Next stop on our whirlwind tour of North America's west coast was good old San Fran. We flew from San Diego on one of the few domestic carrier's that hasn't gone out of business recently, Southwest Airlines (as an aside we were both really impressed with Southwest. They had a seamless check in process, a great boarding process and were generally very slick) and landed in Oakland.
After a slightly long winded, but ultimately painless, trip in from the airport we found ourselves in our poky little room at the Dakota Hotel. It was a great location and pretty cheap so we couldn't really complain. My first impressions the city were that it is actually a lot like New York, just on a smaller scale. Especially the part of the city we were staying in. Lots of sky scrapers, yellow cabs and a large number of homeless.
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| '08 Trip - San Francisco |
Day 1:
The next day we got up and made our way down to REI to get Amanda a warm jacket. While the trip didn't end in a warm puffy jacket, it did lead us to a great little cafe attached to a motor bike shop called Moto Java. It was without a doubt the best cup of coffee on the trip so far.
Next on the list was the Asian Art Museum, which was unfortunately closed. Kind of disappointing but no doubt I should have checked out their opening hours before we went. However all was not lost and we jumped on one of the old school street cars and headed for the Castro for lunch.
With rainbow flags everywhere and gay men obviously ruling the roost it isn't that surprising that this part of the city is considered a gay mecca. After a nice lunch and browsing the shops we headed off to find the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA).
The Museum was quite small and has a really good photography collection as well as a nice collection with a number of big names. Well worth a look if you're in the area.
Next it was back on the trail of the puffy jacket for Amanda. We jumped on one of San Francisco's famous cable cars and headed off to parts unknown, armed as always with our trusty map. The cable car was noisy, cold and crowded but worth getting on to, not to mention a living piece of San Francisco's history.
We walked for awhile through a really nice residential area of the city before finding the store that had "The Jacket". It was purchased and we headed back out to the streets to continue our wandering through the very lovely Pacific Height's district of the city. After dinner and finding out that the Ani DiFranco concert we wanted to go to was sold out it was time to head back to the hotel and crash. We'd had a very busy day and felt like we'd walked over most of the central city.
Day 2:
Our second day in San Fran wasn't as sunny as the first. I decided that it would get warmer through out the day so didn't wear my big jacket. Big mistake.
We had a late start and after breakfast we decided to head over to Fisher Man's Wharf to have a look around. It was as touristy as I'd heard and really windy. The cable car ride up there was once again cold and busy but we jumped off at Lombard Street to have a look at what is apparently San Francisco's windiest street. It has about six rather sharp turns which were apparently put in because at the time the cars couldn't cope with the steepness. At the bottom a number of crazy tourists risked life and limb to get a shot of those turns.
We then wandered over to the Wharf and after much humming and haaing over where to have lunch I gave in to Amanda and we went to Hooters. All I have to say about that is that people really don't go there for the food. That being said it wasn't quite as sleazy as I had feared.
Next it was time to go have a look at some of San Francisco's bohemian past so we jumped on a street car and headed up to Broadway to have a look at A Different Light bookshop and next door Vesuvius which is a very seedy bar/cafe where Dylan and Kerouac used to hang out. Unfortunately we didn't stay long as they didn't serve hot chocolate and as I was starting to feel blue by this stage we decided to head back to the hotel.
After a bus ride from hell through the utterly overcrowded China town (it was like Hong Kong on a bad day!) we made it back to the relative sanctuary of the hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon close to home and mostly inside thankfully.
San Francisco was a nice place to visit and I'd like to go back when the weather isn't so dominating so I can see a few more parts. But to be honest all in all I wasn't as wowed as I thought I'd be. Strangely it's a city which has taken on almost mythic proportions in my mind and not surprisingly hasn't lived up to them. I think t might be a place best seen with a local, someone who knows all the byways. I'll be back though, after all I never did see the Golden Gate bridge and Amanda never got to see those Bison!
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