A ham, pepper and onion omlette with little cube shaped chip things at 8.30am got us ready for San Francisco. Today was my first experience of driving in the US, and Graham's turn to remind me which side of the road to drive, and direct us into the city. The map we were using ( http://www.baycityguide.com/images/maps_pdf/San_Francisco_Map.pdf ) looked like a spreadsheet, as all the roads are in a grid. We survived the journey and parked next to Pier 39 (top right on the map).
We wandered to Telegraph Hill up some very steep steps beside which houses were clinging to the hillside on one side, tropic-like trees on the other - not my pre-conceived image of a big American town. At the top, we visited Coit Tower - apparently a "designated historic monument" - built in 1933! As the sun shone all day, there were some good but slightly hazy views over the city and the sea.
In the afternoon a boat took us past the Alcatrez prison - used for the "worst" offenders as it was on an island - and up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Slightly disappointing as there were no golden gates anywhere to be seen - it was just the name of the area before the bridge was built. The Severn Bridge or the Forth Road Bridge would have done just as well.
Back on land, we walked through North Beach (the "European" part of the city) which was supposed to remind you of Europe - and on to China town. None of these areas matched my pre-conceived image of a big American town. So we went through the Financial District - full of tower blocks and wide straight streets - and my curiosity was satistied - for ever. We arrived at Union Square, at which point we could not resist The Cheesecake Factory - but after some obscenely American-sized portions of cheesecake, we wadled back down to the car and came "home" to our hotel.
There were two people who should also get a mention as they provided some entertainment:
- the man who came out of a camera shop when we looked through the window and tried very very hard to sell us a camera.
- the man who sprayed, before our very eyes, an amazing picture of the earth spinning in the night sky, with the Golden Gate bridge in the foreground - just using spray paint, some scrap paper and a scraper. It was fascinating to watch.
Some photos are here: http://flickr.com/photos/87378172@N00/sets/72157603703323067/
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3 comments:
Kevin,we're much enjoying your Letters from America. Like your Nom de Plume.Seems familiar. Where have I heard it before?!!!!! Tony and Chris.
Thanks - maybe one day I can get them published on Radio 4...
That spray painter "dude" was amazing, how on earth he generated so much detail using only a spray can I'll never know.
We were absolutely stuffed all day, mostly because of the breakfast but that cheesecake totally finished me off. The moral of the story is, if you can't be bothered to eat, just have a huge breakfast, and round the day off with an enormous cheesecake.
Oh yeah, and Golden gate is far less impressive than many bridges in the UK, not sure what all the fuss is about.
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