A Day round the Bay

I awoke far too early this morning after a late night. I guess my getting up was still on Houston time (2 hours different) even if my going to sleep wasn't.

I stayed in bed and watched some stupid film for a while and then gave up and got up. There were a number of emails from Mensa people offering various levels of assistance but one girl who lives South of the city ( and the airport) offered to pick me up from the hotel, take me to the games night and then drop me at the airport afterwards. I called her to accept her offer and got an answering service but she called back later and gave me some advice on getting an all day pass and places to see.

I had to check out by 12 so I decided to do it before I went out so I didn't have to worry about coming back. It was about 10 when I got under way.

I picked up the pass at the chemist across the road and then tried to get on the cable car to Fisherman's wharf. By the time they were getting to the stop by the hotel they were full and someone in the queue said she'd been waiting 30 minutes already. I cleverly walked down hill to the previous stop and then a couple more (down hill is easy) till I got to the start. There I saw queues 100's metres long. I consulted my map and took the street car up Market Street instead. The first one was only a few minutes and was fairly empty. This took me to the ferry terminal and a tram took me the rest of the way along the piers to Fisherman's Wharf. I wandered aound Pier 39 for a bit taking photos of the areas, the seals and Alcatraz. Unfortunately it was slightly hazy so the distant shots are as clear as I would have liked. I then had an early lunch at a nice restaurant at the end of the Pier with a view over the bay. I had the Crabs 4 way, which was an appetiser size meal with some cold crab legs, a crab cake, a hot crab dip and a crab spring roll.

From there I walked along FW. There were various museums, a submarine and sailing ship amongst otehr boats in the various harbours and even some kids doing rap dancing on one street. I then wlaked along the bay towards the bridge and over the hill past Fort Mason. Once I'd climbed the hill I could see the Golden Gate Bridge but once again the haze prevent a clear picture of it. I got to the bottom of the hill and jumped on the 28 bus, which took me to the bridge and then South to the Golden Gate Park.

I got off there and walked with a couple, daughter and grand dad that I'd talked to on the bus. We walked past the Rose garden and through the park to the Japanese Tea House where they met up with cousins. There was a bridal party having photos taken in by the tea house who proved that you just can't have too many brides maids. I continued on through the Botanical gardens.

Once I left there I wandered for a few blocks and then jumped on another tram thinking it would take me to the Haight Ashbury district which borders the park. However I was disoriented and it was in fact taken me a right angles to where I thought I was going. It did however return me more or less to my starting point. Thsi had taken me about 3 hours.

This time I waited at the second cable car stop and got on the first one which would have taken me all the way to Fisherman's Wharf again. It does go up some very steep hills and the intersecting roads are also very steep - typical of the ones you see in the SF car chases in movies. I got off a bit before the end and caught a bus back towards China Town. I was pondering on the need to look at this area given my imminent arrival in Hong Kong and in the end found that the stop I got off was only just before the street the hotel was on. I went back there and had a rest for a bit. I then got a vitamin drink and went to union square where I sat in the sun and drank it. I wandered through Macy's and Victoria's Secret but wasn't really interested in buying anything so I've come back to the hotel to check email, up date the blog and kill the last 90 minutes before I'm picked up.