Advertisement
Published: October 26th 2009
The crookedest street in the world!
Lombard street, it is in all of the films.Well to get to San Francisco we decided to take the cheapest flight with SouthWest Airlines, as recommended by Julia. To get here the time that we wanted we decided to take the flight via San Diego! Crazy I know but it worked out for us.
Until that is we landed in San Diego ran to get the connection flight and were advised that it was delayed due to bad weather for at least 2 hours! We were not fazed by this and thought that it was par for the course & we had been lucky so far! But some people were having hissy fits! I am suprised that they did not throw themselves on the floor & pound it with there fists!
We were lucky though, because as we were diggin into an over priced sandwich & soup, we got the call! They had the all clear & were boarding 30 mins late! By the time we took off on the half empty flight it was probably closer to the 2 hour delay we were expecting, but as we were sat on the plane it did not seem as bad!
We figured out it would be cheapest
Alcatraz
View from the top of Lombard Street to get the BART (don't ask me what it stands for, as I still don't know!) train to Powell street & then walk a couple of blocks from there to the hotel. Well to say it was eventful would be an understatment! Next time it will be shuttle bus door to door! As we were leaving the station in Union Square, it must have been closer to midnight than we planned!, we got accosted by a well meaning, if rather intoxicated woman, insisting that she helps us avoid the "hood" and demanding to know where we were going! Needless to say once we advised her we were staying on Taylor street she did not have a clue how to direct us there!! But advised us not to go too far down that road, use the back streets! Good advise!
I forgot that there are many hills in San Francisco & walking to the hostel would involve climbing a couple with my bag, whilst being wrapped in my hoodie, sweating alot! Needless to say I was both out of breath & not in the best mood when we arrived at this hostel. It could have been lovely, if only the
staff were a little more friendly & knew how to clean!
After a restless nights sleep in lumpy bed we were woken to the smell of burning pancakes (the waffle machine was broken & everyone was leaving the pancakes in the frying pan to long!) and the 9am chorus of the cleaner hoovering our hallway for an hour! It must be the cleanest bit of the whole place!
We headed straight out away from union square towards Fisherman's Wharf, stopping in the nicest cafe at the bottom of the crooked street for a bit of free wi-fi time & a muffin to keep the energy's up! Wiggly street that is in all of the films (looks nice, but i don't recall!) on down the hill to Fisherman's wharf and some great sea views! I do miss the sea! As we are having a quick look around we spot the Fort Mason hostel that Caroline was going on about and head over.
We are in luck as they have a private room available for most of the rest of the week, so we breath a sigh of relief that we only have one more night in the Union
In the fog
At Golden gate park it was soo foggy, but you can just see the Japanese tea garden in the back ground. Very pretty. Square hostel from Hell!
We head back up Van ness full of joy, took a bus down California Road, then went for a walk through Golden Gate Park, which is no where near the bridge, although it was very foggy, as you can see from the photo's. Lovely walk through the park past lakes and streams!
Feeling tired we got a bus back to union square through the Haight-Ashbury area, which looked really cool. Supper at Louis 50's Diner and off to bed!
An early start, a belly full of pancakes and packed bag's deposited in the store room. We were off for a spot of shopping (of the window variety). Loads of big expensive store! It looks a lot better in the day light! A quick lunch in the Cheesecake factory( I swear I only go there for the soup! Baked potato today). Then we are off to the next hostel via a long walk with bags again (not too many hills this time!) and bus straight to the Fort Mason Hostel.
Dump bag's and wonder around the Wharf all afternoon. We see better views of Alcatraz, sea lions and a strange floating Island and
undersea restaurant! We find out where to purchase Alcatraz tickets and then head home via Jack's bar, it has 68 different beers on tap! Liam was in heaven & was dreaming that if both Ben & himself lived here they would take great pleasure working there way from one end of the taps to the other!
I insisted on a lazy day today as my feet hurt & i did not want to continue on at that pace! So a gentle stroll to Safeway's at the bottom of the hill, a picnic in the park for lunch & a bit of a lay down in the sun and a read of books! Yes I finally got to finish "The Lost symbol" by Dan Brown. I will be posting it back mum, once Liam has read it (or is fed up carrying it around!).
A little afternoon snooze followed by a lovely pasta dinner cooked int he hostel kitchen. A bottle of red and a few laughs with a very camp retired ballet dancer(he said he was 35, but i was thinking more like 45!). He warned us (there were a few of us drinking there) that HI
Happy Liam
With the sealions. did not allow alcohol on the premises and he had it taken off of him before! So we duly hid our bottles under the table & carried on!
A bit of a later start than planned but we were soon on our way, a nice stroll along the wharf to Pier 33 and after Charlotte trying to get on a 11 day cruise we finally get our tickets for Alcatraz! We get on the next boat, yippee, no wait. The boat ride over was lovely, it was a nice sunny day with a slight breeze, so we did not need the jumpers that we had brought along! We did need the sun cream & water (1st use of my bladder thing! It was great).
Alcatraz had more buildings on than we expected and after being warned about the 4 very steep hills to get up there was very pleased to find that they were not too bad. Although one poor woman who had fallen over & hit her face was being bandaged up in a rather strange way! A bandage over the mouth & around the head, That is soo wrong Liam is telling me as I am
Sealions up close
With a weird fake floating Island/Restaurant in the back ground! dragging him away! At least it is them that will get sued by her, not us! A great audio tour was included in the price & we had as much time to look around as we wanted. It is amazing to think of all of the other people that lived there besides the prisoners, such as the guards family's! Also to learn that it was only a federal prison for less than 30 years! We learnt about the Indian occupation which helped there civil rights movement & highlighted the island again!
On the way home we stopped off at Bubba Gumps Shrimp co for a bit of late lunch/early dinner! Liam's happy place! Then his other happy place Jacks for a quickie! Back to the hostel for a bit of blogging and an early night as the plan is Biking over the golden gate bridge tomorrow! Weeeeee!
Well. that went well!! We got up packed out bags again, as tonight we will be in a 24 person dorm! God help them all! I hope someone gets some sleep! We went Down to "Blazing Saddles" and hired our discount bikes and ended up riding up to Fort Point &
Louis 50's Diner
A well deserved burger at the end of a long walk! wondering around there for 1/2 hour, interesting as it used to be a military outpost under the bridge & light house/fog horn too! It was free entry & they had made some effort to put up some history of the place along with a bit about the Bridge! There was a well dressed couple hanging around outside & we wondered what they were up to all dressed up to the nines! When we got to the top of the Fort we saw that they were posing for some sexy/loving shots for a photographer! Maybe they had just got Married!
Anyway from there there was a long uphill ride back up to the Golden Gate Bridge! Yes I did push my bike most of the way!! Liam did do much better than me! Liam headed across the bridge at full pelt and although I did at first try to keep up, he disappeared into the fog! That was until the chain fell off his bike & he lost all power! Ha ha, serves him right for being a smart arse! Quick repair at the side of the bike path and he was off again!
I met up with Liam
Is it Warner brothers again!
No it is the water tower on Alcatraz! in the car park on the other side, we were accosted by a 350 bike demonstrator who forced drug's on us for the long journey! Well Natural Caffine shots! Anyone who knows me knows that is a drug to me! So we kindly accepted & popped them in our bike bag's "for Later!".
On we pushed up a little hill, then down a huge hill, weeeeeee! It was a lovely view on the way down to Sausalito, but all I could think about was what it would be like on the way back. When we got down to the sidewalk by the sea it was beautiful with sea lions jumping & Pelicans diving, strange men doing stone balancing (I did think of you Sarah!) and quite a few local artists & shops.
We parked up our bikes by the ferry port & had a wonder around the shop's. We sat by the sea to eat our picnic, that I had made earlier, whilst cursing the stupid tourists feeding the seagull's! Back on our bikes & we started to head up the hill! Mmmmm then on hitting the first slope, there were cry's from no where saying "Take the
ferry, Take the ferry, not the hill!" I don't know where thay came from, but felt obliged to heed their warning! So back to the ferry port we went!
Only a little wait in the glorious sunshine (bit of a tan coming me thinks), then we were loaded cattle style on to the ferry, for a lovely trip back past both Angel Island & Alcatraz, I got some lovely pictures. We decided on leaving Sausalito, that it and the area had reminded us quite a lot of Cornwall.
Tonight is the 1st night in a dorm & we started with a 24 man co-ed dorm! When we went to put our sheets on our bunks (both top bunks) we found 2 people already sleeping in the dorm at 7pm at night! Weird! When we went back to sleep someone had jumped in Liam's bed! It turns out one of the boy's had got 8 mixed up with 18! Oh well, we left him there & made up 8 for Liam instead! You have to be fit to get up & down these high bunk's! And someone was snoring louder that Me! Other than the general noise of people
The Recreation Yard
It is huge compared to Robbin Island(in South Africa) getting in & up at different times, it was not to bad (apart from the man who got up to leave at what sounded like 3am!). I might do it again!
I was determined that Sunday would be a lazy day as we again have done sooooo much walking! We started with a late breakfast and a chat with a nice guy Milton who was re-locating from Florida & had written a self help book about "Clearing the Clutter" and was trying to get it published here, whilst starting up a new business as a life coach!
We headed out for a little stroll around the local area where we came across the cable cars! We had not had a go on these, so purchased an all day MUNI card and rode the cable car to & from Union Square! when sitting all the vibrations did make us all warm in our "happy place"!!
After a wonder back from Fisherman's Wharf and a little look at travel books for New Zealand in Barnes & Nobel, we had a bit of lunch, checked into the new room & while Liam had a little lay down, I went to
the park and read my book in the sunshine for a couple of hours!
Liam picked me up about 5 and we headed off to the cinema to see "SAW VI", it was great & the cinema was like an old historic building! With huge ornate door ways & an old fashioned double sweeping staircase in the lobby! We did get a bit scared at the end of the film as the credits were rolling & the lights had not gone up, we were fast becoming the last ones in there, would we become part of one of jigsaw's game's! Aggh. I ran out of there and left Liam to his clutches! Whilst outside awaiting a bus, Liam looked at a panel on the bus stop and commented, "I wonder what that is?" to which I started prodding it & jumped out of my skin when it started talking to me! It was a time display & next bus coming for the blind! It still scared me!
Back to the hostel for a light supper & planning for the coming week! Last minute dot com, that is us! I found a good deal 4 a 1 way car
The guards view of San Fran
from the courtyard outside the prison! rental & booked a couple of nights up in Yosemite! Watch out USA, here we come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 16; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0579s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dad
non-member comment
Wow
Did you get RSI with all that typing..sounds like a great time. Enjoy but be safe, love Dad and Denisexxx