Mention this city and Flower Power, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and earthquakes come to mind in no particular order. When we saw our flight itinerary from London to Perth flew via San Francisco, Honolulu and Auckland. We had to grab the opportunity to see San Francisco especially as a good offer was available; hotel room and four tours. Radisson Hotel gave us a very pleasant en suite bedroom conveniently located on the bay-front adjacent to Fishermans Wharf but seeing was believing! Early next morning (amazingly before traffic seemed to move in this big city) we discovered just how well placed we were to the central Wharf district; just steps away from Pier 39, the antique streetcars and the cable cars and as days passed we discovered even more on the doorstep. Required to confirm tour bookings on arrival with relevant tour offices we avoided expensive phone calls and walked to addresses within the wharf. A lucky decision as we discovered a few rare tickets were available that very day for early morning trips to Alcatraz –considered the best time to go. We quick stepped our way to Pier 33 in the opposite direction to successfully find Alcatraz Ticket Office alongside their boarding area for The Rock. For a country that refused to sign the Kyoto Agreement we were astounded by evidence of a conscientious awareness to cut carbon footprint during our visit. First example- the roof of our vessel was laden with row upon row of solar panels and two huge sculpture-like wind generators on the bow. It took us the short distance across the bay on the clearest and best day weatherwise we were to have in San Francisco. This had not been included in our scheduled tours but we took an extra night in Fog City, especially to visit Alcatraz. Having always understood California to be a ‘sunlit heaven’ we were most startled to learn San Francisco’s well known tag was Fog City, this results from the admixture of two contrasting air masses; one associated with the cold current off shore and another originating in the hot dry deserts that lie inland. Apparently fog and wind are very common in summer. Winter, the best time to visit as days are generally clearer.
Alcatraz Island first served as a harbour fortification and military facility and the West Coast’s first and oldest lighthouse stands proud there before being turned into the super maximum prison for which Alcatraz was immortalized in movies - Birdman of Alcatraz and Escape from Alcatraz for us, in particular. Not once did we experience the chilling atmosphere we’d expected. In fact, we found ourselves equating its similarity to Cockatoo Island, off Sydney since we were unable to compare it with Robin Island where Mandela was incarcerated, as somehow a visit there, has always been thwarted by circumstances. Nevertheless, we definitely have a perceived harshness on Robin Island and sensed it on Cockatoo Island. A good example – historically, prison riots began over food and the Alcatraz warden vowed the food there would be the best in the prison system - doubt anyone gave a toss about the awful food of Cockatoo and Robin! Bear in mind too, the hardened criminals in Alcatraz were inherently troublesome inmates sent from other federal penitentiaries. When ‘unruly’these inmates could be punished by segregation in D Block (42 cells) and yet it could hardly be described as brutal - despite being in ‘Isolation’! We spent very informative hours out there beginning with an orientation video with Stories from the Rock, information boards and exhibits along the route and a self guided tour with an award winning audio device, smoothly distributed and returned - inside the prison itself. In the dining hall with life size photographs of prisoners and their stories (part of an exhibition) we spotted a corner that encouraged the public to add a sticky note to the board to vent emotionally! George photographed a random one for memory sake. Reminiscence of life out there ere related by former inmates, correctional officers and residents (some as children). Notorious inmates like Al Capone and Robert Stroud had their places and of course we saw how escapes were attempted. The Rock it may be but the most surprising thing was the gardens on the hillside – no ugliness. Prisoner AZ#578 quoted “the garden provided a refuge from the disturbances of prison, the work a release and it became an obsession. This one thing I would do well.” From view points in the hillside gardens we stared out on a cold sea with its vicious currents, BUT, it was the nerve shattering, simultaneously slamming of prison doors by automatic machinery, imposing a rigid end to liberty that raised the hair on Lea’s neck.
Our first tour was an All Loops 48 hour Package Hop on - Hop off on open top double-decker buses. The first loop took us Downtown enabling us to orientate ourselves and learn the city history. We actually heard it many times over according to the versions of Guide aboard and their different personalities which came of supplementary interest to us. Our aversion towards these young guides arose from the constant reminder for gratuities peppered into their chatter and the large bucket placed strategically. Hopping on and off seemed to require a very deep pocket. The 48 hours use aside from being the best value served us well. The Golden Gate Park Loop introduced us to its devastating earthquake left-overs! ‘Frisco’s beautifully preserved Victorian architecture - particularly postcard row or the iconic‘Painted Ladies’. They are not ladies of the night, all seven are the most photographed and celebrated houses on Alamo Square, very worthily so; while Lombard Street considered the crookedest in the world due to eight short, sharp bends created to allow traffic to descend the steep incline safely in the 1920’s when the likes of Model T Ford’s were finding their place on streets; and up on top of another ‘hill’ Golden Gate Park - among the world’s greatest urban parks; these three stood out as highlights out of the many, many other attractions we saw on this loop. Even unexpected rain couldn’t dampen our spirits and as we’d all been caught short – we were given red rain ponchos.
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There are five bridges crossing the famous San Francisco Bay! The first, at the entrance to the bay has international focus thrust upon it – we all know of it! A little further east and slightly older by six months is the next, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (locally known as Bay Bridge). This is a most elegant and much longer bridge with two decks to carry all the traffic. From the wharf frontage it is far more noticeable and often mistaken for Golden Gate. We had a scheduled Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito - a bay side community on the other side. This took place on a particularly wet afternoon with a good bus-driver cum guide to fill us in on the conception and creation of one of the most recognized landmarks in the world (painted international orange not golden! The name Golden Gate simply arose from its resemblance to the Golden Horn in Turkey). Having stopped at viewpoints in misty wet conditions he took us into the attractive Sausalito which reminded us of Monte Carlo minus big boats. Real Estate belonging to the likes of Sean Penn and Robbie Williams was priced in hefty bands from fifteen million at the top of the ‘hill’, ten million around halfway to five million dollars along the very bay where singer song writer Ottis Redding’s wonderfully evocative “Sitting by the dock on the bay’ was composed, leaving Lea with an ear-worm to fittingly trail through her head, for the rest of our stay. Guides embellish journeys with snippets of useful and bizarre information. On this tour the Guide pointed out Fog City Doggie Day Centre where clients happily pay $89 for their daily dog care even $200 for a doggie massage. While a well paid job as a Dog Walker earns $500 a day with ten to one ratio! The rain kept up and on our return, we asked whether San Francisco by night was worth taking before our forty eight hours ran out and the honest answer was no. We decided to forgo that one.
Tour Two was to Yosemite in a day by coach! We arrived at the pickup point extra early in the morning and after a long wait discovered there hadn’t been enough people to warrant the long trip. This messed up our itinerary as they rescheduled us for our last day, sadly throwing out a trip we’d paid for the day before taking us to Monterey and Carmel travelling the very scenic 17 mile coastal road we had heard so much about. Fortunately they refunded us and our last day was spent in Yosemite. We now had to rethink this day at short notice. With help from our hotel concierge we decided the city bus service was by far the cheapest option - 75c for a senior’s ticket would bridge all three sectors required to reach Golden Gate Park. And, we were able to use a famous streetcar for the first leg. We set off to find the relatively new California Academy of Sciences, one of the park’s main attractions as it advertised a new exhibit EARTHQUAKE and it seemed fitting to learn more about the ‘Frisco’s earthquakes especially as there was a simulator! A bonus turned out to be a walk through the park, passing through grassy meadows, open groves and natural looking gardens. The Academy was pricey but plenty going on within... First up the earthquake Exhibit for “a kinetic journey towards understanding this super seismic phenomena” – QUEUE, for a long time amidst classes of schoolchildren that standing, quite wore us out as we waited to enter the disappointing pre-show – more standing in an ‘immersive miniature dome’ and finally more disappointing earthquake simulator. Anatomy of a Shake House didn’t warrant the hoopla! It didn’t even match the sights and sounds of Darwin Museum’s cyclone simulator. The flora and fauna of Gondwanaland was an interesting exhibit geared towards children naturally as was everything else really. Lea fell asleep during the planetarium show- not because she was bored. Neck stretched backwards, the brightness of the massive domed screen flickering on her light- sensitive eyes and welcome chair were to blame! All in all, we liked the ‘living roof’ of the Academy, the rainforest happened to exit into the aquarium and this caught us by surprise as it was very good and we’d have notgone there otherwise! And, we liked the photographic history of San Francisco’s seismic past especially as we recognised the photo that went round the world, with a crumpled bridge in 1989!
In the afternoon, back tracking the way we’d come with the bus service, we hopped off to spend a bit of time looking through the departmental stores around Union Square and found little to capture any money in our wallet that we returned to the wharf-side riding back on another of the Muni F-line vintage streetcars- that come from different parts of the world. A spur of the moment decision had us jump off at the Embarcadero – a picturesque waterfront boulevard amidst the pier structures close to Bay Bridge. We went inside the historic Ferry building which survived the earthquakes and found located in there, delightful gourmet shops, restaurants and a wonderful kitchen bazaar. Despite tired legs we walked the distance to Fisherman’s Wharf and were so glad we did as we witnessed a cyclist ride past us without any clothes on. We had been told to expect surprises in ‘Frisco as it is the only city where nudity is not an offence. What a delight to observe the stunned amazement of tourists twice over, as our man nonchalantly cycled down the wharf and returned a good time later.
Pier 39 became a favourite with us– because of the SEA LIONS (more will come); Le Beastro -a pet boutique and breed-specific gift shop that intrigued and delighted us no end only our wallets were nowhere full enough; The San Francisco Sock Shop that had us humming and hawing at great length over the infinite variety and couldn’t leave without two pairs! SOLVE IT - a think out of the box puzzle shop where a charming young man made us feel at home and comfortable as our sense of inadequacies grew! Nor did we ever feel obliged to buy. And of course an array of buskers - particularly an acoustic guitarist!
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Some meaningful streetscapes of San Francisco with a few tales to follow...
Have you heard about “Bushman”? We were told about him on one of our tours and recalled seeing droopy leaves and branches stuffed into a bin on at least two occasions – our attention drawn because there was no rhyme or reason for them to be there! We were doubly thrilled when we spotted him in action; concealed in his portable “bush” he’d jump out to scare an unsuspecting pedestrian. We crossed over to photograph this renowned character, whose appearance on one of America’s top chat-shows actually attracted the interest of the taxman when he inadvertently disclosed his annual earnings! Bushman told Lea he’d been doing this unusual and lucrative job for over twenty five years. Good for him he had our dollar. Better than sitting on his butt begging as we saw elsewhere!
Another singular delight was spotting, amongst a display of tee-shirts (albeit at the bottom) the honey badger tee-shirt that came as a result of the YouTube video phenomenon that very recently passed 56 million viewers since it was launched two years ago; inspired by the fearless nature of Keith and Colleen’s honey badgers in their film “Snake Killers of the Kalahari”.
Naturally, mention must be made of San Francisco’s beloved cable cars. Conceived after a dreadful accident in which a horse–drawn carriage faltered on the hill and rolled downhill dragging the horses behind it in the 1800’s. These declared National Landmarks are the only vehicles of their kind still in operation and by Jove a ride in one is quite something, if for no other reason than to watch the driver in action - yanking at gigantic levers and stamping on all sorts of weird pedals in between ringing his bell and waving at passerby’s. Cable cars became the primary mode of transport throughout the 1890’s until the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires demolished the city including the cable car system. Glad they resurrected this history as we relished this slow steady and rickety ride to experience San Francisco’s hilly streets that have found place in so many films.
With no meals included during our time in San Francisco – timing either sent us on out on empty and when we were falling down starving we revived at a small branch of Boudin’s Bakery which produced well priced, unusual and very tasty lunchtime soups with a toastie or American breakfasts at Pier 39. Closer to our hotel was the historic Boudin Museum and Bakery where you could observe bakers at work- some creating dough animals. Back at Pier 39 we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co with its excellent view of the Bay and overlooking the Sea Lions on K- Dock especially for clam chowder – knowing this was a Californian speciality. We loved the atmosphere of this restaurant based on the movie Forrest Gump – passing the waitress’s verbal quiz on the film, as we were served. Good value in an exciting venue we determined to find our last meal –lunch, in another Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, Waikiki before flying out of the USA and we were not disappointed.
A similar cancellation occurred when we took the tour to Muir Wood. As we waited at the pickup we were informed it was no longer taking place for lack of numbers. In this instance they arranged for another company to include the four of us in their bus load so all was well, other than a delay of an hour. Although we repeated the ride across Golden Gate and through Sausalito on a drier day, our guide nevertheless pointed out different things like the quaint cliff hanging cottages and the houseboat community, Hippies took over during the time of flower power. With rain over past days we were warned Rangers possibly closed walking tracks within the National Park. Muir Woods, a National Monument nestled at the foot of Mount Tamalpais is a remnant of ancient coast redwood forest - the tallest and oldest trees that once covered the coastal valleys before the 1800’s and fortunately given permanent protection through the generosity of a businessman and his wife William and Elizabeth Kent and a proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Kent’s had been inspired by a naturalist, John Muir. At their request the park was named for him.
We could not help but smile when hearing the bus driver draw attention to the eucalyptus trees in the area that had been brought in from Australia for purposes of railroad construction, he even claimed animals such as kangaroos and koalas become intoxicated and positively dangerous after eating eucalyptus oils! Nevertheless, with the redwood trees in the Park towering to a height of 250 ft or more, walking through the quiet, mist-shrouded forest with its cathedral like atmosphere, made the all too brief excursion to Muir Woods very worthwhile. Although advised to look out for them– we sadly saw no chipmunks.
Walking in the direction of Fisherman’s markets one afternoon we found Pier 45 with The USS Pampanito docked long side, a World War Two submarine museum and memorial. We didn’t go aboard wandering further along reading information boards – one bearing a very recognisable war poster of a girl with a rivet gun and we quickly became absorbed by the story of Liberty ships – each of which were built inside eight weeks during World War Two and all the riveting done by women.
Last day and we were off to the Yosemite Valley, one of the natural wonders of the world. As the sun began to rise, we finally made our first crossing of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. Coincidently, the night before, we saw this bridge on TV. Its 75th anniversary gift from the city are 25,000 LED lights that have been aligned along the bridge’s vertical cables to form a mesmerizing light sculpture by Leo Villareal, a pioneer of illuminated art. There were delays in the sculpture’s assembly as the celebration was November 2011 BUT the new sparkles are due to be formally switched on in March 2013. Last night they were tested and we saw! Another bridge is in the midst of construction alongside this pair of bridges as Bay Bridge has been beset with calamities. Treasure Island breaks into one of the longest spans in the world and the other side is quite different to Golden Gate. This is an industrialised side, one of the largest container terminals in the world, and according to our German Guide-traffic thick on the ground with four to five lanes on either side. The communities we were driven through suffer the ongoing economical downturns of 2008. Midway in our three and half hour journey we had a refreshment stop on reaching the Central Valley, the most productive agriculture valley in America. Helmut was a
most interesting guide and he shortened the journey with his informative
comment. Passing through Mariposa he pointed out the oldest pub dating back to
mining days aptly named Forty-Niner. Amazingly, lyrics of
an American folk ballad from Lea’s childhood jumped to mind and hummed their
way through her head
In a cavern,
in a canyon,Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
And his daughter Clementine.
Oh my Darling, oh my Darling
Oh my Darling Clementine you are lost ...
as the coach made the steep climbs up and down the
Sierra Mountains to the Merced River which we followed into the Park. Granite
rocks edged over the road similar to one we had travelled in New Zealand close
to the river edge, slowing the coach. The closer we came the more we saw of
snow capped mountains. A natural granite formation provided a good entrance
‘gate’ to the Park. Immediately Helmet took us as high as the coach could go
which was the Tunnel Lookout for the best view ever..
“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter”-John Muir. Our guide remarked “from here, you have seen everything in one go in Yosemite” It was breathtaking.
Returning to Yosemite Village we were given a good overview of Yosemite and inducted into the use of the Park‘s free shuttle as visitors are urged not to drive around. Although it is a hop on - hop off service we were warned not to get carried away, lose sense of time or become disorientated; all easily done or we’d be left behind. Looking upwards at the Salathe Wall of El Capitan, Hemut’s words “tiny, tiny, small climbers” will forever ring in our ears and no doubt become a catch phrase in our life, matching his intonation!
As soon as we had been set free to make the most of almost three hours in the Park we caught the shuttle and did the round trip gaining a good overview of the layout and services available AND looking for bears! Like the chipmunks, sadly there were no sign of any.
Thigmotaxis became term of 'intimacy' for us in San Francisco and very likely to stick forever in our vocabulary! Fittingly, it came about from an article celebrating Pier 39’s Sea Lions and as these creatures came to epitomise San Francisco for us – we salute them at the end of our trip here... The first time we stepped out onto the Wharf front- Lea became aware of barks wafting on the air. Having ascertained it could be a seal we went to search the ocean - nothing. On the way to the Alcatraz Office we passed a silent Aquarium and thought perhaps the sound had come from there. Boarding the boat we spotted a lone sea lion wallowing nearby and marked him as the early morning caller. At the end of our time on Alcatraz we walked along a harbour wall to the little lighthouse and noticed sea lions within the yacht mole, snoozing on the decking.
Little did we know we were looking at pinnipeds that have been an international sensation for over twenty years! They are celebrities in their own right and we loved their antics and could not resist daily visits to K-Dock.
This wonderful story begins after the Loma Prieta earthquake that took down a portion of Bay Bridge and caused $6 billion worth of damage throughout the Bay area in 1989. A couple of months after, locals noticed a few California sea lions hauling out on Pier 39’s K-Dock. Not a problem until 300 were counted ... These energetic sea lions were taking over K-dock, barking, bathing and playing noisily, even making use of some of the luxury yachts for a spot of sunbathing! The local yachtsmen were incensed and decided to turn high pressure hoses on them which the sea lions loved of course, considering such treatment to be the best massage they’d had for years. The next option was to cull them. It was only at that stage the public became involved along with animal rights lawyers eventuating in the sea lions formally being given free range of K-dock (all the yachts moored there removed) and sea lions virtually had “freedom of the city”rights. Soon their extended family began arriving and by November 2009 there were 1 700 of them flourishing in the area of Pier 39.
VIDEO : Sea lions have an innate need, called thigmotaxis, to be in close contact with others. They are incredibly social creatures and generally feel more secure when they are surrounded by others.
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