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Published: March 21st 2009
The train journey from Seattle to San Francisco was another long one, 23 hours in fact. However when we boarded in Seattle we had the privilege of sitting on the upper deck, which for some reason provided a little early morning excitement for the pair of us. Looking back, neither of us are exactly sure why we got so excited as the view out of the window was probably no different to that on the lower deck! Anyhow, it was a novelty at the time to go upstairs on a train!
After a restless nights sleep sat upright, we awoke in the morning to find that the train was running three hours behind schedule thanks to a high volume of freight trains running through the night, which take precedence over passenger services. However as the afternoon approached we edged ever closer to San Francisco. As per our guidebooks recommendation, we planned to stay on the train until we got to Oakland, where a free connection bus would take us to San Francisco over the Bay Bridge. However when we alighted at Oakland we were told that we should have in fact got off at the previous station in Emeryville for
connections to S.F. Annoyed but too tired to care we left the station and caught a bus to Oakland’s metro station and then caught a tube train to S.F. 30 hours after leaving the hostel in Seattle, we finally arrived at our new accommodation!
On our first afternoon in San Fran we took to the steep streets and went up and over the hill to Fisherman’s Wharf. Along the way we stopped for dinner at a Pizza café before wandering in and out of the souvenir shops! Although the afternoon was short and we were in yet another big city, San Francisco captivated us immediately with its laid back atmosphere.
Armed with a list of things to do in the city we set out for our second day. Our first port of call was the cable car museum, which we stumbled upon whilst heading for Lombard Street. Although the museum was only small we both found it fascinating and spent over an hour there. Not only did it give the history of the cable car system and explanations of how it worked but also its location at the powerhouse meant you could see the pulley machines in operation
the cables that pull the cars around the city.
Onwards, we made our way to the start of a guided walk that we found in our guidebook. The walk took us through the Nob Hill area before arriving at the top of Lombard Street, famed for being the ‘crookedest’ street in the world. Along with what seemed like every other tourist in San Francisco, we walked along, admiring the immaculate flowerbeds and overall appearance of the properties that lined the strange through-fare. The street itself is formed from 8 tight bends, which not surprisingly was filled from top to bottom with a steady stream of cars full of smiling drivers and kids hanging out the windows. Perhaps we should have come earlier in the day to avoid the crowds!
Having finished our walk down at Fisherman’s wharf, we explored the top end of the San Fran peninsula. Hyde Street Pier and another wharf gave us stunning views across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge. Despite San Francisco having a reputation for being a city constantly covered by thick rolling fog, the weather was remarkably fine and there was no fog at all!
We couldn’t go to
San Fran without a visit to Pier 39: the home of the sea lions. K-dock has become home to hundreds of sea lions which overtime have been given “Squatters-rights” and are now protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The area is very commercialised with thousands of tourists visiting every day but it’s worth fighting through the crowds to get a good look at the main attraction. The sea lions were very playful and entertaining and definitely worth seeing but they sure stank!
On our last day in San Fran, we decided to go on a bay cruise. We had tried to book a more expensive cruise where we would actually have the opportunity to walk around Alcatraz however these cruises were all booked up weeks in advance. Our alternative was a mini boat cruise, which, as the drawling tout stated, would take us “Up and out and under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.” At 15 dollars each, as opposed to 60 dollars on the more interactive cruise, we were pleasantly surprised by the experience. Firstly we sailed out of the harbour towards the Golden Gate bridge while the captain of the otherwise chartered fishing boat (of
which we had prime upstairs viewing seats), gave us a full commentary of the history of this amazing bridge. Next we sailed back towards the coast, doing a lap of Alcatraz and again receiving a running commentary of this eerie island and it’s history.
After our boat trip, we took our sea legs down to pier 45 where a WWII submarine and boat were on display. There was quite a substantial fee payable to go onboard the vessels so we chose just to have a look at them from the pier. From reading the signs along the pier, we were interested to find out that the ship/boat, Jeremiah O’Brien, was used for the filming of the engine room scenes in the film Titanic.
Too tired to walk any further after the sheer amount of trekking we had done around this hilly city, we hopped aboard the cable car at the Bay Street turn-around and rode up and over the hill to China Town. After a short walk through the Chinese district it was back to the hostel for tea.
We had come to the end of our San Fran adventures and were very disappointed to be leaving
this vast and beautiful city. San Francisco was a great stop with so much to see. We didn’t quite make it to all of the places we would have liked to but this just means we’ll have to come back in the future - which we will.
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mummy Barrett
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Memories
Hey guys.What fab memories this blog has brought back for us.It's a great picture of Lombard st. as the closest we came was passing on the cable car plus a very pretty postcard.Pier 39 was a great sight but very noisy,especially at night whilst attempting to sleep hmm)We loved San Fran too,but the weather was a little colder than yours'.Alcatraz was fun but even colder.A great read.Keep the blogs comin'.Be safe.Luv you both loadsxxxxx