The Streets of San Francisco

By pure coincidence we touched down on US soil on no other day than the fourth of July! Independence day. What luck! It turns out they like to celebrate this day over all others, so we caught up with Andy and Nicky, dumped the suitcases (I know we are moving up in the world!) and headed down to the pier (and water, which was so nice to see again - its been a while) in search of the fireworks display. The waterfront was in full swing so we thought we must be in the right place. It wasn't hard to see Alcatraz on the horizon, we didn't realise how close it was, but we still hadn't seen the Golden Gate Bridge, where was it! Fog and San Francisco seem to go hand in hand and the fourth of July was no exception. The guide book refered to the fireworks display as the 'Harbor Fog Fireworks' which now all becomes clear. None the less the display was great (but not as good as Wellington's Guy Fawkes without question).

With another whole day ahead of us before the others arrived we took to the Tram (or Cable car) to tackle the hills of San Fran. What a queue but worth the wait. Still a very manual process with men pushing the tram into position and the driver putting all his weight into stopping and starting as we went up, down and around the city. It was a great way to see everything and we were given running commentary along the way. Almost immediately you realise what a perfect grid the city has been built by, street names go on for miles which made it really easy to navigate around the place, so you knew once you hit the street you were after you just follow it along until you reach your destination.

San Francisco was a good pick for our first 'real' introduction to America, it has class, culture and a few of the American things you pick from the movies. Like the USA flags do really hang off peoples houses, you can get the paper anytime you want from a sidewalk machine, the cabs are yellow (well most), the cheese really is yellow and apple is on every billboard and rightfully so as it is the home for the sweet & crispy apple we have come to love.

Well after our amazing second breakfast (the first was, well, lets just say an experience provided for free by our hotel) at the local crepes diner which was just delicious and of course a few hill walks later we reached the waterfront on yet another blue sky day. After eyeing up an awesome bakery and Nicky clearing room in her tum we had our Clam Chowder experience which was divine. The best sourdough we have had in a long time. The clam chowder was inside a sourdough bread bowl - yum.

After more amazing architecture, streets and hills we reached Lombard St. The crookedest street in the world. Eight sharp turns going one way on one small part of the street and possibly the only turns in all of San Fran which attracted us to this stop. We thought why not climb another hill?! You would have to be the stupidest resident alive if you chose to drive down that road as a short cut! It was tourist city all day is my guess.

From there we managed to get our first glimpse of the famous Golden Gate Bridge. With fog in the air, which came as no real surprise we took in the beautiful harbor and architectural wonders. Once we got our head out of the clouds, time as ticking on into the day and the others had found their feet stop at Taylors, The Automatic Food Refresher. We aren't one to say no to a glass or two of alcohol and hanging with friends so our San Fran group was complete. The drinks didn't stop there, after a few hit and miss attempts at finding a normal bar where you could just drink, Kate hit up a local and got the lowdown on where to head. Foleys, which turned out to be a duo Pianist bar who play on request for a small tip. After every single one of us were ID'd, making us feel young again we got right into it and the cocktails. The night didn't end there but at Louis Diner which was just what I wanted from American culture, the classic diner with burgers open at all hours.

With 'it burns burns burns, a ring of fire' by Johnny Cash still in my head from the exceptionally unique evening of singing the night before, we let the others into our secret breakfast joint and proceed to go down the menu one at a time every morning. With a good full belly we made our way to the wharf yet again to hire our mode of transport for the day. Tandum bikes for 6 of us with the plan of conquering the orange bridge and see a bit more of the city while we were at it. Tandum is the only way to go! I say that of course because I was at the back, with the pedals going round together no one would ever know until we reach a hill of course! As we approached the bridge there was yet again more fog but lower over the bridge which at first was disappointing but once we were on the bridge it created a very dramatic airy feeling and you really got the feeling of its grand scale, as its peaks disappeared into the fog.

The bike continued back over the bridge again and to the Golden Gate Park which I'm sure we only saw a bite size of which had a small man made lake, Gopher and few twisted trees to take in as we pedaled past. Once we had our much needed bananas for energy we tackled Alamo square which was filmed as part of the Full House TV Series which I think we know well. At last I got to see the pretty ladies and that they were with the city skyline contrasting in the background.

With our cellphones costing the earth to text back and forth Tom and Andy resorted to old fashion window yelling from one level to the next. Complemented nicely by the classic door knocking on our way out on our new adventure to Prison. The rock which it was nicknamed, Alcatraz, the prison on a small island just a few miles off San Francisco. We took the ferry and stopped off on Angel island first and got some amazing foggy views and an interesting history of the military fort background of the island and why it took San Francisco so long to be discovered because of how the top edges which now hold the Golden Gate Bridge from the Ocean seemed to fool ships as one piece of continuous land. Alcatraz was the last stop which was yet another prison, interesting in the fact that families of the staff would live on the island too. Got an idea of how the only prisoners to escape and weren't caught succeeded in their task, a depressing but interesting tour.

The day couldn't end without us celebrating Andy's 29th birthday with nothing short of a grand dinner at the famous swedish pancake restaurant which was passed earlier in the week. We didn't have any pancakes but I think everyone enjoyed what they ordered.

On our last day, most of the group went shopping but we kept on walking! Only touching on Chinatown on our first day we had a field day and got a few keepsakes for home on our way to see the point in the cities silhouette, Transamerica Pyramid which we thought we would get a good view from. I guess not this time! We then kept on walking as we have done for the past few days until we reached Rincon Post Office which had San Francisco's history painted in murals throughout the building. After a history lesson we dropped into the Cartoon and Modern galleries which we could have spent some time in. After we heard how easy the bus system is we braved it and managed to get down to more 'interesting' rough side of the city in search of the famous alley way murals which demonstrates the side of San Francisco which makes it so unique and involved in art culture.

We ended our stay in San Fran somewhere off 2nd street and Mission St after a day of walking with a big pot of sangria and a enough Paella to feed a small army. The trip does not end here though as we split up the following day for our flights to Las Vegas to start another...

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