My eyes stung, and my head lolled lazily from side to side. 9.5 hours on a bus is never fun. But overnight? That just plain sucks. Our seats reclined and we'd brought along a sleeping bag and pillow to share, so catnapping was possible, but actual sleep - no chance. So, with much pain, we hauled on our heavy packs and shuffled our way to the nearest starbucks...
Ding! A shot of java, and some irritable conversation later - we were on the street again. Our eyes were now open for a new day.
*
San Francisco. California, U.S.A.
"Take me down to the Paradise City..." San Francisco you are so pretty! I remember the very moment we first arrived in San Francisco. We'd left LA at 1am Monday morning, and arrived in San Fran just after 10am. I opened my eyes from one of the many naps, just in time to see our bus pull round a corner and the San Francisco bay opened out before me. I turned to see if Karlos was seeing what I was seeing, but he was still sleeping, so I left him to it and turned back to the view... a large stretch of brilliant blue water, flanked by one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen. Tall, sleek sky scrapers, stylish bridges, and a waterfront screaming "get down here now and find thee a bar!"
Despite how pretty this city was, I couldn't believe how irritable I got on the way to our hotel. We already had a room booked, and with map in hand I had a rough idea of what direction we needed to go in. But I was tired, and my pack was heavy, I needed a shower, and if you think the city makes the public transport system easy to figure out - you've another think coming. I'm usually pretty good at figuring public transport systems out, having previously navigated myself around cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok and the like, but whether or not it was due to the nearly 48hrs without proper sleep, San Francisco's array of underground trains, streetcars, and buses had me stumped. Karlos figured things out by asking people in uniforms, and once we'd gotten ourselves onto the street we needed to be on, he then spent the next mile or two trying to flag down a cab. I was NOT happy to discover that the street our hotel was on actually stretched for about 6 miles, I was NOT going to walk it, and I did NOT want to carry my backpack anymore. I was a total bitch about the whole thing, but we are both allowed to be from time to time, and Karlos handled it the right way by telling me to stop snapping at him and then called a cab.
And breeeeath. An hour later our backpacks were at the hotel, and we were down the road, outside a cafe, drinking a chilled glass of sauvigon blanc in the sunshine. What a difference and hour makes! A french family chatted over lunch, at the table next to us - and I would spend the next 3 days in San Francisco amazed at the number of French people there are here...
*
For anyone visiting San Fran, my personal recommendation would be to make your first spot to visit - Pier 39. On our first evening in town, we met a really nice man on the street (who just so happened to be a guard on Alcatraz island!) who walked us there and gave us plenty of advise about the city in general. Pier 39 is probably best to visit in the daytime (which we did also) as it is full of delicious eateries - seafood restaurants, fresh fruit stalls, chocolatiers, icecream parlours, coffee stands, hot donut stands, hotdog stands, you name it - it's there. It is also home to a large number of sea lions, who are very entertaining to while away an hour or so watching. There are some real characters amongst them, I tell you. They laze on water barges and play, and fight, and roll over each other, and attempt to woo female sea lions, and bark, and splash and belch, and push each other off into the water - it's a sight to behold!
And of course, across the bay is Alcratraz Island. We joined several hundred other tourists one day, catching a ferry across the bay, to tour the old prison. It was fascintaing. The island is so cold, and windy, even in the afternoon sunshine - it gives it a very eerie feel. Your ferry ticket includes entry to the old prison and an audio guide, so you can take your time going in and out of the different cell blocks, and listening to stories from ex prisoners, and guards. The conditon of the prison is pretty run down these days, due to weather damage and such like, but you can tell it would also have been pretty harsh back when it was operational. The wind whips straight through the prison, and straight into the barred cells - no wonder so many attempted to escape. They say that those who broke the rules went to prison. And those that broke the prison rules went to Alcatraz.
We also got to see the cells where 3 of the prison's convicts escaped from. Out of all of the escape attempts, these three were never found, and to this day it remains a mystery as to how they escaped the "inescapable." How they escaped their cells is a question that can be answered. Behind the air vent in their cells, the prisoners spent over a year chipping away at the stone wall with a metal spoon - this widened the hole behind the vent, in order for them to eventually crawl out of, into the space behind their cells, and up the water pipes, into the ceiling, and away... but where to from there? Who knows. I for one would not to be keen to get into the icey cold waters of San Francisco Bay... but who knows really what I'd do if my other options was to rot my life away in Alcatraz prison. I left the island feeling a mix of guilt and anger, over somehow feeling sympathy towards those criminals.
Another 'must do' that we did, and that I would recommend for anyone visiting San Francisco, is to walk the city streets. Not only is the city full of beautiful buildings, trees, and nearby harbours to explore - walking in the city is a real workout. And by workout, I mean WORKout. Sheesh! So many hills! We took a walk up Lombard St one morning, and it sure got our hearts pumpin'! We also walked the Golden Gate Bridge, which took best part of an hour, due to stopping continuously to take photos etc. It was a great thing to do to be out in the fresh (and by fresh I mean windy as fook) air, by the water, yet still in the heart of the city. People watching on these excursions is always a highlight - how many morons are there out in the world? Too many. A bike lane means - if you're not on a bike - don't walk there idiot!!!! I spent much time on these walks realising that no matter where you are from, or where you live - there will always be those amongst us that are a sandwich or two short of a picnic. Is keep to the right too hard for you to understand? Or do you simply think that refers to everyone else but you? I would really like to know that.
Anyway - if walking the city's streets, parks and gardens, or exploring old prisons, or watching sea lions, isn't your thing... San Francisco is literally bursting at the seams with coffee shops, and restaurants. From Italian joints in North Beach, to Chinese fare in Chinatown, to the fresh seafood in Fisherman's wharf - and everything in between. You could come to San Fran simply to eat, and while away your hours watching the sun set over the bay. It really is a beautiful place.
~ Comet xo
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