I am sure there will come a time when I am travelling somewhere and will not rely on general knowledge but will take the example of Mandy (friend from Seattle) who actually pre reads and plans on what she will be seeing and knows why she is choosing to travel there. Until such time, I am going to continue to wing it and rely on valuable feedback from Mandy, Dana, Rigot, Amanda and whatever else means available at the time (mostly things I stumble on as I am walking aimlessly or lost & Facebook comments) Sorry, I promise to try to get it right sometimes in the near future. Thankyou Mandy & Rigot for your invaluable insights and advise for without it I would just walk until I am tired and return back to the Hotel to sleep.
The San Francisco experiment started with me lugging all my camera gear and walking three blocks and finding a beautiful big church and taking a few snaps before realising I left the memory cards back at the hotel and there are no photos saved…Great start…I go back to the Hotel, get my memory cards and when I return to the church, there is a funeral service…so although tempting to sneak in, I find it inappropriate and never actually made it back that way.
I then get carried away with the ornate architecture that I start losing focus of where I was heading (the golden gate bridge) and just follow buildings as I spot them…. I end up in front of City Hall and the Opera… The box office just opened and I see a poster of Carmen http://sfopera.com/About/Press-Room/Press-Releases/San-Francisco-Opera-Presents-Bizet-s-Carmen-Novemb.aspx and decide that if there is a ticket why not? Now I am supposed to leave on Tuesday night but Carmen is on late Tuesday so I decide to stay on and skip LA til next time…
Now I am walking and after about 100 shots (minimum) I receive a text that I should check out Ocean Beach…and the next thing I see is a metro/tram that has a sign that says Ocean Beach…Now this next bit I get from my father I get on the tram and there is no place to purchase a ticket and I am having a panic attack… There is no one at the station that I can talk to and I am in down town and not absolutely sure I am in the right place (although I have an inkling I am in the wrong place)…I miss a few trams until I find someone friendly that I can ask about the direction I should be travelling in and finally the station assistant arrives back in the booth and allows me to buy my $2 ticket…phew…
Its tram N and heading to the end of the line…(in case someone who actually is reading this needs to know that simple trivial matter (my advise is read the lonely planet as all information on this blog is likely to be misleading and inaccurate; not to mention also very biased) http://www.sfmta.com/cms/asystem/routelist.php
I make to Ocean Beach http://www.parksconservancy.org/visit/park-sites/ocean-beach.html and it reminds me of Cable Beach in Broome but only by its vast openness and the length of the beach…Other than that, its cold, windy and you can see the rips in the water are deadly so no thanks but believe it or not some people are tanning and by tanning I mean they are in their shorts and t-shirts and exposing part of their bellies not bikini tanning as its really only about 17 degrees. More photos snapped and I know I talk allot about photos but promise to put some on flicker ASAP (sometimes before Xmas ☺ )
The walk from Ocean Beach to Golden Gate Bridge is superb, the weather is balmy and I’m informed its only about 50 mins walk to the bridge (which I later discover is a lie, ok maybe a fib) its actually about 6 miles to the bridge and then to get across the bridge and back is another 1 and a bit so all in all about 7 miles walk and its almost the whole afternoon…But I did it and it was brilliant way to start introducing my body to exercise again.
Maps Here
As I finished the walk Marty had texted me and said that he is 15 mins away and we will be heading out for the San Francisco tour (Local Marty style.) I didn’t realise that 15 mins meant an hour and 15 mins but I got a couple of minutes of Zzzz waiting which was not bad at all.
True to his words from back in Seville early in the year when I first met Marty , he did show me the town, we drove to the Twin Peaks , Chinatown, the Fisherman’s Wharfs, Coit Towers , past the occupy San Francisco tent city, the strip clubs (which seem a large number), then to Balboa’s (used to be owned by the Mayor-(insider Info) ) and finally dinner at Umami Burger (Union Street is also for the up and coming)
After a few cocktails and a Scallop and Bacon Burger with a couple of beers we even stopped at a house that is rumoured to be J-Lo ‘s and on that note we end another crammed day full of photos, sore feet, new knowledge and perspective on San Francisco and with all of that Info I hit the hay. Thank you Marty for a great night and hope to one day pay the favour when you visit Sydney Town.
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