San Francisco
Trip Start
Jul 24, 2007
1
8
50
Trip End
Nov 11, 2007
San Francisco,
California,
United States
Friday, August 31, 2007
Met a really nice girl on the plane called Courtney who was flying back from Philadelphia to go back to school - she helped me with actually finding the right train I had to get from the airport - I think I would have managed to get the right train but to work the ticket machines I think you need a degree in IT they are mad!! anyway arrived at the station where the hostel directions told me I had to get off and walk from. I had no map and only knew that I had to walk four blocks north and then 3 blocks east which seemed pretty simple - but which way is north!??
I was helped by the ever friendly American beggars who loiter around the stations with maps to help lost tourists and then promptly ask for money, about 3 of them all came at me at once trying to show me their map in the hope that they would get the tip, none of them did because I spotted the tourist information centre who have free city maps!!
I eventually found the hostel which wasn't that far really but when you're real tired and have a bag and a rucksack no walk is overly enjoyable
Union Square
. The hostel is absolutely huge. I am in a room with 3 other girls (an Irish girl called Emma and a girl from Taiwan whose name I'm not gonna even try and spell! and one other girl who left as soon as I arrived last night and didn't come back until I was asleep and must have left this morning while I was still sleeping!) Emma and the Taiwanese girl are great and I met up with them today for some dinner - unfortunately they both leave tomorrow.Had to buy another Camera today - my old one has finally given up. managed to get a canon one fairly cheap and its seems really good. Its easy to work and thats always a good sign!
I decided to take a walk down to the bay area today mainly to time how long it takes so I don't miss my ferry to Alcatraz tomorrow. I really like San Francisco it has a really laid back vibe and the people seem really friendly. Emma has lived here for 3 months so has been telling me the good places to go and the not so good places so I have quite a few things to see while I'm here. I think there are a few dodgy areas (drugs and prostitution) but they aren't anywhere near where I am. The city itself is actually pretty small (the downtown area where everything is) there are loads of areas across the bay which are still San Francisco but they are just houses so a small city is great as far as I'm concerned as it means that I can walk pretty much everywhere although some of the hills here are HUGE. I haven't walked up any of them yet but I will do just to take a look at the view from the top! (she says!)
The one thing that kinda jumped out at me about San Francisco is how many absolutely nutty people there are
San Francisco Trams
. I sat in a place called Union Square this morning have a drink and a cigarette and I noticed this woman out of the corner of my eye sitting on the grass alone but she looked like she was talking to someone only I couldn't see anyone. Not wanting to stare I carried on reading but the next minute she jumped up and walked over to a nearby tree and started a conversation with it (one way of course) the tree obviously had a wicked sense of humor cos she was laughing hysterically at whatever it told her. My cue to leave was when she started walking in my direction -i doubt she wanted to talk to me I reckon the handrail had some great jokes though! When I mentioned it to Emma she said that San Francisco is fully of nutters apparently there is no nutty hospital in the city anywhere so they just end up walking the streets providing entertainment for sad people like me!I walked another block back towards the hostel and there was some old black guy standing on his head right on the edge of the curb asking for money from people which didn't seem to be very forthcoming I mean everyone can stand on their heads for long periods of time right. He didn't stay there very long though cos a Police officer cycled past and told him to move away from the curb incase he caused an accident, you know he might damage someones car if he fell on it!!
I saw Alcatraz from the piers - its not that far out - it looks swimable to me (well I couldn't swim it but u know wot I mean) but some random guy told me that the current when you get about half way over is so strong that nobody has ever made it across from either direction you just get swept away by the current out into the pacific ocean where the great white sharks live and get eaten! I'm really looking forward to going over tomorrow though everyone raves about it especially the night tour (which I'm not doing cos I'm too scared!)
Pier 39 is really nice from a tourist point of view, thats what its there for though, the whole pier its aimed at the tourists and is overrun with restaurants (the food looked pretty groovy) which serve the infamous san francisco clam chowder which I want to try but dunno whether I will as I'm not really a fishy soup fan! They serve it inside a huge roll so you get fishy soup and soggy bread - how nice!
I had read about the California seals that live in San Francisco bay but I wasn't sure where they were and presumed that I would just spot the odd one or two swimming about in the bay as I walked up and down the piers - don't bother looking for them you'll hear them and then you'll smell them off pier 39
This is not the Golden Gate Bridge
. There is a large colony of them which live on floating piers. I dunno whether they are actually looked after by the city but they have loads of information about them on the walls where they live and I guess that all the seafood restaurants on the piers probably feed them any waste that they have because they certainly draw a crowd and there is no feed the seals show or machine where you can buy food for them so they must come for some reason (other than keeping out of the Pacific to avoid the afore mentioned great white sharks that live there) They are definitely worth seeing though and its free to sit and watch them all day if you want so why not!!Further along from pier 39 I spotted a submarine and old us navy boat which I had overheard someone talking about whilst I was sitting having a cigarette (its amazing what you learn by listening to other peoples conversations) they said that both of them were open to the public but it was a LIE! you can go on the submarine (tempted as I was small spaces, guns and being underwater doesn't really appeal to me) but you couldn't get anywhere near the war ship which was a shame. I did spot the museum of San Francisco which had a massive sign in the window which said "free entry" - nothing more tempting. I thought it was going to be about the history of San Francisco and the earth quake but it was full of old fairground machines and amusements which they have restored - it was really good. Obviously you don't have to put money in the machines but you can and they all work. When I say machines they like those fortune telling machines (like the one at the end of Big with Tom Hanks) and there was an arm wrestling one which I watched three huge burly black guys try - none of them beat it and they all left looking rather sheepish.
Back at the hostel now, my feet are really sore and I'm still pretty tired from the flight so I'm gonna have a glass of something, a nice shower and head to bed ready to do Alcatraz tomorrow - did I mention I'm going to Alcatraz tomorrow?!
Comments
Miss u!
Hey baby,, just looked at your pics and read your blog, sounds like ure really getting in the swing of it Phillius Fog. Anyway will keep dropping in to keep an eye on you, all the girls are with me now and send their love.. speak soon my friend xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx