San Francisco

As of last Monday, I knew very little about the city of San Francisco. I’d heard it was full of liberals and knew it to be the home of the Golden Gate Bridge, street cars, and the infamous island prison of Alcatraz. I underestimated.

From the moment we entered the city, the character of the place was apparent. Each apartment building has ornate detail and the fire stairs add a peculiar uniqueness, making the plainest building oddly beautiful. Our drive to the hotel was naturally a long climb. We’ve all seen the hills of San Francisco in pictures, but photos don’t do them justice. They are steep, they are long, and they come from every direction. A step outside means a workout. Walking down the hill requires caution and the walk back up determination and stamina. I’m not sure my calves were sore from the hills or my massage, but I definitely worked off the food I ate by the hills I walked.

Chinatown. I have now learned that Chinatown in Washington, D.C. is purely a tourist attraction and this is not the case in all Chinatowns. I have yet to travel to NYC, but the Chinatown in San Francisco is exactly what its name says. My first introduction was at about 6:30 a.m. on a walk down to the bay. The streets were quietly filling with people preparing for their work day. Only their work day didn't require a suit or a briefcase. It was cartons of giant fruits, types of fish I could never name, a truck filled to the brim with pigs (no longer living…), and smells that I’d prefer to have never smelled. Later, in the weekend, we visited the shops. If I had had any need for statues of Buddha, cute china cups, or scarves, I would have been in heaven. As it was, the knock off purses were pretty cute and more than one shop had employees pulling us into hidden back rooms to show off their stock of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, and others. Sad to say I didn’t find one that I loved enough to purchase, but it was still an experience..

Let’s see…what else. Oh. The people were very friendly and I didn’t see any gay couples. Cliché San Francisco didn’t appear to be real San Francisco. Just FYI.

Alcatraz was awesome. It IS a National Park, so if you have a National Park passport bring it along or be seriously disappointed (I stamped a piece of paper to paste into my book…it would have been my first West Coast stamp. Dangit.) The trip out was gorgeous and it was pretty neat to hear the history of the place.

Of course all it really made me want to do was watch the movies about it, but I may pick up a book as well. Oh AND I really want to do the ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ swim, but I’ve always wanted to do that. There were actually people swimming in the bay when we were down there at about 7 a.m. MAN that had to be icy water. It’s a 1.5 mile trip and despite the fact I swam much more than that in college, I have no illusions of it being an easy feat. Plus, the verdict is still out on the rumor of it being shark infested. That may change my plans. Obviously I’dneed Bekah by my side. Did you know Alcatraz was built as a fort during the Civil War? Crazy. Also, on New Year’s Eve, the inmates could sometimes hear the parties on shore. The guard’s families actually lived on the island—all pretty interesting.

We saw a movie being filmed on the way back to our hotel—some guy in all black was standing on top of this huge black vehicle/machine. So if you see a movie being filmed in San Francisco with that in it let me know. Or just look for the tour bus in the back of that scene.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early to look for the Golden Gate Bridge. The concierge looked at us with skepticism and told us it was over 3 miles and that it was very foggy, but we charged on. From a distance we could barely see Lombard street, winding it's way down the steep hill. We got down to Pier 39 and walked along the water for a while.

Saw the sea lions making a racket and this neat WWII Liberty ship and submarine! I was hoping they were in early for Fleet Week (which is next week, unfortunately), but they are always there. We stopped for some Monopoly pieces at McDonald's and saw the original Ghirardelli chocolate factory. Alcatraz was looking especially creepy and barely visible in the fog. To Diana and Carrie's delight, we got to see a bit of the bridge, but we didn't make it in time to walk across. Next trip!

Sunday afternoon I just spent wandering the city. Union Square has some great shopping that I could never afford (Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co. , etc..), but also the biggest Macy’s and Banana Republic I have ever seen. I was perfectly capable of walking back up to the hotel, but the street car was calling my name. Did you know that to turn it around at the bottom of the hill they actually manually turn the wheel in the ground that it stops on? (See picture). A bit of classic charm in a very urban setting. I lucked out and got to ride standing up hanging out like in the movies.

All I needed was someone to wave to as we pulled away…or something romantic like that. It was a good end to my weekend. I considered trying to squeeze in something else, but I was asleep by 7:30.

There isn’t really a better way to see San Francisco than from the comfort of a marvelous hotel with a great view in the heart of the city, but either way, I can see why people leave their hearts in this place. Didn’t work that way for me, but I just love that city!