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Published: June 25th 2006
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Lombard Street
This part of Lombard Street is known as the world's crookedest street and contains 10 turns to tackle the steep gradient of the slope I arrived at San Francisco's Greyhound depot on the morning of 31st Dec 2005. The idea of counting down and celebrating New Year in a foreign country made me pretty excited. Also, after travelling around Western Canada/USA alone for 2 weeks, I finally had company in San Francisco. My father has a friend, Uncle Danny, who lived in San Francisco. Uncle Danny and my father worked together in Hong Kong 2 decades ago. After my family migrated to Singapore, Uncle Danny migrated to USA and settled down in San Francisco. I was very lucky to meet Uncle Danny in San Francisco because he's working as a hotel manager and he allowed me to stay in his hotel for 3 nights! Somemore, his hotel was very convenient. (It was right beside Chinatown and was within walking distance of the Greyhound depot, Museum of Modern Art, and other tourist attractions.)
After fetching me from the Greyhound depot and putting my luggage in the hotel, Uncle Danny brought me around San Francisco by car. We visited the crooked Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, and the Civic Center. Unfortunately, the weather was rather rainy, since winter is the rainy
season in Northern California. However, I was considered to be lucky in SF, as some other parts of California had very severe rains and floods. At least I was fortunate enough to view the Golden Gate Bridge clearly without any fog or mist. I was also fortunate to have Uncle Danny driving me everywhere. In the evening, Uncle Danny went home for a family function, so I strolled explored Downtown San Francisco myself. Later at night, I followed the crowd to the Embarcadero area, where there would be a celebration of New Year. When the clock striked twelve, fireworks filled the sky and everyone was hugging and saying "Happy New Year" to one another. The firework display was a brilliant one and I felt so excited to celebrate New Year in a foreign place. However, I still felt that the celebration in SF was not as thrilling as the celebration in Singapore or Hong Kong, where there would be countdown timers, live concerts and wild parties.
On the next day (New Year Day), Uncle Danny brought me to the South of Market (SoMa) area and the Yerba Buena Gardens. Then he drove all the way south to Palo Alto,
where we visited the famous Stanford University campus. We were delighted to see the university's art gallery being open, even on New Year Day. Inside the art gallery we saw a wide variety of art works, from ancient Greece and ancient China to French Impressionism and American pop art. The gallery also has a very impressive collection of sculptures by Rodin (a very famous French Impressionist sculptor). In the evening, Uncle Danny brought me to his home, where I met his wife and 2 children. We went to a salad bar for dinner, but I didn't eat a lot because I still have not fully recovered from my cold and cough. (I was sick for more than a week.) At night, Uncle Danny drove me around the Castro and up the Twin Peaks, where I had a magnificent view of night-time San Francisco.
On my 3rd day in SF (2nd Jan), Uncle Danny had to work. Hence I took a Greyhound bus to Sacramento, the state capitol of California. (Refer to my next post for more details) In the afternoon, I returned to San Francisco, where I explored the Union Square and Chinatown area on foot. I wanted to
take the famous SF cable car, but the fare was expensive and I didn't have much money left. Hence I only watched the cable car being turned around at the Powell Street Turnaround and I didn't take the cable car. In Chinatown, I felt right at home, as everybody speaks Cantonese and Mandarin (my native languages), and products from Asia (especially China) were on sale in the shops along the streets. I was so happy when I found a bakery selling traditional chinese pastries and cakes. Unfortuntately I didn't have much money left, so I only bought myself a "Po Lo" bun (a popular bun found in HK which is coated with a buttery and sugary crust). I also saw fortune cookies on sale, but fortune cookies was actually invented in San Francisco and not in China.
On my 4th day (and also my last day) in SF, I went to the SF Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). The admission to the museum is free on every first tuesday of the monday. Since that day (3rd Jan) is the first tuesday of January, I could enter SFMOMA for free! The museum was rather crowded, as everybody was waiting for
Fisherman's Wharf 2
2 historic WWII US Navy vessels on display along Pier 45 the "admission free" day. Nevertheless the museum boasts a very interesting architecture and a very impressive collection of modern art. In the museum I saw art works by famous artists such as Kandinsky, Liechtenstein, Pollock, and many others whom I studied during my O-levels art history. At noon, I met Uncle Danny for lunch. He brought me to this interesting international food-court, where we had Vietnamese Pho (beef noodle soup) for lunch.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to collect my luggage. Then Uncle Danny brought me to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to SF International Airport (SFO). Even though the BART entered service in 1972, the trains still looked sleek and modern, thanks to the large windows. (But what is the use of large windows when the trains travelled underground most of the time?) When we arrived at SFO, it was already quite late and I had less than 45 minutes before my flight to Vancouver would depart. Somemore the airport is very huge and there are several terminals. Since the BART station and the terminal serving Air Canada were in the opposite ends of the airport, we had to take a shuttle train.
Fisherman's Wharf 3
View of Alcatraz from the wharf. (Alcatraz was once the most notorious prison in USA. Now it\'s open to tourists. I didn\'t go there due to limited time, limited budget and lousy weather.) When we arrived at the check-in counter for Air Canada, the departure time of my flight was less than 30 minutes away. Luckily, the check-in, immigration control and security check was very quick. Somemore, there was a slight delay for my flight. Hence I still had some spare time in the departure lounge before boarding the plane. Before I entered the restricted zone, Uncle Danny bought me a packet of Ghirardelli chocolate as a farewell gift. (Ghirardelli is a famous brand in San Francisco.)
After 3 weeks, I finally ended my trip to Western Canada & USA and returned to Vancouver. San Francisco was my last stop and it was one of the most pleasant places that I had visited. It's no wonder that so many tourists visited San Francisco and gave SF a very good rating. However it was a pity that the weather was constantly rainy while I was there. Nevertheless, the rain let me see the gentle and peaceful side of SF. At least I am fortunate enough not to encounter a fog. Haha.
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islam hourani
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lovely picturs
hi thx 4 thes pic its so nice