San Francisco the city by the bay, one of the most
recognisible places on earth and in my humble opinion the most beautiful city
in the United States. The six days I spent here were spectacular, I tried to
do as much as I could in that short space but just couldn't fit it all in. Its
distance from Britain (one third of the way round the world!) makes it not a very
common destination for many holidaymakers, most foreigners I met like me were
around my age and staying put for a while, or doing a world tour.
San Francisco has, of course, some of the world's most famous attractions and icons, such as
the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the Transamerica Pyramid. It is infamous
for the great quakes of 1906 and 1989, and even these disasters are profited on
by the tourist-trap stores. The best thing I did during my stay was to hire a
bicycle and cycle through Alamo Square, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, the Golden
Gate Bridge and Sausalito. Although I got roasted by the sun and found it difficult
to sit down for a few days after, it was the best way to see a cross-section of
San Francisco. When the time came to leave, well you know the saying, I left my
heart in San Francisco...
Alamo Square, probably the most common postcard you'll
see in San Francisco is of these little houses on the edge of the park. The whole area
looks sort of like this, and to live here is not cheap. Anything with one bedroom
is a good deal at half a million dollars, prices are astronomical.
The infamous island of Alcatraz - the tour of the
island comes highly recommended, don't miss out by booking too late! For reference,
the sign in the foreground reads "Persons procuring or concealing escape of prisoners
are subject to prosecution or imprisonment". Of all the great escape attempts, many
simply perished in the freezing waters of the bay, but three prisoners were never found.
The tour guide asked us to keep an eye on each other, you never know, they too could
be taking the tour today!
Underneath the Bay Bridge. Often confused with the
Golden Gate bridge (I don't know why, one's red the other's grey!) this bridge spans
six miles through a combination of double-decked designs, this section with four
suspension towers.
The Botanic Gardens in Golden Gate Park. The park
also had nature reserves, forests, and and examples of horticulture from all round the world.
Chinatown in San Francisco has the largest Chinese
population of any such area in the USA. I believe the restaurant Bruce Lee first worked
in is around here somewhere.
The Embarcadero was the old port for the ferries of
immigrants. Nowadays the area is a built up shopping, eating and office complex.
One of the concrete sculptures around the Embarcadero
centre.
Ghirardelli Square, near Fisherman's Wharf is where
the world renound Ghirardelli's choclate can be bought. I'm told it's very good,
but I was rather short of cash unfortunately and couldn't even afford a milkshake.
The great
Golden Gate Bridge. Built in 1937, it ranks among the most recognisible landmarks
ever created. I was lucky to go over it on a clear day, most of the time it could
not be seen through the fog at the particular time of year.
Again the Golden Gate bridge. Although not much
longer than the Forth Bridge, the design was conceptually challenging due to the fast
currents, depth of water and high winds. The bridge has been featured in many films,
in particular "James Bond: A View To A Kill" with a spectacular fight scene on one of
the cables.
Haight Ashbury was where the summer of love, and
in fact hippies in general, began. This is Nigel, a person I met on a tour conducted
by the Hostel. The tour was not very good (probably because it was free) so we did
our own tour of the strange shops selling dubious pipes and hookahs.
Whenever I visit big towns by myself I tend to take
a look inside the hotels. Not just to be nosey, but generally hotels are easy to
get to the top of for a decent free view. This one ejected me from their revolving
restaurant (pictured above on the left of the Embarcadero shot) for looking too scruffy
not buying a twelve dollar drink. They did have a very impressive atrium however,
with walkways which felt scary walking along them, as they overhung and there was nothing underneath!
This cocktail lounge also threw me out, for basically
the same reasons, but not before I got some great shots of the city 50 floors below.
The
Transamerica Pyramid can be seen, and in the distance Coit Tower amongst the trees.
Although the Pyramid is physically taller, as you can see the top of the Bank of America
building offers a slightly elevated view. Plus, you get to see the Pyramid.
A view of the City from the top of Coit Tower
at dusk. I spent an hour or so up here watching the sunset and taking photos,
it was very pleasant and quite spectacular.
Sausalito is across the Golden Gate from San Francisco
and it is well worth a visit. A Mediterranean style town, it has many bijou art
galleries and boutiques. Not the cheapest of places, but a trip to the Bay would
not be complete without a jaunt over here.
In the heart of the commercial shopping district on
Market Street lies the San Francisco centre, which has spiral escalators. Jolly
good, I hear you say. Well I thought they were very interesting...
I spent a highly cultured afternoon here. After
blasting away at some daft new games in Sony's Metreon Centre, I took in an open
air performance of "Carmen" in Yerba Buena Park. Afterwards, I waited in the queue for
the modern art gallery, but got hungry so went for my tea.
