Tony's Food and Drinks Blog (link) for more info about some of the delicious foods we tried. I couldn't believe that they were selling stalks of sugar cane for $4 a piece. Geez, everyone knows that it is free on any road between Northern NSW and as far as Mossman in far NQ.
And while on the subject of food and shopping although there are many Shopping Malls there were two (2) upmarket department stores we took time to look around in. The first was the well known Macys which at the time featured a Tropical Theme with displays of wet tropic plants, ferns, palms - much like the ones we find growing wild or in our backyard at home - but very special here. Our next stop to have a coffee break was at the very chic Nordstrom store located inside the Westfield Centre. This Westfield must be seen to be believed - it makes Chermside pale in comparison. What took our attention here was the escalators. Instead of just going straight up and down....these escalators were curved in a half semi-circle going up, or down, to the next levels. So unusual!
We did some souvenir shopping here too, mindful of keeping our bag weight limits to 20kgs each. A good piece of advice and probably one of the best is: Buy your souvenirs 2 or 3 streets back from the main tourist areas. The quality is the same, usually the same range of products and best of all....you will find the prices can be up to 20 per cent cheaper by just going a couple of streets further. Try it - it has worked for us up to this point and will come in handy for the rest of our "around the world" adventure.  |
| Ferry Building at the Port of San Francisco Gourmet Markets Inside and Outside |
You need to check out Tony's Food and Drinks Blog (link) for more info about some of the delicious foods we tried. I couldn't believe that they were selling stalks of sugar cane for $4 a piece. Geez, everyone knows that it is free on any road between Northern NSW and as far as Mossman in far NQ.
And while on the subject of food and shopping although there are many Shopping Malls there were two (2) upmarket department stores we took time to look around in. The first was the well known Macys which at the time featured a Tropical Theme with displays of wet tropic plants, ferns, palms - much like the ones we find growing wild or in our backyard at home - but very special here. Our next stop to have a coffee break was at the very chic Nordstrom store located inside the Westfield Centre. This Westfield must be seen to be believed - it makes Chermside pale in comparison. What took our attention here was the escalators. Instead of just going straight up and down....these escalators were curved in a half semi-circle going up, or down, to the next levels. So unusual!
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| Busker in the Streets of San Francisco |
There seemed to be Australiana all around us in San Francisco ie. tropical plants, sugar cane and Westfield. Even Goyte, was scheduled for a performance at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on 18 April. His name up in lights above the entrance to the hall. Pity we will be long gone by the 18th - New Orleans awaits us on that date.
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| Goyte playing at the Bill Graham Auditorium |
Still riding around on the trolleys another of our mystery tours to the Castro area, big mistake - like happy little campers we were taking in the sites when suddenly the driver starts ringing the bell like mad, jams his foot on the brakes but the trolley keeps rolling. It was inevitable - the sound of METAL on METAL - the Trolley hit the taxi in front.
There were about a dozen people inside, thankfully no one was hurt - and the trolley driver was angry - VERY ANGRY. He jumped out and started on the Taxi driver. There was no chance he could stop - just kept skidding along the iron tracks. People started jumping off because they knew it wasn't going anywhere. And before we followed them I took a few photos of the damage. During this whole time there was a passenger in the back of the cab on his mobile phone - probably to his lawyer ready to seek a damages claim !!!
I ended taking a few photos and just happened that I captured one with this dark guy who was on our trolley during the impact. Tony reckons he looks like the 'love child' of Don King, and appropriately named him DeShawn King. Would you agree? Check out the photo below - the one with the WILD HAIR - also having a few words to say to the Taxi driver. LOLLOL.
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| The damaged taxi, the Cab Driver, the passenger still in the back and DeShawn King |
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| The Trolley Driver saying a few kind words to the taxi driver after the impact |
We made the most of our days in San Francisco and would place it as one of the places most highly to visit again.
Next blog in progress and makes for interesting reading as we make our way up the coast to Seattle....... see ya !!
Liz and Tony
| Don King |
Hi Liz and Tony,
ReplyDeleteFollowing your train travails and other travel tales with interest. Great blog. Some lovely sights and hilarious commentary. Keep up the good work. Sounds like despite the odd hitch you are having the time of your lives. Greetings from balmy Brisbane. Happy trails. Alison and Rob.