I can wear shorts again!!!!!!!
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2003
1
83
Trip End
Aug 2004
San Francisco, United States
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Yes, its still Monday 16th!!! In fact this is my second Monday now - very bizarre! It took 21 hours from leaving the Auckland hostel to setting foot in the San Francisco hostel, yet I am still on the same day!! The flight from Auckland to LA was pretty good as it was fairly empty and I had three seats to myself, so I could spread out - this didn't mean I slept much, but at least I was comfy! LA airport was very busy and it took a while to get to the gate from which I had to catch the connecting plane. This flight was very short (luckily) and we had hardly got off the ground before we began our descent! I took a taxi from the airport to the hostel as I was so tired I couldn't be bothered waiting for the shuttle or bus. It was actually quite good as the taxi driver pointed out different things on the way!
The first thing I have learnt is that there are more than one bridge! When I first saw the Bay Bridge I was a little disappointed as it did not look very 'golden', but when he told me it was not the Golden Gate I was quite relieved! We drove past Alcatraz, which is very close to the shore, and then saw the Golden Gate bridge, which was very pretty. The hostel is in a great spot - if I look carefully through the trees, I can see the bridge from my window!
After a well needed shower I set off to explore the immediate area. This included Fishermans Wharf, which is about 5 minutes walk, but which I thought was a little like Newquay - lots of tacky shops!!! The weather is great - sunny without being too hot - I am so glad I can wear shorts again!!
17th August
After a good nights sleep I was ready to go! I walked to Fishermans Wharf and decided to catch the cable car - I bought a three day pass and waited. This took ages, so I figured I would walk to Lombard Street, as the hill did not look too bad. Oh yes, to begin with the hill was fine, but about half way up, it became almost vertical!!!! Now I know why they have cable car!!!!! I made it to Lombard Street, this is the road which zig zags down the hill - it was exactly as I imagined it and I walked down and back up again. It is a very pretty street - lots of flowers and colour! I continued walking until I heard a cable car coming (the bell!!) and caught it to the cable car museum. This is the building where the cable cars come to sleep at night (!!!!) and where they are controlled from. It was amazing - even better that it was free and after I got back on another cable car and went to Union Square. I had a wander around the shops - including Macy's (but basically its just another department store - just a famous one!!!) and made my way to Market Street. I didn't actually like it here - too many beggars, so walked towards the Financial District and the huge buildings!!!!!! Eventually I got back to the piers and wandered along to Pier 39. I had to do the tourist thing here - I bought an ice cream and found the sea lions!!!!! There were hundreds of sea lions just lying on the pontoons - almost as many as people watching them!!!! I think there were as many people there as I saw in the whole of NZ!!!!!!!!
After I returned to the hostel I thought I would have a short walk in the afternoon and walk to the Golden Gate Bridge - this was not the case!!!!! It didn't look too far away, but actually took an hour to walk there. Once I was there I walked over the bride and back - the bridge is 1.7 miles long, so I had a fair walk! It was very windy in the middle of the bridge, but I had some amazing views of the city and the weather was perfect. I actually caught the bus back to Fort Mason as I was so tired my little feet were giving up!!
18th August
The plan was to be up early today, but it didn't happen! I walked to the piers as I was booked on a trip to Alcatraz, but this was a bit of a disappointment. The buildings were crumbling and to be honest I was not that interested. I expected it to be a little like Robbin Island, but as the people who were there were actually 'bad people' it was not quite the same - I can say that I have been though!!!!!
19th August
Met Mark and Peter this morning and had a complete tour of SF! We began with coffee on Chestnut Street and after collecting my stuff from the hostel continued the tour. We drove to the Castro, where we had lunch, and up to Twin Peaks. This is supposed to have one of the best views of the city, but due to the famous SF fog, we could not see anything!!!!!!!! We drove to the Seacliff area, where the houses are enormous (Robin Williams lives here!) and back towards the city. We stopped and walked around the Ferry Building - this is full of food shops ( food is VERY important here!!!) and then made our way out of the city along the coast road. It was foggy all day until we crossed the hills when the sun came out! Hooray!!!!!
20th August
Hiked up the Black Mountain this morning - I didn't realize how close the countryside was to the city, it was great, just a 15 minute drive and we were in the country! It was very hot walking through the hills - fine when we were in the shade, but roasting when outside! Had a great view from the top, even though we could see a layer of smog!!!! In the other direction though, we could see the fog clinging to the hillside - very bizarre!
Later in the evening we drove to the airport to pick up Anne from her trip to Kansas City.
21st August
Decided today that I cannot leave California without a little wine tasting, just to complete my 'practical' Wines of the World course!!!! We drove up to the mountains and began at a winery situated right at the top of the world - or so it seemed!! The views were amazing, but I was a little worried at the sign in the garden - Beware of Rattlesnakes!!!!!! Yikes, I forgot I was back in the world of dangerous animals!!! After several gasses of wine and the drive back down the mountain, we thought it was time for lunch - yes, more food!! This time it was Dim Sum - very inter sting!! I tried most things, but I am afraid the chilli tendons were not for me - sorry!!!!
We visited another winery in the afternoon and drove miles!! It was fascinating as we went through the 'hippy' towns, which seemed to have been left in the 1960's, and also though the giant Redwood forests.
22nd August
As we did not tried too many different wines yesterday, Anne and Mark decided we would drive to Napa today. This is not just 'up the road', it was an almost three hour trip, so Joel and Pete came along too. On the way we drove over the Golden Gate bridge and past San Quinton prison. The valley itself was extremely busy and HUGE!! It went on for miles and I was amazed how green it was compared to the barren hills surrounding it.
We spent the day drinking at various wineries, some better than others, but the final winery had the most expensive wines - I drank wine which cost almost $200 a bottle!!!! I was not actually that keen on it either!!!!!!
After all the wine we drove to Marks Mum and Dads in order to pick them up for dinner, which was in an Italian. This restaurant had the best toilet ever (very sad I know) - it was painted bright red and was full of black and white photos of old movie stars - it was so amazing I had to take photos of it!!!!!!!
23rd August
My final day of my trip. Mark took me for breakfast at a traditional American diner - boy, the menu was fantastic!!! All I wanted was a small omelette, but what did I get - a massive one, but not only this, it came with potatoes AND toast!!!!!! Get this, you could even have a steak as a side dish!!!!!!!
We had an easy day today - a little shopping and some relaxing - I also had to pack! In the evening we went to a Mexican and ate far too much (as usual!!!).
24th August
Mark and I walked around the lake this morning and in the afternoon he dropped me off at the airport. I had such a fantastic time in San Francisco, thanks to them, and I have come away with a good impression of the country, rather than the idea I had before I arrived!!!
My flight to LA was ACE - I was upgraded!!! Don't ask me why, but when I got on the plane I walked to find my seat and found myself in business class with all the 'suits' - if I had known, I would have worn more than shorts and t-shirt!!!!!! The only problem was the flight was only an hour and it took me that long to play with the seat - I never knew one chair could do so many things!!!!!!!!!!!
As we came in to land in LA I saw the 'Hollywood' sign - sad, but I was quite excited!! I had a couple of hours to wait in LAX, but was soon on the journey home. The best thing about this flight was the tasty Italian sat next to me, the rest was awful - it was full, the seats were tiny and it was long!!! But it was soon over!
Phil met me at Heathrow and drove me back to Cornwall - at least I did not have to catch a bus or train. We arrived back at about 8.30, where one very excited dog was waiting!!! Poor Widget, I thought she was going to have a heart attack!!!! But at least she was glad to see me!
Thank you everyone for travelling with me, I have had the most amazing time and I hope you have enjoyed the trip almost as much as me!!! You never know you may be hearing from me sometime in the future when I begin my next journey!!!!!
