Death by greyhound

After looking at options to get me from SF to Las Vegas I realised that the only one open was greyhound coaches. If only i had looked into it a day earlier i could have flown for less money than i would have to spend on the coach ticket. I didn't know what to expect from greyhound and i was a bit nervous as i had about 15 hour night ride to Las Vegas.

The terminal seems to be home to a fair few homeless and shady characters but i got chatting to someone from SF who gave me the inside goss on Las Vegas and this past the time. The buses they use are pretty standard and do not have any flashy screens or access to electrical powerpoints like the ones in Canada, but the bus was fairly empty and so it looked like i could get some sleep. Only when i checked my bags in did i realise that i had a three hour wait at 5am before i caught the second buses i needed!!! I didnt even know that I had two legs to my journey and the fact that i was going via LA (where i'm off to after Las Vegas) made me really happy.

The first bus was really bumpy and the driver was a total power freak. He basically told us that if we did anything against his rules he would pull over and kick us off the bus. There was not much noise after that as talking wasn't allowed. There was though a Mexican bloke who snored so bad it drowned out the noise from the buses engine!! After catching the second leg of the trip in LA i did get a few hours sleep. I was struck at how many Mexicans were in the terminal and worked for Greyhound. I'd say around 90% were mexican and staff at the terminal English was not so good. I could have easily been in Mexico rather than LA. I managed to sleep through the courtesy stop, which was surprising as it must have been announced on the radio and people must have rushed for the doors? I finally got into Las Vegas at 2pm. I left SF at 10 pm the night before. At this point i was ready to just drop my stuff on the floor where i stood and sleep on top of it. I was not looking forward to the trip from Las Vegas to LA - that was for sure.

So long SF

Crabby @ Fisherman's Wharf
Their new home after Earthquake scared them from Sealion rocks
View of the city from the wharfside
Sealions
Wharfside

My last day in San Francisco and the weather had changed. After some storms in the night it was bright, warm and sunny outside. I headed into town for a walkabout. The beaches along the bay were relatively full with people walking up and down. I found a really beautiful spot and just lazed away and absorbed the views.

I then hopped on a tram and headed into Union square. Its the shopping centre for the city and has all the famous names. Stuff in SF is really cheap. Shame i'm running out of money as there was loads of stuff i liked. From there i explored the various neighbours around the city. Not much to report as it was pretty standard stuff. My accent was causing quite a stir though as it seemed that everyone i spoke to was commenting on it. One Chinese lady said that she wished everyone in Amercia spoke like me as my accent was beautiful. Ahh, bless.

During my last night a new face checked into our room. He was an American originally from Canada. He is in the process of getting his book published by one of the leading publishers in the world. He was talking to us and telling the funniest stories for hours. We didn't get off to sleep till the wee hours. I took a note of his name and I'll be keeping an eye open for his book. Vince, one of the Canadians read the first chapter and said that it was a really good read. From his story telling and life experiences I can see him writing some pretty interesting stuff.

Bike the bridge

Me plus beard
View of the start of the track
View of the harbour
I thought Americans loved to sue each other?

View of the bridge in the rain
Maker and made

I decided - (it must have been in the heat of the moment) to bike the Golden Gate bridge. The bridge is called the golden gate as it was supposed to be painted gold. During the painting an undercoat of international orange was used. The residents apparently fell in love with the undercoat colour and so the bridge stayed orange. That was the story a few of the guides told but it sounds more like they run out of money as the orange colour is pretty foul. The bridge was built with donations and sponsorships from local people as the government was building at the same time the bay bridge, which is on the other side of the city and is double storied and spans at least twice the distance of the golden gate.

Anyways after renting a bike i proceeded to ride from the wharf side through the various parks and trails, past the hostel and onto the golden gate recreational park. The ride was fairly easygoing and as it was a Sunday loads of locals were out walking, running, biking or taking their dogs for a walk in the park. The heavy rain didn't seem to put many people off. I was absolutely soaked after 10 minutes, but because it was pretty warm i didn't feel the cold. Riding along it sort of reminded me of the opening scenes in the film the goonies. The small incline soon got stepper as we got closer to the bridge. I had to walk the bike up the ramps that lead onto the bridge as it was so steep. All the time i was being passed by bikers whizzing past me at a fair speed. Some were okay but other shouted for me to get out the way. After around 15 minutes i made it to the start of the bridge. At this point i saw how narrow the bike path is and how low (relatively to the bike seat the side rails are). Just sitting on the bike was terrifying but riding along in the rain and wind while other bikers were passing you and coming the other way was enough to make me start making quiet noises, not quite shouts or screams but it was very close. Crossing over was pretty hard going as i wanted to stop every so often to take in the views. I got to the end and was definitely rewarded for the effort by the views. I decided to bike it back rather than heading into Sausolito and catching the ferry as a) the ferry was expensive and b) going down the ramps from the bridge looked like vertical drops!!

Going back was a lot more fun as most of it seemed downhill and there was loads of puddles to ride through. I got back to the bike shop four hours later having travelled nearly 18 miles!!! I couldn't believe it when the bike shop assistant told me. Walking to the shop i was drawing a lot of attention and a few people stopped to talk to me. I was walking the bike along the streets from the bike path to the shops and a lot of sand and mud from the bike path was splashed over my face, back and front!!! I didn't know about my back until someone pointed it out and asked me how i got in such a state!!! Even though it was still early i was knackered and retired to the hostel to wash, what seemed to be everything i owned.

Alcatraz

Lombard Street
One of the steeper sides of russian hill - steep hills the cars park vertically to the road
from the bottom of Lombard street

From the top of Lombard street

On the tram
Tram - historic line
View of the engines pulling the cable that the cable cars use
Grip that is set in the car and grips the cable
Old cable cars

View from the ferry

Alcatraz

View of the city from the island
Cafeteria

Kitchen - notice the knives that prisons could use
On the ferry about to go back to the city
View of the San Fran skyline and the bay bridge

Cell block
Solidary confinement
Inside the soli cell
Visiting time
View from Alcatraz

Inside the Kitchen
Walking through one of the "tunnels" in Alcatraz
Water had to be shipped into the island
Burnt out remains of the prison wardens social club
Cell

For my second full day in the city I hopped on the ferry for the 12 minute ride to Alcatraz. All in all i spent around 3-4 hours there. The island is a lot smaller than i imagined and you could pretty much walk around the circumference in around 10 minutes. The island is part of the National Parks service and so has rangers giving talks and guiding you around. Dorry, our guide, gave us a tour of some of the old buildings. She was fairly annoying in that she could only speak with her eyes closed. Now this fascinated me more than her talk and so i came away not really knowing much. We looked around the prison blocks and cells. The Cells were absolutely tiny. They were not more than 7 foot by 5 foot big. They didn't even have a sink, just a small loo. Dorry, our guide, told us all about the escape attempts, the living conditions etc but what struck me was how soul destroying it must have been to be so close to the city (you could hear a lot of city noises and even see across the bay from some of the windows) and yet be stuck in a tiny room for the vast majority of the day. It drove prisoners crazy and I'm not surprised. We also saw where the famous breakout happened (just like in the film). The authorities thought that the two that escaped drown in the bay but 2,000 swimmers make the swim across the bay for pleasure every year. Even a 7 year old boy made it! Vies from the island were breathtaking especially Angel Island, which was used to hold Japanese Americans during the second world war. The island was covered in a slight fog which made it look like it was covered in icing. After arriving back in the city i had a walk along the Fisherman's wharf part of town. It is lined with piers, some still active and some that have been turned into tourist attractions. The most famous is pier 39. Sea Lions rest along the pier front and on the pier is a shopping centre, museum, aquarium etc. It was pretty busy and tacky. I caught the cable car and headed to the cable car museum. It houses the motors that run the cable cars. There are only three cable car lines still in use and mainly used by tourists. The system is pretty amazing as there are three huge motors that pull on a ring of wire that runs constantly under the roads where the cars run. Cable cars are unmotorised and basically sit on tracks and have a mechanism that when engaged dips into the street and grabs the wire as it is turning thus pulling the car. Apparently 8 out of ten people that try out for the job don't manage to master the system. I then travelled up Russian hill to the second crockedest street in America (after wall street) - that's how its referred to. The street is basically so steep that it was redesigned so that it runs not straight down but side to side eventually reaching the bottom of the hill. Its a big pull for tourists and while i was there at least 10 people got out of their cars to take pictures. No one worried about the genuine traffic and just stood there in the middle of the road taking pictures!! The houses on the street are incredibly expensive and don't come onto the market very frequently - I'm not surprised as the views from the houses were straight down into downtown.

Muir woods and city tour

San Fran city centre at night from the Hostel

View from the Hostel at night

View from the hostel at night
Hostel

Has anyone seen the Giant Naked Baby?
Wierd tree pruning occurs in San Fran
Entrance to Japenese Tee garden
Russian Hill
Japanese Tea Garden in San Fran park

Sausolito town
Sausolito Harbour and town
Sealion rocks (Minus Sealions) Beach by Downtown San Fran
Outside the Art Musuem in San Fran

River running through the forest
Tree
New growth - actually lots of buds growing in modules
Sausolito

Cable cars
Muir Woods
Trail around the woods
Giant Rewoods
Wierd?

I decided to shell out on a day worth of tours. First off we went to the Muir woods. The woods are part of a preserved forest of pacific redwoods they sit on the other side of the bay in the most expensive county in the USA. They are ancient, huge and funnily enough reminded me of the smell of antique furniture.
It was drizzly but not much of it founds its way to the forest floor due to the tree canopy. The trees absorb their water from the fog and mist that cover the City and bay area year round. Since i have been in SF there has always been fog and mist covering the top of the city. We then head to sausolito which is the nearby town for the views and the European style community and docks. They have house boats there built from Redwoods and the high street is full of art galleries and up market shops. I spent the time sipping coffee and looking across to San Francisco (and being pestered by bloody pidgeon. God I hate pidgeons).

The afternoon was filled with a tour up and down (literally) the city. San Francisco is really hilly and the views from atop the various hills are amazing. We stopped to see the seven painted ladies, the Golden gate bridge, the golden gate park, parks, neighbourhoods and some of the expensive houses (between 7-10 million on average). The tour guide was really good and pointed out loads of interesting buildings, areas and facts. Some of the roads we couldn't go down due to the steepness, but otherwise it was a really good afternoon. San Franciscans are really into people power. There are no mainstream supermarkets in the city only "mom and pop" stores (as there called). There are no Starbucks anywhere near Little Italy!!! The residents also got one of the streets (Lomard Street) remodelled so that it was safe for there kids to play out on.

Most, if not all, of the houses don't have any outside space. The houses are crammed into the tip of the peninsula. The city is also home to a huge Chinese contingent. Around 40% of the residents are Chinese and there is not one, but two Chinatowns!!!
People here are really friendly and I have asked loads of people for directions, no ones seems to mind and sometimes it even starts a conversation going (usually about England). They have so many different types of transportation here. They have the cable cars which are like cabs that are pulled by a cable that runs underground. They have buses and coaches. They have street cars/trams that run up and down the city. They have an underground system. They also have buses that are attached to overhead electric cables - sort of like bumper cars!!! Cable cars are pretty expensive but really exciting as you sit without a belt as cars pass within feet of you. They also primarily run up the big hills here. The drivers are definitely characters and some point out nice places to eat or good vistas. One even left the controls and had a seat and chatted to a couple as the car ran down the hill!!!