The Golden Gate bridge cycling adventure
On the 4th of July, J and I spent Independence Day cycling across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausolito and then finally to Tamira. I recommend all tourists to rent a bicycle from Fisherman's wharf and give it a go! Definitely one of the best things we have done on this trip. The views along the way were breathtaking. One cannot imagine that just a couple of km (okay, many kms) out of San Francisco, you'll experience a huge change in scenery - from one of tall skyscrapers to ducks, swamps and little wooden bridges across creeks. But a word of warning: You need to be fit! There's a lot of uphill climbs! And the entire journey took about 6 hours (granted we rested heaps and spent lots of time walking around the shops in Sausalito)
Happy 4th of July everybody! It was my first time celebrating America's Independence Day. I always wondered what it would be like. It was something I read in novels and watch on tv but have yet to experience. I was so excited, like a little town girl stepping into a big bad city for the very first time. I can now report that, 4th of July was like any other Independence Day (like Malaysia's Merdeka Day or Australia Day). More than anything, the day was used to recuperate and to spend time with love ones.
Off we went. We rented our bikes from Fisherman's wharf.
Families basking in the sun and enjoying their picnics
Fishing and crabbing activity. I've never tried crabbing before. So the entire experience fascinated me. Its actually pretty simple. You grab a huge crab net, dump in some sort of meat (usually chicken bones) together with huge rocks to sink the net. You then drink some beer, chat with your mates, perhaps fish while waiting for the unsuspecting victims to crawl into your net. At this point, its all up to Lady Luck. Because the water is pretty murky, you won't be able to tell whether a crab is now in your net or whether it has entered your net, savoured a delicious meal and now made a quiet exit. So, you pull up your net once in a while to check on your findings (or the lack of). If you are lucky, you'll be having a hearty meal tonight. Otherwise, spare some loose change for pizza across the road.
At the Golden Gate bridge entrance
It was pretty enjoyable riding along the Golden Gate bridge despite the fierce winds. I can now say, I've cycled on the Golden Gate bridge!
Left the Golden Gate bridge. Its 2 miles to Sausolito (why do Americans use miles? why can't they use km like most of the world. So much easier!) Pedal on.
Finally we arrived at Sausolito. It's one of the most beautiful towns I've ever come across. Every shop/house had so much character.
Check out the houses
We had lunch here
A kid caught something. Care to guess what it is?
A stingray!
*At this point, my camera battery died. So no pics =( We took some pics on J's blackberry but unfortunately, his blackberry went for a swim and drowned. I later recharged my camera at a camera store before the 4th of July fireworks*
4th of July fireworks display
We spent our 4th of July night watching the Fisherman's wharf fireworks display.
Man with his American alligator. cute!
Check out the massive crowds. Many families camped out on the grass many hours before the fireworks display in order to grab a sweet spot. The people in the background were standing in a private parking lot. Luckily for us, we didnt have to compete with the masses for a spot as J decided to buy tickets for the 4th of July fireworks boat.
Here's a subpar photo from the boat. Initially, we werent sure whether the tickets were worth it because they cost quite a fair bit. However, our skepticism was blown away the moment we witnessed the fireworks display. It was one of the best displays I've ever experienced! I think fireworks are getting more advanced these days. We even had a couple of smiley faces up in the sky. And a few times, we had Saturn close to earth (planet with huge ring around it).
Wish I could have captured the smiley face instead. Need better camera =(
Alcatraz prison
The next day, we paid Alcatraz prison a visit. The prison tour was very interesting. It was a self-assisted tour. Each of us were given a set of headphones of which we can pause and rewind at anytime. The voice on the recorder would direct us where to walk and stop. The audio even included appropriate noises and sounds (such as prisoners marching, forks and spoons clanking on tables, prisoners throwing punches) that made the whole experience feel really real.
Ironically, the best views of San Francisco city are from Alcatraz prison. This was very depressing for the prisoners, seeing sights and hearing sounds that they would never be able to experience for themselves.
Prisoners clothes and shoes
Grenades were thrown from above during the crossfire between police and prisoners at the time of the Alcatraz siege. It was after this terrifying experience that the Government decided that the prison was to close to San Francisco city. Imagine if the prisoners managed to successful escaped that day.
Empty prisoner cell
Furnished prisoner cell
Kitchen. Notice the black markings where the knives are meant to be kept. This is to ensure accountability of all the knives.
Breakfast menu. The prisoners were served pretty good food.
A real human head? I think not. Dummies were made during one of the famous attempts to escape the prison. Pretty smart I say.
Sutro Baths ruins
A visit to San Francisco is not complete without a visit to the Cliff House and Sutro Baths ruins.
Sutro Baths History
On March 14, 1896 the Sutro Baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The Baths were built on the sleepy western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco (1894-1896), Adolph Sutro. The vast glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete structure was mostly hidden, and filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House, also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time.
A visitor to the Baths not only had a choice of 7 different swimming pools—one fresh water and six salt water baths ranging in temperatures—but could visit a museum displaying Sutro's large and varied personal collection of artifacts from his travels, a concert hall, seating for 8,000, and, at one time, an ice skating rink. During high tides, water would flow directly into the pools from the nearby ocean, recycling the 2 million US gallons (7,600 m³) of water in about an hour. During low tides, a powerful turbine water pump, built inside a cave at sea level, could be switched on from a control room and could fill the tanks at a rate of 6,000 US gallons a minute (380 L/s), recycling all the water in five hours.
The baths struggled for years, mostly due to the very high operating and maintenance costs, and eventually closed. A fire destroyed the building in 1966 shortly after, while in the process of being demolished.
Taken from wikipedia
Sutro Bath ruins
All about balancing
Oops, almost fell
Spot me! Cliff House in background.
Finally seated nicely for a pose on the ruins
Dog and man on rock
Peek-a-boo, from a cave
Jason finds this sign really hilarious because it's (almost unnecessarily) descriptive.
The best lemon sorbet ever!!! From Cliff House. Warning: Will cause a dent in your wallet but its worth it (in my opinion).
Little Italy
Little Italy is definitely worth a visit if you're touring San Francisco. It's adjacent to Chinatown and a stone's throw away from Fisherman's Wharf (at this point, you'll realise that San Francisco is a pretty small city).
Unlike Little Italy in Melbourne (Lygon Street) which feels almost Australian-nise (if there's such a thing), many of the Italian restaurants in that area seem to retain their authenticity. In some of the restaurants, many of the staff speak predominantly Italian, every inch of the four walls are covered with photo frames, the establishment is extremly dimly lit, there's lots of extravagant (almost gaudy?) interior fittings like chandeliers and Italian music is played. I don't know whether its an Americanise Italian thing or whether they are a true representation of Italian restaurants but it sure does feel like the real thing.
One of the restaurants that we loved was a restaurant called Mona Lisa.
Mmm...love the buns. They were garlic-flavoured.
Very inventive. In addition to light source, the candle fixed onto the wine bottle served as a nice decorative piece as well.
Woodfire pizza
Sammie's visit
Sam is one of my best friends from high school. She's currently located in Texas. While I was in SF, she flew over to SF to visit me one weekend. Her visit was definitely a highlight of my trip as I have not seen her in the past 5 years (that's half a decade). She's my motivation buddy over emails and msn chats. You should look at some of our emails. They seem so ridiculous and bimbotic sometimes - "Do or die, I'm going to exercise this weekend! I'm fat!" and then we rant on about how we "almost went for a run but felt so lazy..." haha. She might visit me in lonely Australia next year *cross fingers* =)
We brought Sam to Sausolito again as she hasn't been there before. No cycling this time.
We also visited Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument is known for its giant old growth stand of ancient redwood trees that are Muir Woods uniquely sheltered in a hidden canyon protected from ocean wind. These trees are 254 feet tall and over 1,000 years old.
Needless to say, the trees are ginormous.
Old fallen tree
Saturday afternoon was spent at Haight-Ashbury. Haight-Ashbury is a district in San Francisco, named after the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. The neighbourhood maintains a bohemian ambience and its a thriving center of many independent local shops. I saw a few huge stores selling hundreds of varieties of shisha. We entered a store selling solely vinyl records from different eras (we don't get that kind of thing in Melbourne. The demand is too low). We also entered a trickster shop - you know, those tricks you played on others when you were a kid (fake lizards, fake chewing gum, fake farts). I bought a lovely vintage-inspired dress from an independent label store.
On Sunday, we paid a visit to Coit Tower. It was nothing much to shout about, especially since we have been to Twin Peaks a couple of times. It's pretty much a short tower on top of a hill where you can catch a bird's eye view of the city.
Coit Tower was built in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco. Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved".
Taken from Wikipedia
View from Coit Tower
San Francisco is a hilly city
On Sunday, we paid UC Berkeley, one of the world's most preeminent universities, a visit. The campus was vast and green.
Gorgeous campus
On the way to residential halls
Famous Lombard St - most croquet street in the world. And may I add, most beautiful street? Look at the lovely flowers. I wouldn't want to live on this street though. You'll have to pick up your daily morning newspaper in full view of the daily throngs of tourists.
Brought Sam to Twin Peaks. Another photo-taking opportunity.
*My San Francisco travel chronicles ends here. The rest of my stay there was pretty repetitive. I wouldn't want to bore you guys with repeats of similar photos*
Overall, I enjoyed my stay in San Francisco. In many ways, San Francisco city plan and tram lines reminds me of Melbourne, only that the city was older, bigger and the people were more diverse. Perhaps, if Melbourne was a hundred years older, it would have resembled San Francisco. But, there's one thing it fell short of - good food. I've come to realise that I dislike American food. Unfortunately, it is what you see on tv - extra greasy, extra large, extra salty and extra sweet (especially at the diners). Sure, there are decent restaurants in SF but many are mediocre or subpar. And very surprising to me, it's very difficult to find a decent juice bar or salad bar (actually any juice or salad bar at all). In Melbourne, if you walk into any random restaurants, chances are they will be at least mediocre or good. In San Francisco, I try not to take my chances. Other than the food, everything else was great. I love the people and especially the fact that its so diverse in culture. Observing the people there, it's almost impossible to describe what an average American looks or sounds like because, everyone is just different!
Till next time! xoxo.
Read about my entire trip here
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