Firstly, let me say something about the weather. Everywhere we go the locals comment on the ’unusual’ weather they’ve been having. It doesn’t mean a thing to us as everything is new but San Franciscans are particularly put out by a late summer, more rain than normal and cooler daytime conditions. We have mainly noticed the afternoon winds that come in off the bay, strong and cool but pleasant-ish. Another thing we have discovered is that this area is mainly desert, which explains the stark environment and the brown, dry grasslands – as soon as you get out of the city.
Our first ‘tourist day in San Fran was very special to us as we got to meet up with a much-loved young friend from Australia. We met Lauren in the city, then caught a bus and then walked up and down many streets til we got to Haight Ashbury. I felt just like we were home again, maybe Nimbin or Byron Bay!! Haight Street was the place to be in the ‘60’s when the hippy era came into its own. It is still very bohemian with colourful shop fronts, psychedelic artworks, and lots of ‘medical’ marijuana clubs. We had coffee instead and headed up to Golden Gate Park.
It is huge, covers over 1,000 acres and hosts Japanese Gardens, art galleries, a science centre and a g’zillion statues, plants and trees. Johno, Loz and I took a free guided tour of the Botanical Garden which proudly features, of all things, an Australian garden.
Yes, lots of plants and trees just like we would see at home. In fact, the Californian climate is similar to many parts of Australia and the eucalypts are nearly considered a ‘weed’ over here. We only covered about 1/3 of the park then headed back into the downtown San Francisco where we had dinner and said goodbye to Loz. She was heading back to Australia the next day, but it was so good to see her. J
We took the next few days getting the RV purchased and insurance/red tape sorted. Then we packed our toothbrushes and went back into the city for a couple of days.
It was a busy time and the weather was clear and crisp, fantastic for checking out the city - we took a ride on the trolley (tram) up and down through the streets of San Francisco, visited to Fishermen’s Wharf, listened to some blues, wandered through some very up-market shopping areas (do you know they have curved escalators over here – they look just like the staircases in old Georgian mansions?), went to Union Square, got the computer and iphone to tether properly (Thanks Mr Apple store), walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, and took a hop on/hop off sightseeing tour on an open top bus. That was great because it gave us the opportunity to check out lots of places we would never have found on our own or even known about. There is a real chilled out atmosphere to the place and we noticed a large gay/lesbian population. That along with the old hippy culture from the 60’s and the multicultural diversity makes San Francisco a fun and interesting place to visit.
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| this is a dome over a food court |
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| Coit Tower |
The architecture in this city is amazing considering the San Andreas fault line, and it’s total destruction in 1906……the engineering we heard about to absorb the earthquakes is absolutely mind blowing. Earth tremors are a daily occurrence although we, and most of the population, are
mostly oblivious to them.
We ate out, mainly lunches, avoided the burger chains (they are everywhere), and tried to choose healthy meals but it’s hard when you order a cheese sandwich (more like a cheese brick) and then they ask ‘soup or salad?’ “Salad please,” was the reply and then another question, “which dressing would you like?” Johno likes the blue cheese dressing and I’m partial to the Italian dressing with feta – very tasty.
We had been in USA for over two weeks by now and have yet to meet another Aussie, although we did enjoy a lovely breakfast conversation with a couple from NZ – getting closer.
San Fran is a really friendly place, for example – when my $20 wouldn’t go through the ticketing machine a Mormon man who happened to be standing near us offered to swap our $20 for two tenners. Everyone is very polite and seemingly happy – ‘have a nice day’ and ‘you enjoy yourself’ sound like the mantras over here.
After two very full days we took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) home to Aunt Mavis for one last night before heading out. We are thinking we might get back to SF on our way out of the States in December. We like it here!! Some more pics below.
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| don't know what this is but liked the shot:) |
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| I think it's the City Hall - the shiny bits are real gold |
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| The Symphony Building - I think |
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| These are the Painted Ladies near Alamo Square |
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| Beautifully engineered - the bridge that is! |
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| Surf, under the bridge and yes, there were three guys out!! |
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| On the Golden Gate Bridge |
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| loved this mural - covers three stories |
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