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Cable car lol What a day!!!
My alarm woke me up at 6.30, and I dragged myself out of bed, got ready and navigated myself through the streets to catch a cable car. With more unnessercery long videos of the cable car ride (The videos are temporarily out of order on this website but I'll put them up as soon as they fix it!) I made it down to pier 39. This is basically the tourist trap of San Fran, but I love it. Its a vibrant, colourful, tacky and almost fairground like area on the dock. I still had hours before my Alcatraz booking, so at around 7.30am I wandered through the empty pier 39. The locals were all setting things up and I vaguely felt like an intrusive tourist who was just too early. (Like when passengers boarded on the Interislander while we were still in the family area! haha) I kept wandering until I got to the seals.
THE SEALS. SEALS. SEA LIONS.
I LOVE THEM. SO MUCH. MY GAWD.
As I walked around the corner I knew immediately I was close. They were very loud. What a way to start the day. Again, It was early,
so few people were around! If there's one thing you see in San Fran, make it the seals. They are sprawled all over the wharf platforms, and its awesome to watch them climb over each other and push each other off the wharf. It kind of makes me think of Water polo trips when I would intentionally piss everyone off and they would all gang up on me - that's what it was like. So many times I watched seals waddle right over the tummys of all the other seals on its platform for seemingly no reason, before one of them snapped and shoved him into the water. Just hilarious. They are also super majestic! (Maeve O' Maeve, the seals majesty is so majestically majestic, you know what I mean? #thosetapes) Seriously though, watching them move through the water is magic. I stayed there about an hour, thoroughly entertained. I made my way back along the piers to the alcatraz landing feeling warm and fuzzy.
When I arrived at the landing, I lined up to board the ferry out to the island. I was only on day two of staying in the US by myself, but I still hadn't
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Some pics from pier 39! made any friends and I was starting to feel pretty lonely. The problem about trying to meet people to hang out with is that everyone is usually traveling in at least a pair, and they have their own thing going on. I chatted to a mother and daughter in the line which was nice, quite a relief to have some human interaction other than homeless people asking me for money! People in San Fran are generally really lovely though. I've had so many positive interactions with so many kind and polite people and I LOVE their beautiful soft accents. It was also really nice to be back out on the water and feel some sea spray. It felt like home a bit.
We arrived at Alcatraz, and whoa it was so cool! Everyone knows about the whole prison thing... But what I found cool and interesting was that before it was a prison, it was used as a milatary base to defend the harbour and the city. After the prison closed, it was occupied by native americans as part of a political activist movement. They wanted to make a statement about their freedom, government recongition, and their land rights.
I watched an informative video, explored the cell house on the cool audio tour and learnt all about what the prison was like and the escape attempts. Many families also lived on the island! After looking around the recreation area and the beautiful gardens (created by prisoners!) I decided it was finally time to get back. I had been there at least 3 hours!
Arriving back at the landing, I decided to take another stroll through pier 39 in all its crowded tourist glory. I'm glad I did! I sat down for a hilarous street show and fell in love with the topless american gymnast. He was so witty and had a very honest humor and he doesn't know it yet but we are definitly getting married. I found some really cool shops and attractions, and treated myself to the ultimate american experience: A mirror maze. Shhhhhhh, don't spoil it for me by saying they have them In New Zealand.
Feeling very free and satisfied with a sample of cheesy nacho popcorn in my belly, I headed further along the dock to find myself some sourdough bread, apparently the cultural food of San Fran. I challenged
myself to eat the classic clam soup in a sourdough bread bowl. I later discovered clam soup isn't actually a classic SF thing, and felt kind of pissed off. Determined to cram even more excitement in my day, I set off to find China town. I didn't realise how far away it was, but that was okay because I ended up walking up the iconic steep hills of San Fran, laughing like a nutter because I was so happy. I headed into the cable car museum, and learnt about how they worked (yes I know we have them In Welly too, again, don't burst my bubble!). I also learnt a bit about the massive earthquake and fire that happened in the early 1900's!
So maybe I didn't find Chinatown. I forgave myself and decided to try again the following day (not realising it was a mere street away from the cable car museum!). By this point the sun was starting to go down and I was quickening my pace, nervous about being out and about at darkness. I walked all the way down to this square with a weird name and a weird art sculpture. Then realised
I'd gone the wrong direction. Muttering angrily to myself, I headed back down the street. On a map I saw I could do a detour to another cool square... and hey, I knew It was getting late but it wouldn't take long and I'm a sucker for adventure. Boy was I wrong. Ever heard of Vina Vera? No? Good. If you ever do, run a mile. Scrap that, run 10. It's an overpriced and incredibly pushy cosmetics store. I was unfortunte enough to be one of their victims - as I walked past a guy insisted I take a sample, and guilt tripped me into coming into the shop. I spent almost an hour in there trying to get away while he put lotions on me and pressured me to buy a $300 face cream. I was too nice, I should have just walked out! When I told him I couldn't afford it, he kept taking the price down until it got to $79. I didn't want it! He was a good sales person, i'll give him that. Most of the products in there were $5000, so you would have to be! Thank god I actually didn't have enough money
on me, in the end I bought it just so he could see my card decline and leave me alone! The next day I would return, walking proudly past the shop with a bag of lush. Take that Vina Vera!
Right, I'm almost home, I thought. Walking past the smells of drugs and the moaning and muttering of homeless people, I realised that despite the large number of them, I hadn't really been hassled by them. Maybe all these people weren't so bad? I tried a smile at a nice looking homeless guy begging outside a store. It was like an invition. His screams of "You're white trash girl!!" followed me down the street, my cheeks red. Okay, back to my stradegy of looking straight ahead and ignoring them. It's so sad, and you just feel so hopeless!
I arrived at my hotel room with that familar feeling of relief, and flopped onto my bed - ready for an early night. Of course, it was once again 3am by the time I turned off the lights.
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Granny and Pop
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Fantastic
Amazing Blog - Keep it up and keep on enjoying