San Francisco, California

2009-05-24

Native inhabitants were in the area for six centuries when the Spanish arrived in 1769. In 1848 Mexico ceded California to the USA and gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevadas, which caused San Francisco to grow in size and become a city. The large influx of people looking for gold gave rise to casinos, saloons, and brothels, which gave the city a wild reputation. In 1906 an earthquake and fire devastated the city and years of construction followed. The Great Depression in the 1930s fueled the public works projects of the San Francisco to Oakland Bay Bridge (1936) and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937). During World War II, the USA used San Francisco as a launching ground for the Pacific fleet. Counterculture movements took hold late in the century with the Beat’s poetry movement in the 50’s and free loving hippies in the 60’s. In 1989, another earthquake rocked the city and the dot com boom in the 90’s helped to fuel the city. We arrived into the city and to Joel, Pepa and Diego’s house close to 7 pm. We had our first taste of the San Francisco hills in their neighborhoods. We drove up one hill so steep that we had to almost drive into the intersection in order to see over the hood (bonnet) and on another street, the down grade on the hill was like going down a rollercoaster.  After arriving we caught up with Joel and Pepa briefly, but as it was Diego’s bedtime, we left them to put him to sleep while we went to eat dinner. We walked down a few streets to an area on 16th that had a few restaurants. We decided to eat at a Thai restaurant, which served Thai. We both decided to start dinner with Tom Yung, but when we tasted it, it was not the flavor we were used to; it was far sourer and less spicy. Unfortunately, the food did not really improve with the mains. Ian had lamb curry and Lori had chicken curry. The walk back to Joel and Pepa’s was a bit more challenging as we had to go uphill. When we got back, we visited with them for awhile before calling it a night.

We also learned the George Lucas had liked the sound of the Alcatraz jail cells closing so much, he included in in all his movies including "Star Wars".

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2009-05-25

We got up at 8:30 am and got ready. We piled in their car with Joel. Pepa and Diego and went for breakfast at a cute little cafe not far from their house. Everything was freshly made there and very tasty. Lori had scrambled eggs with artichoke hearts, peppers and blue cheese, corn bread and fruit. Ian had cooked breakfast with bacon. Diego as usual was an angel and very smiley throughout. After breakfast, Joel drove us through the windiest street in San Francisco that is just outside their apartment. It is not as well known as Lombard Street though. Our next stop was the Golden Gate Park Bridge. It was overcast in the area when we arrived and crowded, but Joel managed to find a spot. We really noticed the cooler temperature when we got out of the car. We took a short walk towards the bridge and saw several sea lions and dolphins in the Bay along the way. The park was established in 1871 and is the world’s largest city park. The bridge was built between 1933 and 1937 by Joseph Strass. It spans 2 miles and links San Francisco with Marin County. When it was completed it was the world’s largest suspension bridge. Next on the driving tour was Lombard Street where we wove down the street which had beautiful houses and plants lining it. We drove up to Coit Tower next, which is on top of Telegraph Hill. It gives great views back over Lombard Street. You can normally go up the tower, but as it was Memorial Day, it was closed. We could also see the financial district which includes the Transamerican Pyramid, which was completed in 1972 and is San Francisco’s tallest building. The sun was out and we all enjoyed sitting in it and taking in the city. Joel drove us downtown, we parked and walked into Chinatown. We were getting thirsty and decided to stop for some bubble tea. We all got different flavours; Joel had taro, Pepa had mango and Lori had coconut. Ian passed as he does not like the pearls. Soon after finishing our drinks, we decided to stop for an early dinner at an Italian restaurant, in the Italian district. As it was cooler outside, Lori ordered minestrone soup and Caesar salad while Ian had a pasta. While the food was good, the waiter was a bit rude to us. After we finished eating, we walked down to Fisherman’s wharf and went to pier 30 to see the sea lions lounging in the sunshine. We walked around for a bit, but our feet were getting tired, so we soon were back at the car and back at Joel and Pepa’s house. It was time for Diego to go to sleep, so while Joel and Pepa were putting him to bed, Ian made us hot chocolate and we both caught up on some things on the computer. We had another nice night of visiting with Joel and Pepa before going to bed.

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2009-05-26

We had tickets to go to Alcatraz at 10:30 am, so we were up at 8 am. We got ready and said goodbye to Pepa and Diego. Joel had already left for work. As we did not want to drive our car into the city and deal with traffic and parking, we took public transport. We had about a ten minute walk down to 3rd and 20th where we caught the T line on the MUIN into town. We got off just after passing under the bay bridge. Joel had told us we could take another tram a little ways down from outside the Ferry building, but it was such a nice day, we just continued to walk along the bay to pier 33. During the walk, we both discussed how much San Francisco reminded us of Melbourne, Australia with it’s laid by feel, near to the ocean and plenty of bike paths. We boarded the ferry to Alcatraz at 10:30 am. From 1933 to 1963, the 12 acre rock island in the middle of San Francisco Bay served at the USA’s most famous jail and was supposedly escaped proof. There were 14 escape attempts, non of which can be proved to have been successful even though not all those escapees have been found. Some of the famous inmates that served time here included Al Capone, ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and Robert Stroud (the birdman). The prison was closed in 1963 due to the high cost of maintenance. Since then, it was inhabited by native Americans and then became a National Monument. The ferry ride to the island took around fifteen minutes during which we had great views looking back on the city and looking out to the island. When we arrived on the island, a ranger gave a brief orientation and then we went to watched a short film that explained the history of the island and we walked up to the cell block. We picked up our audio guides and took the tour around the blocks. We started on Broadway where the inmates would be walked through naked when they first arrived. We continued on to C&D (Seedy) Street, D block where the inmates were put in solitary confinement, the library, the guard house, the kitchen and the recreational area. We were told about one breakdown where the inmates made fake heads using soap and dug through the concrete with spoons to crawl through the utility space and up to the roof. These three inmates have never been discovered and it is assumed that they drowned in swimming the bay. We also learned the George Lucas had liked the sound of the Alcatraz jail cells closing so much, he included in in all his movies including "Star Wars". After we finished the tour, we walked down the hill and saw a few more buildings, but most of the rest of the sight seemed to be under repair, so we boarded the ferry back to the pier. We were both hungry and decided to stop for lunch at IHOP. Ian had a burger with an egg and fries and Lori had a BLT with fries. It was nice to sit down for awhile. After lunch, we walked further down Fisherman’s wharf to Ghirardelli Square. We treated ourselves to a bar of dark chocolate with caramel inside. We felt like we had seen most of San Francisco at this point, so we walked back to where we had gotten off the tram and caught it back. The walk back up the hill to Joel and Pepa’s took a little bit longer then when we had walked down it that morning and we could see how easy it would be to get in shape here. No one was home when we arrived as Pepa had gone to get Joel, so they could sign the title papers for their new house. They arrived home shortly after us. We decided to go to WholeFoods for dinner and picked up roasted chickens, roasted potatoes, mix vegetables and green beans with shallots. We all enjoyed the feast when we got back with the food. It was soon bath and sleep time for Diego, so we cleaned up while Joel and Pepa took care of him. We had a good last night visit with Joel and Pepa and got to see their professional wedding photos, which had turned out beautifully.

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2009-05-27

We woke up at 8 am, got ready and packed up the car. We said goodbye to Pepa and Diego and started our drive to Yosemite National Park.